Chapter 19
Willow
What the fuck is wrong with me? What in the actual fuck, is wrong with me?
These were the thoughts that rushed through her mind as she watched Ezra pour the first glass. The only mixer they had was off-brand lemon-lime soda, but at least it was better than straight vodka.
Ezra pounded a shot and set his glass down with a heavy clunk.
“Do you usually drink it straight?” she asked, taking a measured sip.
At least he hadn’t made it ridiculously strong, but she still didn’t quite trust his motive.
She didn’t think he was trying to get her drunk to fuck her.
He could have her stone sober. This was more of the game.
If her inhibitions were lowered, then he could get more answers.
I’m not telling them about Billy. Nothing good would come of it.
“Yeah. Just get the job done without any of that.” He waved a hand at the bottle of soda. “What do you like to drink, Willow?”
They watched her closely as she took another taste. “I like wine… or cider.”
Ryker leaned in after downing his own drink. “What about sake?” A wide grin spread across his face. His eyes traveled down to her mouth, like he was ready to pounce.
“Yes!” she said, excitement filling her. “There’s this new restaurant on Cedar that has something like six different kinds.”
“I’ve heard of it,” he said, his voice lowering to an almost suggestive note.
He wants to take me there…
Ezra’s stare was almost painful as he watched the exchange. Ryker didn’t seem to notice, or chose not to. Instead, she felt the brush of his foot along her shin under the table.
Heat erupted under her skin. She wanted to go there with him, maybe both if Ezra was interested. She drank the rest of her glass in a couple gulps. This anxiety over their affection was getting to her. She wasn’t supposed to feel like this. But how could she not?
Ryker cocked an eyebrow. “Another?”
“Yes,” she muttered. “Please.” Maybe she could numb herself enough not to care.
He obliged as Ezra poured another for himself. Instead of chugging it, though, he said, “Let’s make this interesting. Let’s play Truth or Drink. We take turns asking a question, and everyone has to answer… or you drink instead.”
Willow rested back in the chair and closed her eyes. Of course, he would suggest a game like that.
“Let’s do it,” Ryker said quickly.
“What do you say, sweetheart?” Ezra’s eyes practically twinkled with mischief. His friend leaned in, eager for her answer.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh.
He grinned. “Okay, we’ll start easy. Do you like your job?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “The only crappy part is the guys who assume I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Need us to pay them a visit?” Ryker said, almost giddy at the prospect. His hair had fallen into his eyes, and he pushed it back. He may have been the sweeter one, but he could be just as much trouble as the brunet sitting across from her.
She took a drink.
That got a laugh from both of them, and she couldn’t help but smirk as well. Warmth from the liquor radiated through her nerves. Okay. She needed to pace herself. Ezra wasn’t going to go easy.
“Aren’t you supposed to answer, too?” She aimed the question at Ryker. “What is your job anyway?”
He looked down at the floor. “Uh, I paint houses.”
Was he ashamed of that? Why? “And no… I don’t exactly like the job. But it helps with you know… the other one. I can get into more places when wearing my work clothes.”
“I see.” Again. She had to remember these were dangerous men. Even if they were wrapped up in ridiculously hot packaging.
It was Ryker’s turn to ask them a question. “Worst hookup. Go.”
“Damn, Ry,” Ezra scoffed. He tipped his chair back. “Really just going for it? Not even gonna get us warmed up?”
Ryker spread his hands. “Answer or drink, man.”
He rolled his eyes. “You already know it, dickhead.” Then his gaze flicked to Willow, and he muttered, “A girl puked on me.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that forced its way out of her. “Oh, my god.”
Ezra fidgeted with his glass. “Yeah, so it’s your turn.”
Sensing that the questions would get worse the longer the game went on, she decided to answer. “Nothing that funny.” He shot her a playful glare. “Sorry, unfortunate. Just the standard experience of a guy finishing faster than a football play.”
Ryker burst out laughing. “Wow.”
Ezra smirked and scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Hope no one disappoints you like that again, baby girl.”
“I hope no one pukes on you again.” That earned her another mischievous laugh from Ryker and a kick under the table from Ezra.
“My turn to ask,” she said, clearing her throat. “What’s your favorite hobby?”
Ryker snickered. “What the fuck are these questions? You have free rein to ask whatever!”
“Well,” she said, “maybe I want to get to know you beyond what I can see.”
“Do you like what you see?” Ezra tested.
“I don’t think it’s your turn to be asking questions,” she replied with a subtle flirtatious glance at both of them. “But I think you know the answer.”
Oh no. The alcohol is working.
She could feel her inhibitions loosening, and a dull panic of losing control fought for its place beneath the dulling effects.
“Fishing,” Ezra said. “Haven’t done it in a few years, but yeah. Fishing. When I’m not playing games with this dickhead.”
The photo she’d found earlier made that admission all too real. Maybe he had stopped once his uncle was no longer around. Perhaps the memories were too painful.
“I like fishing too,” she offered. It wasn’t a lie. “I used to go out on the lake with my dad a lot.”
“Why’d you stop?” Ryker asked. “There are lots of places to do it in Lakeview.”
“I moved away and no one to go with,” she said simply. Also, not a lie. Willow turned to Ryker. “Your hobby. Go.”
A glint of something devious flashed in his eyes, like he wanted to show her what his ‘hobby’ was. What a flirt. Though she wasn’t about to complain. She wanted to make use of the hobby he was hinting at right fucking now.
“I’m a simple guy. I just like video games.”
“Same,” she said.
What would it look like for them to all be hanging out together, playing a game?
She shook the thought away. She needed to stop being an idiot. There was nothing good that could come of getting involved with them. Billy wasn’t nearly as dangerous, but that hadn’t stopped his fucked up behavior.
Maybe she was doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
The evening went on with a mixture of tame and spicy questions they would hurl at each other. Ryker had once pissed in someone’s gas tank for revenge, and Ezra hated kimchi.
“How can you hate it?” she asked, her words beginning to slur a little. She was done drinking. If she didn’t want to answer something, she would take a fake sip.
“Right!” Ryker exclaimed before chugging water in hopes of staving off a hangover.
Ezra had migrated to the couch, his eyes drooping as sleep tried to pull him under. He shuffled onto his side. “Oh, fuck off.” He lazily swatted at the air. “You eat your cabbage, and I’ll keep eating Willow’s moans.”
Oh no.
What the fuck!
Her eyes found Ryker, who was giving her a strange look. Almost predatory. Her heart rate spiked, thumping so loudly that she couldn’t hear anything except the blood rushing in her ears.
He approached and leaned over the table, palms flat against the wood. “What’s he mean by that, pretty girl?”