Power Move (Lakeshore Empire #3)

Chapter 1

Eva

Sporting events brought out the worst in people.

For masochistic but dedicated Cubs fans, that meant painful amounts of drinking.

Heading into the seventh inning stretch, the Cubs led by two.

Unfortunately, they were down by four an inning later.

In hopes of hitting the watering holes of Wrigleyville before the sad crowds showed up, our party left the friendly confines of the club level we paid too much money for.

“Can you both watch Callie?” Ellie, my best friend, asked myself and Jace, her sibling.

“Sure,” I said.

Callie O’Malley, one of Ellie’s sorority sisters, was of Irish blood but lacked any ability to hold her liquor. I resisted a strong urge to smack her as she tried to slam her hand on the hood of a guy’s car, fully stopped, to reenact a scene from Midnight Cowboy.

I mouthed an apology to the older man in the Porsche. Jace shot me a look like they couldn’t believe this bullshit. We did it because we loved Ellie, but neither of us fit in. Jace was better suited by Northalsted’s rainbow-flag-waving set of openings. I was much of the same mind.

We arrived at the club. Callie bitched that no one had given her a drink.

“That girl is trying my fucking patience,” Jace groaned. “I will not make it. I swear I won’t.”

I looked at Jace, hands on their small shoulders. “I promise you, friend, we will survive this onslaught.”

“Hey, ladies—and Jace!” Dia Hernandez gave a shrill, but inconclusive declaration. “Who wants shots?”

“I’ll get them,” I groaned, wanting a break.

Jace called. “I swear to god, Eva, if you leave me—”

I waved and departed, looking ridiculous as I approached the bar where a man refused to move. He turned and began to chat me up.

“Oh, a bridesmaid,” said the polo-wearing dickhead blocking my free movement.

“Hi,” I said.

“No Cubs gear? Are you here with the Giants?” He joked.

“I do not wear sports gear in an act of protest.”

“Protest?”

“They have shitty options for women. You mind moving, buddy?” I tried brushing past, something he read as flirtation.

“What are you up to after this?”

Great, a non-sequitur since he’s not even listening!

“I’m hanging with my friends over there. It’s my best friend’s bachelorette. My focus is on celebrating her!”

“Oh, really? Is she the hot little blonde?”

She wasn’t. That was Allison Florence, Ellie’s teaching coworker. I didn’t get along with her well, but her uncle offered the party bus for free since Ellie’s future father-in-law was a close friend. For a savings of three grand, I’d get over it.

“Nope. The bride is the one with the tiara,” I said.

I expected an offer to buy the drinks. Instead, he stared down my summer dress.

“Well, my place is around the corner—”

As he moved his body slightly, I slid quickly past and bellied up to the bar. Desperately seeking the attention of the bartender, I practically laid my breasts on the bar top. Men looked, but no one helped me. The intrusive man hovered.

“They don’t make them like this anymore,” he said.

I felt his eyes boring into my ass. I wanted to turn and yell but remained focused on shutting Callie O’Malley up. My eyes remained on the prize until the man clamped his hands on my hips. I turned to shout, but before I could, someone stepped in.

Davey

“I knew as soon as they put Rudy on the mound we were fucked,” Carlos sighed as we settled into beers at our favorite haunt.

“Maybe you could just buy him out. Does it work like that?” Joe, an old buddy asked.

“I don’t think it does, no,” I chuckled. “Someone needs to fire House. The man cannot manage a team.”

“It’s the Cubs,” Rudy said. “Every year, you think it will get better.”

“And every year it gets worse,” I added. “Yet, we’re in this toxic relationship and always come back for more.”

“I think I know what’s really happening,” Carlos said.

I wanted to listen to his delightful conspiracy theory, but all I saw was a pretty woman with honey colored hair trying desperately to get the bartender’s attention.

Her tits were the first draw and the reason I became distracted, but I soon trained my eyes on the man behind her looking ready to strike.

“Give me a sec,” I said.

Sensing trouble, I quickly ditched my beer and filed through the crowd to find the man gripping the woman’s hips from behind.

“Hey, buddy, you want to step off her?” I called.

He turned, enraged, and immediately backed off. I didn’t know if it was because he recognized me or appreciated that I had a good five inches and at least thirty pounds on his skinny little ass, but he backed off.

“We were just… talking.”

“Like hell we were!” The woman shouted. “You can fuck off!”

The guy glared in her direction, then cowered in mine, leaving.

I expected a thank you but got none. She turned back to the bar, ignoring me. I tried very hard not to stare, but I couldn’t help it. She was beautiful. The scowl on her face was more attractive yet. So, when she turned, giving me a look like “you’re excused”, I couldn’t help myself.

“I don’t owe you a thank you,” she said. “But I do appreciate that you did the bare minimum as a member of society to run the fuckwad off.”

I snickered. “Well, I’d hope someone would do the same for me.”

“Promise that if a woman grabs onto your hips, buddy, I’ll go after her. Sadly, the only woman who would do that is at the table over there that is waiting for drinks, and this bartender could give a flying fuck about me.”

I raised my hand, and the bartender nodded and approached.

“What can I get you, Davey?” He asked.

I looked at the woman.

“A round of shots,” she answered. “Six lemondrops.”

She made a face that showed she found her friend’s taste in drinks to be reprehensible, and I laughed.

“Make it nine. We’ll be drinking with them. Put it on my tab,” I said.

Incredulous, the blonde rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

The bartender put in the order.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s a bachelorette party, right?” I asked.

“Correct. It’s hell.”

I snickered. “Your sister?”

“Best friend,” the woman said. “But her friends… they’re… a disaster.”

“Drinking helps?”

“Debatable.”

I waved my friends over. Carlos and Joe popped around.

“This is my college buddy, Carlos, and my best friend since childhood, Joe,” I said. “And I have no idea why I gave you that backstory.”

Except I did. The more I talked, the more nervous I got. It was her big brown eyes. Damn, they were gorgeous. I’d not gotten a smile out of her yet, but I knew it would come if I persisted.

“I’m Eva,” the woman said. “And your buddy chased off a dickhead I would have handled.”

“He wouldn’t have forgiven himself for ignoring it,” Joe explained. “He has four younger sisters.”

“Oh, big family,” Eva said. “Well, nice for you.”

“Six of us,” I answered.

“Your poor mother.” A small smile spread with the joke.

“Indeed.”

The shots arrived and Carlos—now closest to the bar—carried them in the direction Eva directed. I watched as she paraded ahead, her hips swaying beautifully. I’d take her home tonight if it killed me.