Chapter 18 #2
“Oh, fuck me,” I breathe, spotting the bottle in his hand. I said no gifts but I sure as hell won’t say no to a twenty-three-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve. It’s almost impossible to find one in the wild. “Where’d you get it?”
“Don’t ask,” he says. “I sold a kidney, but since you said no fucking or fighting, I had to dig up something you’d enjoy tonight.” He hands me the bottle and drops his palm onto my shoulder, squeezing once. “Happy birthday.”
“No, but seriously, where did you get it?”
“I’ve made some interesting friends. There’s more where that came from, but it costs an arm, a leg, and your sanity, considering the guy I bought it from is a bigger fucking menace than you are.”
I stare at the label in awe, tracing the letters with my thumb before I summon a waitress. “Four tumblers.”
She nods, scurrying to the bar. Once she’s back I pour us all two fingers. Neat, of course. Watering this down should be punishable by death.
We clink our glasses and I take the first sip, my eyes rolling back into my head. Fuck, that’s good. Smooth, rich... liquid sex.
On cue, my mind flickers to Leilani’s soft skin, wet hair, and that brain-melting curve of her ass. I shake the thought off before another crisis in my pants can ruin the evening.
“So, how’s Leilani?” Hailey asks, already nursing a glass of white wine. “We’re dying to meet her, you know?”
Bianca nods along. “She must be extraordinary to convert a slut like you to celibacy.”
“Hey! I was never a slut.”
My so-called friends burst out laughing.
“Forgot all about your twenty-fifth birthday, have you?” Carter cocks an eyebrow. “How that twosome ended up a quintuple? And once that was done, you went and fucked the waitress.”
Broadway groans. “God, don’t remind me.”
“Why?” Violet perks up, staring at her baby daddy with big, amused eyes. “What happened?”
“I drove all over Chicago looking for a cold compress because this Olympic-level fuckboy injured his dick.”
Bianca chokes on her drink and Hailey’s laughing so hard tears well in her eyes. “How is that even possible?!”
“He’s exaggerating,” I cut in. “It was just a minor sprain!” I throw my hands up, laughing along because that story doesn’t even feel like mine anymore.
Careless sex, brawls, bruises... they belong to a man I don’t recognize. A man who’d do anything to feel something, even if it was shallow and didn’t mean shit.
He’s been dead and buried since I discovered one look from Leilani can wreck me in ways five women never could. One smile, one rage fit, one moan through a wall and my brain’s on its knees.
“Your dick was raw, purple, and swollen. That’s not a minor sprain, Koby,” Ryder deadpans and immediately falls under his girlfriend’s tight scrutiny.
“How do you know that?”
“Koby’s not just a slut, he’s a slut without shame. He pulled his pants down to show us.”
“Because you were laughing! I showed you so you’d stop!”
“And we did,” Carter says, his forehead wrinkling. “I’m in pain just remembering how bad it looked.”
“Exactly! It hurt like hell. And for the record.” I set my glass down, then get up, pinching my zipper between two fingers. “It healed beautifully. I’ll show you.”
The collective no! has half the guests in the VIP section turning our way. I sit back down, smirking under my nose because the diversion worked and they drop the subject.
I wasn’t actually going to show them my cock. I have my three best friends’ backs. I’d never make them feel bad for packing lightly.
Especially not in front of their girls.
A shadow falls over me before the conversation steers away from my sexual history. I angle my head, finding a girl I’ve seen on a semi-regular basis since Carter opened Scarlett. A non-exclusive but mutually beneficial arrangement allowing me to let off some steam whenever I want.
Her boobs threaten to spill from the bodice dress as she bends down, her lips ghosting the shell of my ear.
“Happy birthday, Koby. Your gift’s ready and waiting.
Where do you want to unwrap me?” Her hand slides up my thigh, fingers grazing too high and making me shudder.
Not in a good way. “I didn’t see your car out the back. Restroom?”
If she said that last month, I’d have bent her over the sink within two minutes, but tonight, spiders crawl up my back at the thought of touching her. Agitation flares inside me, mixing with disinterest and a thin layer of disgust.
That last one’s aimed at me, not her.
I’ve treated women like distractions, and sex like it’s nothing more than friction, noises, and fluids.
Disgusting.
Maybe the guys are right. I must’ve been quite the slut if this girl isn’t trying to get me somewhere more private. She’s not acting like I might say no.
She’s one hundred percent certain I’ll follow.
I grab her wrist with two fingers, peeling her hand off me. Only one woman’s allowed to touch me now.
“Thanks for the offer...” I stumble, my mind blanking. Not only was I a slut, but a fucking asshole, too. I fucked this girl a dozen times... you’d think I’d remember her name by now. I don’t, so I take a wild guess, “...Grace, but—”
“It’s Jess,” she huffs.
“Right. Jess. I’m not interested.”
She rears back like I slapped her. “Are you not feeling well?”
Broadway snorts into his tumbler. “Proves our point, doesn’t it? Even Jess knows the only way you’ll pass is if you’re dying.”
“I’m fine,” I say, glaring at him before turning back to Jess. “Just no longer available.”
She’s speechless, staring at me as if I’ve confessed to murdering kittens for shits and giggles. Without a word, she saunters away.
“Look at you, all grown up,” Ryder teases when I grab the bottle and pour the last of the Pappy into our glasses.
Unless the topic changes fast, this will be a long night.