Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck (Legal #3)

Chapter One

S hamrocks were everywhere. On the floor, on the tables. In my hair. I brushed them aside and set my purse down on the bar top, eyeing the suspicious-colored drink waiting for me. It looked like pureed asparagus. I brought it to my nose and took a sniff. At least it wasn’t beer.

“What did you order me?” I asked, taking a small sip. It had a mild fruity taste and was very sweet. Not bad. I took a larger gulp.

“Leprechaun piss.”

I sputtered a bit and then set the glass down, looking over at Christa who was holding an identical version to her lips. She smiled and tipped back half the contents in one go.

I laughed. “Seriously?” I intercepted a falling clover before it drowned to the bottom of my drink. I glanced around. Where the hell were these things coming from?

She shrugged. “Not the most charming of names, but who cares. It’s good, right?”

“Yeah.” I took another swig, figuring I was better off not knowing exactly what was in it.

“Careful, though. They’re deceptive. You’ll end up sprawled on your ass if you don’t watch it.” And with that, she finished off her drink and signaled for another.

I raised my eyebrows. She’d only arrived about twenty minutes before I did, but who knew how many she’d already knocked back. Good thing she’d been dropped off and was getting a ride home with me. And as far as I was concerned, I had no worries of faceplanting before the night ended. I was too exhausted to get drunk. In fact, I wasn’t even in the mood to be out at all, but Christa and I had never missed a Saint Patrick’s Day together since we’d met seven years before, and I wasn’t about to break tradition just because I was a little tired.

She held up her newly freshened drink. “To another year,” she said, and I clinked my glass with hers. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” I took a quick glance towards the door, wondering if he’d make it. Although if he did, I’d end up sitting on his lap. The place was packed. I had no idea how Christa even managed to weasel in, much less save me a spot.

“When’s Dre supposed to show up?” she asked.

I shrugged. “He’s not sure if he can get out yet. He said he’ll try, though.”

She nodded. Dre was co-owner of Braun’s Gym, and like any business owner, he was often stuck working more hours than the employees, not fewer.

Christa smacked my leg. “Well, as long as you’re here. And who needs him, right? Or any of them.” She winked. “Men are only worth one thing anyway, and it’s not like he’d be able to do you right here against the bar. Better to wait until later. Or just choose someone else tonight. ”

I laughed, shaking my head. Christa was the fling queen. At the age of twenty-two, she displayed her ‘boyfriends suck and always will’ badge with pride. She still had plenty of time to change her mind, but I didn’t see that happening any time soon.

Not that I technically had boyfriends either, but I did have Dre and we were considered… complicated.

I reached for my purse. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared too much about him showing; I loved hanging out with my best friend alone. But after the bomb he’d thrown at me earlier that day, it made me wonder just how serious he was.

I pulled out the emblem and Christa narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is that?”

“Dre gave this to me.” I handed it to her, and she flipped it back and forth. “He wants us to be exclusive from now on.”

She frowned. “You’re losing me here, Perry. On so many counts.” She tossed the Ford logo into my lap. “He gave you a piece of plastic? How romantic. And what exactly do you mean by ‘exclusive’?” She gave me a funny look, then finished off her drink.

“He stopped by this morning and said he wanted us to stop sleeping with other people. Wants to see what it’d be like to have it just the two of us for a change.”

Yeah, like I said: complicated. Our relationship was an unconventional one. We’d been together for five years, and while we were monogamous during our ‘on periods,’ we had plenty of ‘off periods’ too. Then we were free to see—and screw—whomever we wanted. The only exception was each other’s friends. Those were off-limits.

“And the emblem is a part of him. It’s a symbol that means something to him. You know how much he loves that truck, Christa.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I know how obsessed he is with the stupid thing. I know him just as well as you do.”

Well, maybe not as well , but she did meet him in high school just like I did. “I thought it was a sweet gesture,” I said, “since it’s not like he’d ever give me a ring.” Christa was also well aware that I had an aversion to jewelry. And marriage.

“And you’re actually considering this?” She put both her hands on my shoulders and stared me down. “He just decides to pull all this shit out of his ass all of a sudden and you’re okay with it?”

“You’re not going to lose me, Christa.” Her face was morphing into something that resembled panic. She probably assumed that once I started a one-on-one relationship, I’d no longer have any time for her. “You and I are still going to spend lots of time together. It’ll be the same as always, I just won’t be having sex with anyone but Dre.”

“It sounds like you’ve already decided.”

Her tone was a bit standoffish, and while I could understand her reaction to a point, I didn’t get why she seemed to be taking it as a personal slap in the face. I wasn’t suggesting that she change her lifestyle along with me.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal, but stop looking at me like I’m batshit, okay? And you know what they say,” I said, flashing her Dre’s gift once more before stuffing it back in my bag. “Whoever gives you a token on Saint Patrick’s Day is the one you’re meant to be with.”

“Uh, no one says that, Perry.”

“Well, it’s a fact. Something to do with love and luck.”

Christa plucked a shamrock off the bar and handed it to me. “Consider this my token.” Then she leaned over and gave me a loud, exaggerated smack on the cheek. I laughed, pushing her away. Yeah, she was definitely just worried that our friendship would change; that’s what her whole reaction had been about.

“The guy I’m meant to be with, silly.”

“And you’re sure he’s the guy to change for? For all you know, he could just be feeding you a line of bullshit so you’ll stop screwing other men. Meanwhile, he’ll continue getting his dick wet in anything with a pulse. ”

I scrunched up my face. Worried or not, she was sure acting crazier than normal. Maybe it was all the leprechaun piss.

I adopted a go-with-the-flow attitude and picked up my drink. I brought it to my mouth and nearly chipped a tooth when I was flung forward. Goddammit . I quickly set it back down, then tried dabbing at my wet shirt with a flimsy bar napkin. It didn’t take long before it turned into a clump of mushy shreds. Christa started giggling as she crawled over the counter to grab another stack, flashing her ass to everyone when her micromini hiked up.

“Sorry about that,” a soft, slurry voice said behind me. I turned to face a woman with spray-painted green spiky hair. “I was pushed too,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it.” I sighed. I doubted the stain would ever come out, but it was hardly her fault. That’d teach me for not wearing green on this night, but it wasn’t my color, dammit.

Christa climbed back down and placed the napkins in my hand. I felt someone squeezing in to the left of me, and then a glass of clear liquid came into view.

“Try this.”

I glanced over to put a face to the masculine voice and found myself staring into some blue-ass eyes.

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll get right on that. Because you know, I always accept drinks in bars from strange men.” No matter how fucking hot they are .

He smiled. Of course, there wasn’t a snaggletooth in the bunch. “It’s for the stain before it sets. Club soda.”

“Oh, okay.” I dabbed a napkin into the glass and then onto my shirt. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I turned back to see Christa eye-fucking him. She didn’t usually go for the Norse god types, but whatever.

“He’s not good enough for you. ”

I whipped my head back to Thor. “Excuse me?”

“The guy you’re with. He’s not good enough for you.”

Just how long were you standing here, anyway? “And just who the fuck are you?”

I didn’t care if he was single-handedly responsible for getting the stain out of my favorite pale pink shirt, that didn’t give him the right to act like he knew my business.

“I’m—”

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. Thank you for the soda, but our conversation is over.”

He chuckled, which for some reason made me more pissed off. I swiveled my back to him and looked at Christa. Her eyes were wide.

“Wow, bitchy much?” she said.

“He deserved it.”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to take yourself off the market. Continue acting like that and you’ll scare them all away.” She rubbed her lips. “But damn… weren’t you looking at the same thing I was? I think I just had the best sex of my life.”

I shook my head slightly and narrowed my eyes, indicating that I didn’t want to discuss this at the moment.

She waved her hand. “Don’t worry, he already left. I can still see him, though, and I’m just about ready for round two.”

My lips curved up, and I relaxed a bit. Yeah, maybe I was a tad on the bitchy side. The dampness clinging to my skin was making me irritable, topped off by a lack of sleep. I’d gotten home at seven that morning and only slept for a couple hours before Dre stopped over for his relationship talk. My night out had an expiration date, and it was coming due any minute.

As if reading my mind, Christa asked, “So, you’re done with the graveyard shift now, right?”

“Yes, thank God.” I wasn’t meant to be part of the undead, and even though it was only for two weeks, it really messed up my body clock. “Training is over and I get to start regular hours on Monday.”

“Good. Now we can be on the same schedule again and… uh, that guy?” She flicked her head. “He’s watching you.”

“Maybe he’s watching you.”

“As much as I’d like that to be true, I’m pretty sure it’s you.”

I turned around to find him staring. He smiled with his perfect lips, showing perfect teeth. There was a girl draped over him, and he wasn’t even trying to hide his attention towards me. Jerk . I flipped him off, which made him throw back his head and laugh. Asshole .

“You’re on a role tonight,” Christa said, pushing over my half-filled glass. “And you haven’t even finished one drink yet. You’re making me look like a lush.”

“Did you see that?” I asked. “He’s here with someone and yet he’s openly gawking at another woman.”

She shrugged. “What do you care? You’re with Dre now, right?”

I really didn’t want to get back into that discussion with her, not when my head was starting to muck up. I just wanted to return to the apartment and crash hard. “Hey, do you mind if we make it an early night? I’ll make it up to you another time. You know I’m good for it.”

“Club JoJo’s?”

I smiled. “I’m in.”

She gave me a wide grin and clapped. Now that I was done working nights, we could hit the clubs again. If she thought anything would change between us just because Dre and I were going to try out official coupledom, I was determined to prove her wrong.

I sucked down the rest of my murky green stuff, which wasn’t as appealing now that it was warm, and slung my purse over my shoulder. All I could think about was how soft my pillow would feel underneath my head.

Christa whacked my knee and I glanced at her. Her eyes were darting between me and something off to the side. Dammit .

Thor was standing next to me, his curvy sidekick nowhere in sight. He was so freaking attractive, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Christa could drool over him all she liked; I was keeping my tongue planted firmly inside my mouth.

Before I knew what was happening, he slipped something over my neck. What? Dozens of shamrocks lay against my chest. Like I didn’t have enough of them littering my hair; they seemed to be dropping from the ceiling. I gripped the necklace to pull it off, but he rested his hand over mine. If he thought this was Mardi Gras and I’d be exchanging beads for a kiss, he’d be disappointed when he got my fist instead of my lips.

“For luck,” he said, removing his hand and putting it back where it belonged.

“Listen, Thor. I—”

“Thor?” He looked amused. Shit . “Would you like to know my real name?”

“No, and you don’t need to know mine either.”

“It’s—”

I shot Christa a sharp dagger that killed her words. I didn’t know what she was hoping to accomplish by telling him who I was, but I wasn’t appreciating it very much.

“Enjoy the rest of your evening, ladies.” And with that, I watched him head out the door, wondering what the fuck had just happened.

“What the hell, Christa? What was that about?”

“Oh my God, Perry. Are you blind?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There’s no way you can tell me that you’re not interested in that .”

“So he’s good-looking. He wouldn’t be the first guy who is.” Fuck, she was making this difficult for me. “Did you completely ignore everything I told you tonight?”

“I just don’t want you to do anything rash.”

“I don’t want to either, and that’s exactly why I’m considering this. ”

“It’s just that… I’ve known you long enough, and you’re happier when you and Dre are off instead of on.”

“Please don’t start, Christa.”

“Why are you still wearing the necklace?”

I sighed, then pulled it off, dumping it on the bar top. “What necklace?” I grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Do you want me to stick around, in case Dre shows up?”

“No, that’s all right. If he hasn’t by now, I’m sure he won’t.”

Christa nodded, collecting her purse. I had no idea if he’d even tried calling or texting since my forgotten phone was charging on my bedside dresser.

“Okay, ready,” she said.

The woman who was hanging off Thor earlier breezed past us and went outside. “I wonder if he’s out there waiting for her.”

Christa’s eyebrows knitted together. “Um, once again, why do you care?”

“I don’t. I just said I was wondering.”

She shook her head like she didn’t believe me for shit, but that was fine. I really didn’t care, and I’d rather not run into him again.

I didn’t need any blond-haired, blue-eyed men giving me any more unwarranted advice or dressing me with another Irish trinket for luck .

Between all the shamrocks and four-leaf clovers floating around, I was inundated with all the damn luck I could stand until next year. If I opened my mouth wide enough, I would choke on them.

We were almost out the door—of the pub aptly called Lucky’s—when I darted back at the last second and snatched the necklace off the counter. I’d decided I was wrong.

What the hell. A girl can never have too much luck.