Chapter 16
Liam
“You ready for this? You’re going down, bro!” Luke says, rubbing his hands together as he approaches me where I’m standing at a bar-height table.
“Promise me you’ll enjoy your participation trophy when I kick your ass, Pookie. It’ll look like my drink bill,” I retaliate before tossing back the remainder of my beer.
It’s just in time too. The waitress—Julie—is on her way to our table with another round for the two of us.
With dinner over we all headed to what I like to call the adult playground.
Everywhere you look is fun and games. Supersized Jenga, arcade games, beer pong, pool, air hockey, golf, and basketball.
Not to mention the giant TV screens and large sitting area for those that would rather lounge.
Luke and I are shooting some hoops, dual style.
He’s set up at one net, I’m set up at the next, and the one that makes the most baskets wins.
We played two games before Sir-Leaks-A-Lot had to interrupt to take a piss.
Now that he’s back, it’s time I claim the throne as the rightful King. It’s fitting given my name.
“Here you go,” Julie says, setting down our fresh drinks.
“Thanks darlin’,” Luke says beside me, his Texas twang shining through. You can take the man out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas out of the man.
“Julie,” I grab her attention before she has a chance to walk away. I point across the bar to where Jordan is standing, talking with a couple of her aunts. “That woman with the brunette hair in the roperdilly—you’re taking good care of her?”
Beside me Luke snorts. “Yeah, you’d like to rope her with your dilly.”
Julie must hear things far worse daily. She hardly smiles at Luke’s comment. “She’s well taken care of, I promise. Also, it’s called a romper, and it’s hella cute.”
“He’d like to romp her too.”
Shooting Julie my most charming smile, I wave Luke off. “Ignore this immature jackass. I appreciate you taking care of my girl. We haven’t been dating long, so a good impression is key.”
Now she smiles. “Just don’t stop after the honeymoon period. That’s when it’ll go sideways.”
Noted.
No, what? What the hell am I thinking? Noted? There is nothing to note. In less than forty-eight hours this whole charade—and the real parts—is over. Everything ceases to exist. There won’t be a honeymoon period, or any other phases.
Is mourning a stage?
“Dude,” Luke smacks my arm, pulling me away from the question I don’t want to think about. “Seriously, you need to relax.”
“I’m relaxed.” For good measure I shake out my shoulders and tilt my head from side to side. I don’t have anything to prove, but I’ll be damned if I’m not trying to prove it anyway.
“You aren’t. There hasn’t been a time that poor waitress—”
“—Julie—”
“—has come over here and you haven’t mentioned Jordan.”
I lift my chin defiantly. “I’m being a doting boyfriend.”
“You’re being a doting something.” He eyes me up and down, eyes narrowing. “Don’t be an idiot. You know you’re not her real boyfriend, right? You don’t get to go screw her later tonight.”
“Yes, asshole. But to fool everyone that needs to be fooled, I’ve got to play the part convincingly. The aunts are eating this shit up.”
I’ve been the receiver of more than a few looks of approval tonight.
Word spread like wildfire at dinner that Jordan and I were together, but Savanna was strategic in placing us away from any family members to avoid questions until afterwards.
It mostly worked, though there were a couple of times that different aunts dropped by to make comments and ask about us.
“Nate’s an idiot,” Luke mutters but all it does is make me smile.
Nate is anything but an idiot. Nate is a motherfucking hero.
“You ready to lose?” I ask, taking a swig of my beer. I think most of us are laying off the heavy alcohol given it’s the night before the wedding.
“Ready to eat crow?” he strikes back, moving towards the basketball nets only a few feet away.
My phone vibrates in my pocket as I leave the table to join him.
I take a second to pull it out, even though he’s putting the tokens in the machine, discovering a new text from Jordan.
A smile spreads across my face faster than I ingest a protein shake after a workout.
This dating shit may be fake, but this is my one chance to test waters I’ve never dipped my toe in and still come out the other side unscathed.
The aunts aren’t the only ones eating it up.
Entering my password into my screen, I open my texts. At first I don’t know what I’m looking at, but then a second picture comes in while I’m looking at the first, and I swipe over to it.
“Holy fuck!” I shout, my phone flying out of my hands.
It hits the floor with a sick slap, but that’s not what has my heart pounding in my chest so loudly I can hear it thundering in my ears. When Luke makes a move to grab the device off the floor, I lunge for it, waving him off.
“Bro—”
“I’m good! I’m fucking good.”
Snatching it up, I clutch it to my chest like it’s my precious. Right now, it fucking is. There are things on my screen that are not meant for Luke’s eyes. But mine? Mine are about to fucking feast.
“Good, then let’s play, asshole!”
Looking at the basketball hoops, I realize the balls have been released, and the timer is counting down. Luke’s been a good sport about not starting, but he’s not giving me anymore time to recover from my outburst.
I don’t even know if my screen survived the fall, but I shove it in my pocket for the sake of saving face and grab a ball, tossing it at the net. It’s a miss. As are the next two. I’m distracted, and it isn’t the phone screen that’s got me fucked up.
Oh no, that honor belongs to Jordan.
The fucking brat who sent me a picture in which I know she was naked. Not that it showed me any of the goods; I have an imagination for that. How do I know she was naked? Because the first picture I looked at, I now realize, was of her roperdilly. Not on her body.
Luke’s right. I do want to romp her. Right fucking now.
Thirty seconds later, Luke’s jumping at me, an arm wrapping around my neck to pull me down into a wrestling position.
He’s feeling the high of winning the battle between us, but I couldn’t care less at the moment as I push him off me.
There’s just something wrong with having a buddy jumping on you when your dick is having a hard time controlling himself.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, you won.”
“Don’t be a spoil sport. But do enjoy my tab,” Luke laughs, heading back to our table.
With his back turned to me, I pull out my phone. Upon a quick inspection it doesn’t seem any worse for wear, thankfully. I didn’t get to enjoy that picture at all. Though that might be a good thing considering the way my dick reacted to a brief flash of it.
No part of me expected it. In fact, if someone had asked me what I thought Jordan would send me a picture of, a picture of her naked would be the last thing on my mind. That’s a level and type of trust I never thought I’d achieve with someone of the opposite sex.
Staring down at the second picture she sent me, her forearm is covering her chest while she gives me a coy, playful smile that screams she wants to be fucked.
I know that smile. She’s bestowed it on me multiple times in the last few days when she’s being cheeky.
I can almost always count on her being a brat when that smile comes out to play.
Like now. I can see her fucking outfit hanging on the hook of the door behind her, telling me that she snapped this recently in the bathroom. Since dinner. Maybe in the last twenty minutes.
Fuck. She was naked within the last twenty minutes and wanted me to know.
The things that thought does to my cock.
Shoving my hand in my pocket, I grab my dick, adjusting myself until I’m fairly certain no one will notice the raging hard-on Jordan has caused without being within touching distance. Fucking mind blowing.
My phone vibrates with another message. This time it’s a text.
Jordan: See? Easy access.
Looking up from my phone, I zero in on where she’s still standing with her aunts. Her attention isn’t on them though. She’s staring straight at me, a knowing smile lighting her up. When she gives me a little wave and then turns to her aunt, I nearly lose it.
She’s going to get it tonight.
Part of me is impressed that she’s being this playful.
When she originally came back into the restaurant after talking to Brody, she was rattled.
I know he said something to her, not that she’d tell me what.
It took some coaxing throughout dinner to get her to shake it off and come out of her shell.
Luckily we were seated in a corner—thanks Savanna—facing everyone, which made the persuasion a lot easier.
It's also probably one reason she’s being such a brat now.
“Gotta go, Pookie,” I slap Luke on the back. Not with the hand that was just adjusting my dick. “But this was fun. We should do it again soon. Real soon.”
With my beer in hand, I start heading in Jordan’s direction, tossing a grin over my shoulder when Luke calls out to me.
“Don’t forget your loser trophy, asshole! My bar tab will be pretty tonight.”
I won’t forget about it. But I will win my rightful title before the end of the night. First I need to discipline the reason I lost it in the first place.
Stepping up to the group of women that includes Jordan, Elizabeth, Savanna, Aunt Laura, and Aunt Shirley, I give them all an enchanting smile, ensuring I make eye contact with each one, saving Jordan for last. I purposely chose the spot between the two aunts, which just so happens to be across from Jordan.
“Ladies,” I greet, setting my beer down on the table in the center of them. “Are we enjoying ourselves?”
“You haven’t been to a family event in ages, child,” Aunt Laura scolds.
Aunt Shirley wraps an arm around my bicep. “She’s right, Liam. We haven’t seen this handsome face in too long.”