Chapter 25
twenty-five
CHAINS
“You spent the whole night with Daisy? Doing touristy stuff for hours and not just fucking? And you fucked her more than once?” Lincoln scratches his head. “Do you think there’s something wrong with him?” He aims the question at Asher.
“I’ve always thought there was something wrong with Chains.” He smirks over the rim of his glass. “But yes, spending time with a woman is not like him at all. If I didn’t know Chains so well, I’d say he was catching feelings.”
I grimace. “Catching feelings? Who the fuck says shit like that?” I signal to the server for another shot of whiskey. After the meeting I ran out of last night, I met up with the boys to go over it in the bar attached to the private gambling room.
“There’s no other way to say it. You closed down the waterfall and set up a romantic picnic, went to the Eiffel Tower—yes, we know all about it,” Asher says when I’m about to question how he knows.
“And then have her stay in your hotel suite. Your suite. No woman apart from staff has stepped into your room. So, if that’s not catching feelings, I don’t know what is. ”
I down the whiskey. The liquid burns the back of my throat, and I welcome the discomfort.
“It was an ass move leaving her with a note and letting her fly home on her own. I like Daisy; she’s a nice girl. Makes me wonder what she sees in you,” Lincoln says.
Lincoln isn’t wrong. What does she see in me? After leaving her alone and sending her home, she’ll probably hate me now.
I had to leave. When I woke up, she was snuggled in my arms, and I didn’t hate the feel of it, so I panicked. I’d organized her breakfast and trip home, and after that, sat in the bar until Lincoln and Asher joined me.
“What are you going to do about her when you get home?” Asher asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you going to apologize for being a dick?”
I frown. “Why would I do that?”
“So you can keep hanging out with her. Maybe start a relationship… that’s if she’ll have you after the stunt you pulled.”
“She would be stupid to,” Lincoln adds with a chuckle.
I throw him a filthy look. But he’s right. She would be stupid to want anything more with me. “I’m not apologizing for anything. She knew what the night was about. Knows it can’t go further. She doesn’t want more either.”
Asher raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that? She’s not the usual type of woman you hook up with. She seems like a relationship type of girl.”
“Not what she told me. She wanted no strings. For years, she’s done the relationship thing and wanted to try something new.”
Both Asher and Lincoln give me a skeptical look. “If you say so,” Lincoln says. “Is she going to play the field for a while until she’s ready to settle down? Good on her. I’m sure I could introduce her to someone who’ll show her a good time.”
My hands ball into fists. “Don’t you fucking dare,” I grit between clenched teeth.
Lincoln slaps the table and laughs. “I knew it. You do have feelings for her. Who knew you had a heart inside that chest of yours?”
“It’s kinda cute watching him fall in love,” Asher chuckles. “Never thought I’d ever see it.”
“Should we start planning his bachelor party? I’m thinking a few nights in Ibiza might be fun,” Lincoln suggests.
“Since we’re both his best friend, we’ll have to do a coin toss to see who’ll be his best man.” Asher digs his hands in his pockets like he’s searching for a coin. He pulls out a poker chip.
My jaw tightens. “Will you two stop? There is no relationship. I’m not falling in love. And there won’t be a bachelor party. For fuck sake, you’re like brainless teenagers.”
They both fall back in their chair and laugh.
“You should see your face.” Lincoln points in my direction. “I’ve never seen you look so scared.
“Is it so hard to believe this is more than a one-night stand? That you actually like Daisy a lot, and this could be something more?” Asher has stopped the teasing with his hard-hitting questions.
I rub my palms up and down my thighs. This conversation is making me uncomfortable.
We don’t talk about feelings. Because we fucking don’t have them.
They were ripped out of us at a young age.
“Even if I did like Daisy as more than a friend, I’m not wired to have a relationship.
You both know that. I fuck around. I’d only hurt her. ”
“How long has it been since the first night Daisy showed up at the club?” Asher asks.
“About a month ago. Why?”
“And you’ve fucked how many women since then?”
My lips thin, and I stay silent.
“Zero,” Asher provides the answer. “The number of women is zero. If that doesn’t say something, I don’t know what does.”
Fuck, he’s right. I haven’t touched anyone since that night. It hasn’t even crossed my mind. When I thought about having sex, it was with Daisy. No one else interested me. No matter how much a woman tried to flirt with me.
“I’ll tell you what it says,” Lincoln chimes in. “You’re falling for Daisy, or maybe you’re already in love.”
“Do you know how nuts you two sound? If there was an ounce of truth in what you’re saying… if I’m falling in lo—” The word sits like a lump in my throat, and I cough in my hand to clear it. “If I’m falling for her, nothing can come of it. We live such different lives. It would never work.”
Lincoln and Asher both sit in silence. Like they know I’m right.
After a moment, Asher speaks up, “You’re right.
You come from different worlds. I’m not sure how you’d fit together and make it work.
Daisy has seen your life and hasn’t run away screaming.
She actually followed you here. I think she’d be fine.
It’s you I’m worried about. Do you care enough about her to try and fit into hers? ”
Fuck no! I can’t fit into hers. She’s kind, caring, and into her church and faith.
I’d be like the devil stepping into it, setting it on fire and destroying everything.
“You can’t fit a round peg into a square hole, no matter how much you force it.
” My life would blemish all that is good about her.
My heart is dead… cold. Yet, whenever we’re together, it’s like there’s a soothing warmth trying to thaw it out.
“Maybe you shouldn’t force it. It could all just have to do with acceptance. Compromise. If she matters to you, surely you’d think of some way to have her in your life,” Asher says.
I shake my head. This is getting too deep.
I can’t deal with feelings and emotions.
“No, this is bullshit. You’re making a big deal out of one night in Vegas.
Stop playing with my mind. This is only about sex.
I got it, and like every other woman I’ve fucked, she’s out of my mind. I’ll move on to the next one.”
“She’s not like any other woman though, is she?” Asher persists.
“She may not be like any other woman, but she’s not one I want a relationship with either.” I’m moving on.
“If that’s the case…” Lincoln nods his head in the direction of a woman sitting nearby.
Her long dark hair is tied into a high ponytail.
She’s supermodel-tall. Slender with caramel skin.
The V of her white top plunges to her navel.
Her pink skirt rides high up her firm thighs.
She’s gorgeous. “That woman has been eye fucking you ever since she arrived.” She has?
I didn’t notice her before now. “Show us how you’re moving on. ”
Lincoln is daring me. He thinks I’m too hung up on Daisy that I won’t accept. I’m done here and ready to get back to my old ways.
She smiles seductively and wiggles her fingers in a little wave. She looks like she’d be a good time.
Yeah, I can have her if I want.
I push out of my chair. “I’ll be busy for the next couple of hours. Don’t disturb me.”
Leaving their smug, disbelieving faces, I amble over to her.
I’m ready to prove the fuckers wrong.