“Uh, no.” I roll my eyes, polishing off the last sip of beer before motioning to the waitress and pointing at the table.
“Yeah, you fucked up,” Jett whispers, reaching behind his wife to stretch his arm across her chair. “You can’t just sneak out and then ghost a chick.”
“I didn’t ghost her. I texted her before I came here.”
“Did you text her at all earlier in the day?”
“No,” I bite out. “We’ve been over this shit a million times.”
“Yep, fucked up big,” Jett mutters.
I’m done with their bullshit. I refuse to allow them to make me feel guilty about something I did that wasn’t wrong. There was no way I was going to wake up a sleeping Arlo before I left. If she were my girl, maybe, but it isn’t my style. And since the deal was not to treat her any differently than I would any other woman, I left without saying a word.
“I’m having the next one at the bar,” I announce, pushing my chair back and standing. “You can all fuck off and talk about me, but I’m going over there—” I tick my head back “—and finding a piece of ass to bury myself in tonight.”
“Classy,” Lily whispers, peering up at me with her judgy blue eyes. “But you should—”
“Save it,” I cut her off, waving my hand. “Whatever you’re going to say, I don’t want to hear it.”
She purses her lips and narrows her eyes. “But—”
“No, Lily. You’ve done enough.”
Jett stiffens.
“No disrespect, cousin, but I need to blow off some steam and get my head right. I love you, Lily, but butt the fuck out.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I’m making my way toward the bar, winding through the people.
The waitress sees me, depositing the beer in front of me before the bartender has time to make it to me.
“Thanks, doll.” I smile at the older woman.
She smiles back. “Welcome, sweetie.”
I watch the flat screen, unable to hear the muted conversation of the sports announcers but giving no shits because at least they aren’t chirping in my ear about all the ways I’ve fucked up like my own family.
A person walks up to the bar and slides onto the barstool next to where I stand, brushing their elbow against me.
I turn my head, going in for a quick glance as I retract my elbow, and I am caught by surprise. The woman is mint in that rough, badass biker girl kind of way. Harley tank, tons of cleavage, teased hair, and lots of makeup, looking like she is out to give exactly what I want to take.
I smile at her, giving her my classic chin lift. “Hey.”
She glances my way, her lips tipping upward before she moves her eyes down my face to my arms, taking her sweet-ass time. “Hey yourself, handsome.”
“Can I buy you a drink, beautiful?”
She nods, her big brown eyes locked on my biceps as I move. “Tequila on the rocks,” she whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear over all the noise around us.
“Tequila it is,” I tell her, motioning for the bartender and giving him her order.
“Aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living, honey?” she asks me, totally thirsty for my body, which I am perfectly fine with.
I laugh, liking how she’s forthright. I know she wants me and that I could fuck her right now if I wanted to. That I have no doubt about. If I invited her to the bathroom, pinned her against the sink, she’d push her pussy against my cock, fucking herself if I let her. “Tattoos, babe.”
Her eyes light up. “Sexy job for a sexy man,” she says, taking the drink as soon as the bartender places it down in front of her. Within three seconds, the glass is to her lips and the liquid is gone.
“So, tell me, what’s a handsome thing like you doing in a place like this?”
“Could ask you the same thing, sweetheart. A girl as pretty as you should have herself a man to be at home with, sucking and fucking all night.”
Jesus.
I almost roll my eyes at myself, but she smirks, looking at me like a meal.
“Trying to get over a broken heart,” she tells me, and I know I’ve got her.
Nothing says easy pussy like rebound pussy. This chick wants to be filled, having all the memories of her last dick wiped out by a new one.
“You lookin’ for help, sugar?”
“I put out my help wanted sign.” She waves her hand over her very large and visible breasts. “Think you’re up for the job?”
My eyes move to her breasts, studying them, knowing they’d be heavy in my palms. But I’m not here to worship her body. I am here to forget someone else’s. I lean forward, my face in her wild hair, and whisper against her ear, “I could fill the position.”
She shivers, moving her mouth to my ear. “I may have an opening,” she whispers before her tongue comes out and strokes my earlobe.
And then Arlo’s face and pretty smile flash through my head.
Fuck.
“I can’t,” I tell her, pulling away. “I can’t do this.”
Goddamn it.
This woman is a sure fucking thing, and I can’t do it. Arlo and I are nothing to each other, but somehow she’s between me and a night of pussy. Easy pussy, but still pussy.
“Your dick broke?” she asks, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes.
“No,” I growl and grab my beer. “Dick’s working fine. It’s my head that’s fucking me up.”
“Don’t need to think to fuck, babe.”
I shake my head. “When my head’s thinking about another chick, it’s not a good policy to fuck a different one. Sorry to waste your time.”
She gives me a sorrowful smile. “It’s okay.”
“You have a good night,” I tell her, tipping my chin to her before stalking back toward the table.
“What the fuck just happened?” Pike asks before my ass has a chance to make contact with the seat bottom.
“Fuck,” I groan, running my hand down my face. “I don’t know.”
“Arlo,” Lily teases, smiling like an idiot because she did this to me.
She broke my dick by setting me up with Arlo, tempting me with her sweetness when I’ve become used to so much bad.
“You’re right,” Mammoth adds, lifting his beer to his lips. “You are fucked, and that shit happened quick. Welcome to the party.”
“Baby.” Tamara turns to her husband, placing her hand over his as it rests on the table. “The party can end pretty fucking quick if you’re not satisfied with the guest list.”
Mammoth smirks, locking his fingers with hers. “Princess, shut it.”
Tamara’s head jerks back. “Excuse me?”
“There isn’t anyone else in the world I’d put up with on a daily basis except you. I’m right where I want to be, and I happily accepted that fate years ago. But your cousin over there acts like he has some choice in the matter, when his head and heart are already playing tricks on him.”
“That was kind of sweet.”
“I have everything I want in the world—a wife, kids, a business—but Carmello is just now coming to terms with the simple fact that life needs to be filled with more than easy pussy.”