Chapter 16
Raelyn
“Is it just me, or does she have perfect breasts?”
“Who?”
“Her.” Haleigh pointed to the pretty blonde on the stage as she complained, “They’re so perky and round. Do you think they’re real?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Well, they’re great. It makes me wish I had boobs like that … and an ass like hers, too.” She slumped in her seat. “I’ve got to start working out.”
“Stop,” I fussed, “You look great.”
“I don’t look that great.”
While I hated that Conor and his brothers had to deal with an altercation, I was grateful that it wasn’t very crowded.
It gave me a chance to get used to being around all the naked women—something Rebecca and the ol’ ladies said would take time.
Haleigh was clearly struggling in that area, so I tried to redirect her focus. “Well, Locke seems to disagree.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“I do. I mean, look at him.” Locke and Conor were over at the bar getting us another, and just as I’d expected, Locke was staring directly at Haleigh, and rightly so. She looked amazing with her hair pulled up and her cute, little, black halter top. “He can’t take his eyes off you.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
Haleigh glanced over at him, and a smile swept across her face when she noticed him staring back. Her eyes remained fixed on him as she leaned over to me and asked, “So, what do you think about Locke?”
“He seems great, but it doesn’t matter what I think about him. The question is, what do you think about him?”
“I really like him… like, a lot, and that scares me a little.”
I understood that fear. I’d felt it myself, but when I peered over at Conor, I knew in my heart that he was worth the risk. I hoped, in time, Haleigh might feel the same way about Locke. “Just give it some time.”
Locke and Conor brought our drinks back to the table, and Haleigh’s eyes lit up when he sat down next to her. “Are you two having a good time?”
“We are.” Haleigh smiled as she told him, “I think we’re finally starting to get used to the whole strip club thing.”
“I still can’t believe neither of you have been to one.” Locke turned to me and added, “Especially you.”
“Why me?” I shrieked. “Do I seem like a strip club kind of girl to you?”
“No, nothing like that.” He shrugged. “It’s just Haleigh told me some stories about you two, and I figured you’d get a kick out of it or something.”
“Stories, huh?” I gave Haleigh an appalled look. “And what exactly did the little gossip tell you?”
“It was nothing,” Haleigh quickly answered. “I just mentioned a little about your bucket list and how it’s kind of the reason why we got arrested.”
“Yeah, that was my fault, but I’m done with the crazy stuff—at least for a while.” I took a sip of my sangria, then added, “My father will have a coronary if I get arrested again.”
“I’ll have one, too.” Haleigh rolled her eyes. “I’d be okay with never being arrested again. It’ll take us months to get in all our community service hours.”
“Yeah, but at least we get to hang out with puppies while we’re doing it.”
Haleigh giggled. “This is true. I just hope I can get out of there without one of us bringing any home.”
“You can say that again,” Lynch scoffed. “Rae tried to get me to take one yesterday, and she was pretty damn convincing.”
“You’re going to get one of them?”
“Umm, nooo.” Lynch chuckled. “She wasn’t that convincing.”
“Then, I’ll just have to try harder next time.”
Before Lynch could respond, one of his brothers walked up to the table and pulled back a chair.
He was tall and broad-shouldered like Conor with long, dark hair, pretty, brown eyes, and the kind of smile that immediately drew you in.
He pulled back a chair, and once he was seated, he turned his attention to me.
“You must be the little jail-bird I’ve been hearing so much about. ”
“Maybe.” I smiled. “I guess it depends on what you’ve been hearing.”
“Something about you being a bit of a daredevil, and one of your stunts landed you in jail.” A wicked grin slipped across his lips. “That sound about right?”
“Yeah, I’d say that was pretty close, but like I was just telling them, I’m done with all that.”
“You sure about that?” He motioned his head towards Conor as he asked, “’Cause you’re taking a pretty big risk getting tangled up with this guy.”
“You think so?”
“Oh, yeah.” His grin grew even wider. “Lynch is a real ball-buster.”
Conor gave him a hard shove. “Fuck you, Country.”
“See!” Country whined like a kid, “He’s mean, and he’s been battling erectile dysfunction for years.”
Conor looked positively livid as he growled, “Country!”
“I appreciate your warning, but I’m good.” I glanced over at Conor and smiled. “I think he’s definitely worth the risk.”
“Okay, suit yourself.”
“Don’t you have some place to be?” Conor asked. “Like at home making up with your girl?”
“You’re probably right about that.” Country stood, then patted Conor on the back. “You guys try and behave yourselves.”
As soon as Country left, I leaned over to Conor and teased him, “So, how long have you had issues with erectile dysfunction?”
“Don’t start with me, woman.”
“It was just a simple question.”
“It’s a question you already know the answer to.” His eyes grew fierce. “Or do you need reminding? Because I’d be happy to jog your memory, right here, right now.”
“Well,”—I giggled— “when you put it like that.”
“You got it.”
“Whoa, hey!” I gasped when he started to stand. “I was kidding! I was kidding!”
A satisfied smirk crossed his face as he sat back down next to me. “That’s too bad. I was looking forward to hearing you scream out my name like you did the other night.”
“Oh ...”
“Don’t worry.” He leaned over and kissed me on the neck. “I’ll take care of you later tonight.”
During our little exchange, it seemed more of the crowd had started to clear out, and there were only a few people remaining. Even several of the brothers had gone home for the night, so other than a couple of die-hards, we basically had the place to ourselves.
Haleigh and I took a quick bathroom break, and when we returned, Conor and Locke were at the front bar talking to one of the brothers.
I’d never seen the man before. He was older, more intimidating than the others, and he looked pissed.
I was trying to figure out what had him so riled when I heard Haleigh announce, “We should go to Mexico.”
“Mexico?”
“Sure, why not?” Her blue eyes danced with excitement as she continued, “We could stay at a nice resort and spend our entire day floating in the pool and sipping on fruity drinks.”
“Hmm... That sounds amazing. I’d love to go, but I have this thing called a job, and we both have like a bazillion community service hours that have to be done.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that,” she fussed. “I just wanna spend a few days doing nothing at a beach somewhere.”
“Okay, fine. We’ll go.” I looked over to Conor and watched as he talked with his brothers. It didn’t take long for my mind to go right in the gutter, which led me to ask, “What about Conor and Locke? Are we taking them with us?”
“Well, of course.” She leaned in closer and giggled. “We’ll need some eye candy while we’re floating around the pool.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
When the guys returned, neither of them spoke of their conversation with the man at the bar. Instead, they simply ordered us another drink, and we continued on with our night.
As soon as we finished off our drinks, we ordered another.
And another.
And with each drink, I became a little more open, a little less reserved, and a tad more goofy—something that happened whenever I partook in drinking alcoholic beverages.
I couldn’t seem to help myself when I turned to Conor and announced, “I really shouldn’t drink.”
“How come?”
“I say things I have no business saying.” Before he could ask, I leaned over to him, my shoulder pressing against his, and admitted, “Like, I think you are incredibly hot. Like, really, really, really hot. Probably the hottest guy I’ve ever met, and the things you did to me last night were hot. Really, really hot.”
“You enjoyed that, huh?”
“Mm-hmm.” I slipped my arm through his, inching a little closer. “And Haleigh did, too.”
He almost spit out his beer when he coughed. “Come again?”
“She heard us,” I whispered.
“Oh, damn. Sorry about that.”
“I’m not. I’m not sorry about any of it.” I looked up at him and smiled. “In fact, I think we should do it again.”
“We will.”
“You sound awfully sure of yourself.”
He gave me a sexy wink. “That’s because I am.”
“See? That’s what I’m talking about.” I rolled my eyes and huffed. “So damn hot.”
When I turned to get my best friend’s confirmation that Conor was too hot for his own good, I found her staring at a tall brunette dancing on the stage closest to us.
She was absolutely mesmerized and watched her every move.
After studying her for several moments, Haleigh finally muttered, “I think I could do it.”
“Do what?”
“Dance like that.”
“Seriously?”
“I wouldn’t wanna take my clothes off, but I could put on a show.” I knew that fourth melon ball was getting to her when she started swaying back and forth in her seat. “You just have to spin around and move your hips.”
“I think there’s a little more to it than that.”
“Yeah, you have to be all sexy and stuff, too.” She ran her hand from her abdomen up to her neck and puckered her lips. “Gotta touch your boobs and butt and give the guys sexy looks.”
“You have to stop.”
“What?” Haleigh stood and started dancing next to me. “This is a great song. Come on and dance with me.”
“Not a chance.”
I looked over at Locke and Conor, and neither of them were any help.
In hopes of getting her to stop, I stood and reached for her, but she was too quick for me.
She spun around in a circle, then sashayed around the table as she bit her bottom lip and tried to make seductive facial expressions—the key word being tried.
I attempted once again to rein her in and scolded, “Haleigh.”
“Ugh, what?” She huffed out and whipped around to face me. “You think you can do it better?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You do!” A wicked grin slipped across her face as she sassed, “Let’s see what ya got, girlfriend.”
“I’m not dancing!”
“Why not? Are you chicken?” She perched her hand on her hip, then cocked her eyebrow as she goaded, “I dare you.”
Oh, son-of-a-nutcracker!
The little backstabber actually dared me.
She knew better than anyone I couldn’t refuse a dare.
I stood there and glared at her with my fiercest, go-to-hell stare, then rolled my eyes and muttered, “Fine, I’ll do it, but only because you dared me.”
I turned my attention to Conor and found him staring at me with a very amused look on his face. It was a look he would soon regret.
I stepped over to him, and his eyes locked on mine as I parted my legs and inched forward, carefully straddling his knee.
I tilted my head back and closed my eyes.
I let the deep, heart-thumping base of the music become my guide as I started seductively swaying my hips.
It was slow and steady, just the right rhythm for a dance like this.
I dropped my hands to Conor’s shoulders, then dipped lower.
My hips were slightly above his as I rocked them back and forth.
I brought one hand up, then slowly raked my fingers through my hair, then arched my back and writhed with my breasts just inches from his face.
I was really starting to get into my little expose’ when I heard Conor growl, “That’s enough. ”
“What?” My eyes flew open, and to my surprise, I’d drawn the attention of most everyone in the club. “Oh, shit.”
Embarrassed, I immediately dropped to Conor’s knee and couldn’t help but notice that he had a massive erection.
My embarrassment quickly turned to arousal, causing me to clench my thighs.
When the tip of my knee raked across him, Conor placed his hands on my hips and warned, “Careful, babe, or you might get more than you bargained for.”
“Is that a threat?” I leaned forward, raking against him once again as I placed my mouth near his ear and whispered, “Or a promise? ’Cause I’ll take either one.”