Chapter 10
Liam
The beer I keep sliding back and forth between my hands on the tabletop is piss warm when I take a pull from it. It’s no wonder. I’ve been nursing it since we got to the bar an hour ago.
My mood has tanked since this afternoon. Complete nosedive straight into the ground.
The show we saw? Complete waste of two hundred bucks.
Four, if you include Jordan’s ticket, not that I paid for hers.
I’m quite certain that she saw as much of the show as I did.
I mean, okay, I saw some of it, but I didn’t follow more than a few seconds of it.
Swimmers swam, acrobats flew, divers dived.
Pretty sure there was some music to go along with it.
Did anyone sing? Couldn’t tell ya. Did they dance? No idea. Do I care? Not a lick.
What I did care about was where Jordan’s head was at. She hardly spoke a word to anyone before the show, and afterward she disappeared so damn fast no one but Savanna knew she was gone, catching a ride back to the hotel with her parents and Savanna’s dad.
Unlocking my phone, I pull our text messages up for the dozenth time since we got here.
Me: You okay?
Jordan: Yep
Me: Want company?
Jordan: Maybe later
I wanted to respond to it. Fuck, did I ever. My fingers still itch to type a response asking her to let me know if that maybe changes into a yes. But I can’t do it. I’m not the type of guy who is going to beg any woman to sleep with me.
Even if that woman has me doing all kinds of things I wouldn’t normally.
“Hi,” a female voice comes from my right.
Glancing in that direction, I refrain—barely—from rolling my eyes.
This is the fourth woman to come up to the table looking at me like I’m going to give her a good time.
Which generally wouldn’t be far from the truth.
Hell, if I were looking for it, I would have bought the first woman a drink and entertained the idea of taking her back to my hotel room for the evening.
Problem is, I’m not looking for it. From any of them.
“I’m Lindsay,” the woman introduces herself, despite me ignoring her.
Giving her a nod of acknowledgement, I shift my body toward Brody who is nursing his own beer, appearing disinterested in everything around him. I know better, though. He’s been watching every interaction with interest.
Her body heat enters my personal bubble as she inches closer to me. “You look like you want to buy me a drink.”
“Ma’am,” I say with feigned politeness that does the trick. She looks appalled at my use of the word. “If you think I look like a man wanting to buy you a drink, I suggest you take lessons on how a man should act when he’s interested.”
Wide eyes blink at me. It’s like no one has ever said no to her before. And maybe they haven’t. She’s definitely not ugly. In fact, if my dick weren’t so interested in a certain brunette that wasn’t here, it might twitch in her direction.
“How about you, sugar?” Lindsay eyes Brody beside me.
He snorts. “Not a chance.”
With two rejections, a hand suddenly slaps over her mouth. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. Are you here together? I didn’t pick that up, but…”
“We both like pussy,” Brody pipes up, looking bored. “Just not yours.”
The hand slips from her mouth to slap down on the table. With her jaw nearly beside it, outrage colors her cheeks a bright red while daggers shoot from her eyes. “You just—you—you don’t know what you’re missing!”
“Nothing. Now leave.”
My cheeks are puffed out to keep my laughter on the inside.
Being next to this woman, I’m a tad concerned I’m going to be the one hit because of Brody’s mouth, and laughing might just be the thing to push her over the edge.
Thankfully, after giving him the middle finger, she does as he says and leaves the two of us at the table.
“Dude,” I bust out with the laugh I’ve been holding. “What the fuck?”
I’ve never witnessed Brody be such a dick. Not on a scene, not at the bar, not at the pub. Nowhere. He’s usually quiet, only saying what he has to when he has to, and it’s never anything like that. Makes me wonder if he’s fucking someone and they disappeared on him too.
“What?” he glares at me accusatorily. “Normally you’ve already picked up a woman and I’ve gone back to my peaceful state. Tonight I’ve had to listen to more than one.”
He’s got a point. Back home when we go to the bar—not 10-42, but the actual bar—I either zero in on a woman and approach her, or if I don’t see anyone I fancy off the bat, I’ll let the women come to me.
I’m not too picky when I choose the latter option so generally the first woman with the guts to come up to me is the winner of the night.
“Where is she?” Quinn appears in the vacant spot the other woman vacated.
My brow furrows. “Who?”
“The prettiest one. Which one is she?”
The table we claimed overlooks the dance floor and is across a walking path from the bar. We’ve got a pretty good view of the whole place from here and she sweeps her hand over all of it.
I shrug, uninterested. “You tell me.”
Her black shaggy hair flies around her head as she shakes it. “No. No, you see the guy at the bar over there?”
I know the one she’s talking about. She’s been standing there for twenty minutes talking to him.
He’s still standing there, not even feigning to be looking elsewhere.
He’s watching her with Brody and me. The guy definitely has an interest in Quinn, and he should.
She’s a good time, but she ain’t a long time.
Vegas is as perfect for her as it was supposed to be for me.
“Yep.”
“I’m very interested in going back to his hotel with him.
But I can’t remain interested because every time I look over here, you’re turning some girl away.
And not just any girls—gorgeous ones. Ones that I would flirt the night away with.
” A finger pokes into my bicep with each word she speaks next, emphasizing them. “What is wrong with you?”
The first one didn’t hurt, but by the fifth one, the spot she’s poking is sore. Quinn is mighty. Strong as hell. The strongest female I’ve ever met. She can bench more than some guys I know. But I refuse to rub the spot.
“Nothing. Maybe I just don’t feel like fucking tonight.”
Her attention turns to Brody. “What did you do to him before I got here? He’s broken.” Her attention swings back to me. “All I’ve heard from you for the last two months is how excited you are to be in Vegas so you can drink, gamble, and fuck. You’re broken. Why are you broken?”
“I’m also curious.”
“Why? Because your peace is being disturbed?” I ask Brody. “Dude, newsflash, you’re at a bar.”
“There’s lots to observe. I can’t observe if I’m constantly being interrupted.”
“Why are you broken?” Quinn interjects, tugging on the rolled up sleeve of my navy blue button up.
“Who’s broken?” Savanna asks as she slides up next to Quinn. She and Nate were dancing along with everyone else, but only she appears now.
“Liam. I don’t think he’s looked twice at a woman tonight.”
The glee that crosses Savanna’s face has my stomach dropping. With that one look, I can tell I’m in trouble. I know that she knows what’s been going on with Jordan and me; Jordan verified it. Hypothetically at least.
“Maybe he’s thinking of the hellcat from the other night,” Savanna suggests, smiling deviously at me.
My jaw ticks as I clench my teeth together. I knew she was going to be trouble.
“Oh please!” Quinn says dismissively. “There’s no way that Liam is still thinking of a—holy shit, look at your face. Are you still thinking of the hellcat?”
I cast a sideways glare in her direction but don’t say a word.
“There’s no way. You don’t think about the women you sleep with after you sleep with them. How is this possible?”
“Not true,” I defend. “I have to think about them on the nights no one is warming my bed.”
Quinn grabs my arm. “Crisis averted, everyone. He’s still in there.”
Savanna giggles. Brody snorts. I think I’m home free.
“So Liam, have you looked twice at anyone here tonight?” Savanna implores, squashing my home free thought.
I pin her with my stare. She knows damn well who I’m thinking of.
She knows the only one occupying my entire brain is the one not here.
The one who never heard from me how fucking good she looked in that little outfit she had on.
The one that I didn’t get to enjoy at the bar tonight.
Though, I suppose maybe that’s a blessing in disguise considering when I first saw her and that douchebag standing together, I didn’t know how I was going to keep my hands off her.
That fucking dick. He ruined tonight. I wanted to put my fist through his face when I saw them.
He was making no attempt to hide his appreciation for her, which I suppose I can’t blame him because she looked like a twenty in a room full of ones, but that asshole had no right to look at her.
To ogle her and make her uncomfortable, which she clearly was.
I couldn’t even see her face and I knew she hated the situation.
Nate would say that was me trusting my gut, but all I had to do was look at her body language and I knew. I also knew what I had to do.
“Sure,” I tell them all as casually as possible. I shoot Savanna my signature half smile. “Saw a brunette earlier that tickled my fancy, but she disappeared. Haven’t seen her since.”
Hah. Take that, Savanna.
“Was it the hellcat?” Savanna presses.
Normally this woman is sweet as pie. Sweeter at times. But every once in a while she loves to bust my balls. From the day we met. I wouldn’t change it but fuck it’s annoying sometimes.
“Are you guys seeing this?” Quinn questions, incredulous. “The only times I’ve seen Liam fucking King light up like this is when he got his new bike and when Tosha officially became his.”
I try to school my features, but at the mention of Tosha, I lose the battle with my smile. My dad has sent more pictures, and every time I get one, I’m excited to see how my pup is doing.