The Anchor Read Free

it kind of sucks. Women have done a pretty good job filling the void. Case in point, the snuggler.
    I thought moving to New York would be epic, but things didn’t work out like I thought they would. For starters, my best friend, John, was supposed to live here with me. But he fell in love and stayed put in our home state of North Carolina, taking some dinky position at an attorney’s office in Holly Springs to be close to his now fiancée, Edie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for him. She’s a great girl and all, but it does suck we don’t get to tear up New York together. We’d passed the North Carolina State Bar back in July. At the time, we saw it as a brilliant backup plan in case things didn’t pan out here in New York. The New York State Bar isn’t until February, but I guess I’ll be taking it alone. Till then, I’ll be working my ass off, impressing my superiors in hopes that my current gig becomes a permanent one.
    Karissa mumbles something in her sleep and squirms enough where I’m able to shift her off of me. Climbing out of bed, I slip on my boxers and head into the living room, pouring myself a Scotch. I hate the shit, but this is my uncle’s apartment and he keeps it stocked even though he’s hardly ever here, so I drink it. When John bailed on moving to New York, my uncle asked me to stay here to keep an eye on the place since he’s barely ever in town. I pay him rent and pretty much have the place to myself. Picking up my cell, I thumb through Facebook and see a photo of Edie and her best friend, Nikki, toasting their beers as Nikki obnoxiously points to Edie’s ring finger.
    In two weeks, I head down to Holly Springs for John and Edie’s engagement party. I’m happy for my friend and excited to see him, but I can’t deny I’m most anxious to see Nikki. The weekend we shared two months ago is burned in my mind. The Southern princess was quite surprising. She was ladylike in most ways, but not so much in others. She curses like a sailor, drinks like a man, and looks like a beauty queen. I was a goner from the moment I saw her the day she arrived at the airport with John and Edie for their weekend visit. By the end of the first night, I was ready to give my left nut to have her.
    When we hooked up, I was shocked, and ecstatic, and pissed. She was a virgin. The fuck? How could she not tell me that shit beforehand? And how was that even possible? I didn’t know there were still virgins out there. And I had been rough, too. That’s not the way a girl’s first time should be. As if I hadn’t already wanted her bad enough, knowing I was the first man to take her only intensified those feelings. There was just something about her that made me want to possess her. It wasn’t her innocence because by all accounts I would’ve never guessed she was a virgin. She just seemed so . . . unattainable. Her confidence was probably what I found most attractive. Women find out I work in an elite law firm and they fling themselves at me. Hell, Karissa banged me for the first time an hour after we met. And although Nikki did have sex with me after only knowing me a weekend, she didn’t want anything more. She used me . . . that’s how it feels anyway. I’ve tried for the last two months to keep in touch with her through Facebook and texting. I also call, but she never answers. She said we’re friends. And that is all because in her mind long-distance relationships never work.
    I’m hoping when I see her at John and Edie’s party, maybe I can convince her to give me the time of day. But something tells me Nikki Reese is going to make it hard on me. And I gotta admit, it fucking turns me on.

    Something hard kicks my shin and jolts me awake. My eyes squint as I try to look away from the glare from the kitchen light shining into the living room. Shit. I fell asleep on the couch. I move my tongue around inside my cotton-dry mouth, regretting all the Scotch I drank last night.
    “Parker,” a stern voice