Roommates Box Set #4-6

26. Kylie

26

KYLIE

“Honestly, I think you’d like a tequila sunrise better,” I told the brunette sitting across the bar.

“Okay, I’ll try that.”

We chatted as I mixed the drink for her. It was Thursday night, and there was quite a big crowd. Mason manned the door, making sure it wasn’t too crowded in here, and also making sure a line didn’t form out in the hallway. That’d attract the wrong kinds of attention. Instead, he took people’s numbers and texted them when there was space for them.

“Have you ever used the fireplace?” she asked, tilting her head toward it.

I frowned. We hadn’t turned it on the entire time I’d been here. “No, not yet.” Then I realized my mistake. “I mean, I don’t think the guys have.”

She laughed. “It’s okay. I know you’re dating one of them. I’ve seen you coming and going when I was at my boyfriend’s place. He lives a couple of doors down.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen you before, too.” I tried to keep my voice steady even though my heart pounded. “Here’s your drink.”

I’d hoped she’d drop the subject after that, but she didn’t. “Wow, this is delicious. Do I pay you now?”

“Either that or start a tab.”

She fished in her pocket and handed over some money. I put it in the drawer acting as our cash register. Then she shoved a few bucks in the tip jar. “Thanks.”

She sipped her drink and then leaned forward, smiling. “So which one are you dating? I’ve got to say, I’ve seen all three and there’s no bad options with those guys.”

Shit. The official line was that I was dating Parker, but what if she saw me someday walking arm in arm with Jude or Mason? We tried not to do anything outside of the room, but that’d gotten harder to avoid lately. “Do you mind if I don’t say? It’s just, one of the guys is jealous, so I try not to talk about it much.” Crap, that didn’t make any sense.

But somehow, she nodded. Thank God for alcohol. “Got it.”

She took her drink and moved into the living room to listen to Jude. He was playing guitar and had quite a crowd around him. Mostly females, I noted. It figured. On nights he didn’t play, we used playlists broadcasted on speakers—not too loudly, of course.

I took advantage of a few moments of peace to clean the top of the bar off. Then I cleaned the counter and sink of the little kitchenette. I was just about to slice limes when two guys came up and asked for beers.

It was tiring, but fun. One of the best parts for me was it was something the four of us were doing together. And although my professors probably didn’t agree, I really learned a lot from the experience, thanks to Parker. He made me keep a very careful track of the income and the expenses, and I became a lot more methodical about what to order more of and when.

We technically closed shop at eleven, but it was well after that, and the place was still full. At least, I thought it was. It was a little hard to see because an inebriated young woman had climbed up on my bar and was dancing there.

“Please get down,” I said for the tenth time. I tugged on her leg, but just a little. She had on high-heeled sandals and was none too steady on her feet. “Come on, could you just climb on down?” I tried to meet her eyes, but she spun, and suddenly, I was looking right up her short skirt. Great. Just what I needed.

“Come dance with me, baby,” she said, stretching her hand down to me.

Where were the guys? Probably dealing with other crap. We needed to come up with a more reliable way to get people out on time.

I spotted a guy who lived down the hall. His eyes bugged out as he took in the dancing girl on the bar. “Hey, can you grab Mason for me?” He looked like he would’ve preferred to grab the drunk girl, but I pointed in the direction I thought Mason was in and gave him a little shove.

A minute later, Mason strode over and stopped dead. “What the fuck?”

“Can you get her down?” I said over the canned music. “But don’t flirt with her.”

He frowned at me. “I wouldn’t flirt with a drunk girl.”

“She might flirt with you,” I clarified. “She did with me.”

“Really?” Interest flared in his eyes and I laughed. It was amusing as hell watching Mason trying to get her down off the bar. She kept gyrating so much that every time he reached for her, he had to pull his hand back in order to keep from touching something inappropriate. But finally, he grabbed her around her middle and set her on the floor.

“You’re hot,” she told him.

“I know,” he responded.

“I’m not all that drunk,” she said, hanging onto the edge of the bar when he tried to lead her to the door. “I just wanted to let loose and have some fun.” She shook her chest, making her breasts bounce. “Do you want some fun?” she asked him in a sex kitten voice.

That was enough. No one fawned all over one of my men in front of me. I whacked her knuckles with the ice tongs and she let go. Mason had her across the room and out the door before I’d rinsed off the tongs.

A half hour later, everyone except us was gone. It had been such a wild night, Parker had double-checked both bathrooms, the bedroom, and even the balcony to make sure it was just the four of us.

“I’m tired,” I said.

“Me too.” Jude replied. I slumped on the couch with my feet in his lap. He undid the straps on my sandals and dropped them on the floor. Then his magic thumbs pressed into the ball of one foot and I moaned.

“We should clean up,” Parker said, and if I’d had more energy, I would’ve thrown something at him. He and Mason were sprawled on the opposite couch.

“Let’s lay here for a few more years first,” I said. “Oh, but after that, can you restock the fridge?” Mason was the only one who could get the maximum number of beer bottles to fit in there. “I still don’t know how you do that.”

“This is why you need an engineer in your life, baby.” Mason’s voice was flippant, but he sounded tired, too.

“I thought you were just the bouncer,” Parker said, and Mason kicked him lightly.

Jude kneaded my foot expertly. “I got some tips from playing guitar tonight. And some woman threw her panties at me.”

My eyes flew open at that news. “Really?”

“Yep.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pair of light blue satin panties.

I snatched them from them. “Hey, those are mine.”

Jude’s jaw dropped. “You threw your panties at me?”

“No, I didn’t.” But they were definitely my panties.

“I did,” Mason said. “I got them out of her dresser.”

We all stared at him.

“I figured Kylie was too busy to do it herself, but I know she wanted to, judging by the way she stared at you the whole time you were playing, Jude.”

“No, I didn’t,” I protested.

“At one point, you even started drooling.”

I was too tired to argue with Mason’s insane logic, plus now Jude and Parker were chuckling, so it seemed they were on his side. “I didn’t drool.”

Hopefully I hadn’t, but it was true that I’d watched Jude as often as I could when he performed. He was a good-looking guy, but when he played his guitar or his drums, his hotness factor multiplied off the charts.

Jude switched to my other foot. “Next time you thrust your panties in my face, Kylie, I hope you’ll still be in them.”

“And wearing only them,” Mason said. It kind of sounded like the beginning of one of the naughty bedtime stories we told each other at night, but we were all too tired tonight. I actually couldn’t remember when we’d last done that.

“We should clean up,” Jude said, but again, no one got up.

“Or, we could do it in the morning,” I pointed out.

“What does Professor McNeil always say about procrastination, Kylie?” Parker asked, sounding like a damn professor himself.

“That it’s a damn good idea.”

“Huh,” Parker said. “His views seemed to have changed since I took his class last year.”

“Maybe we should take a break,” Jude said.

“I can’t. I have a test coming up,” I said, moaning again as he rubbed the arch of my foot.

“Not a break from school, but from the conversation club.”

“Oh.” It was pretty time consuming, but it was also fun. I thought of something and laughed.

“What?” Mason asked.

“Remember those Korean students last week?”

Mason and Parker laughed, but Jude didn’t.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Oh, right. It must’ve been the night you were at the Dancing Horse,” I said. “Anyway, a couple of Korean graduate students, who are studying biology, heard we ran a conversation club. So they decided to come so they could brush up on their English conversation skills and meet some new people at the same time.”

Jude chuckled. “What happened when they got here?”

“Nothing. They drank, they chatted with people, and they had a good time. But in the future, they’ll probably think that all conversation clubs in the US involve a great deal of alcohol.”

“I like that story,” Jude said. “But I still think we should take a break. Shut things down for the weekend and take it easy—like when you spent the weekend with your movie star friend. You came back all refreshed and upbeat after that.”

“Which I liked to imagine was because you had an orgy with the hot actress,” Mason said.

“Ew. Your sister was there.”

He winced. “Shit, I forgot about that. Okay, no orgies.”

“He’s got a point,” Parker said.

“About the orgies?” I asked.

“No, Jude’s got a point. Let’s put a sign out saying that there’s no conversation club this weekend. And then let’s do something special.”

“Like what?” Mason asked.

“We could go out to a nice restaurant tomorrow night to get the weekend started on the right note,” Jude said.

“Yeah,” Mason said. “And Kylie can wear something slinky and sexy.”

“She’s always slinky and sexy,” Parker said, and I giggled.

“Thanks for the sexy part,” I told him. “Not sure if being slinky 24/7 is a good thing, though.”

“It is,” he insisted.

“But let’s get some takeout—some good takeout, not pizza—and eat in tomorrow night. We can still get dressed up. It’ll be like a date except we don’t have to go anywhere or see anyone else. I wouldn’t mind a break from people who aren’t us for the weekend,” I said.

“Me either,” Mason agreed.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. We don’t need to leave here to get away from everything—we’ll stay here and shut the rest of the world out,” Jude said.

“Like a staycation,” Parker said. He had his eyes closed, but he opened them when no one responded. “What? It’s a thing.”

“A thing that girls say,” Mason muttered. But then he changed his tune. “But it’s a good idea. I could use a break and a decent meal. Plus it might be fun to dress up and make Kylie drool over me instead of Jude.”

“Which will only happen if you lock me out on the balcony,” Jude said, with amusement in his voice.

“I can do that. I’m an engineer, you know.”

We chuckled, but I was so sleepy, I was ready to drift off right there on the couch. But there was something I needed to say first. “I’m really looking forward to spending the weekend with you all.”

“Us too,” someone said. Then the combination of drowsiness and Jude’s sinfully decadent touch eased me into slumber.