Chapter 10 #2
“Please tell me you got the hellcat’s number,” Quinn presses, gripping my upper arm. “Is she still in Vegas? Have you seen her again?” Suddenly her eyes light up. “You should invite her here tonight!”
“What are we talking about?” Nate asks as he comes up behind Savanna, his arms wrapping around her to set two drinks on the table.
“Liam inviting his hellcat to the bar!” Quinn says excitedly.
Taking in a deep breath, I let it out as slow as possible. “So she can be swarmed by all of you? Not a fucking chance.”
“Oh my god, he admits it!” she squeals in a voice that’s better reserved for Savanna or Hailey.
Oh fuck. I didn’t mean to admit to anything. This is going sideways quickly, and I’ve got Savanna to thank for all of it. Glaring at her, I silently implore her to fix this, but all she does is smile slyly at me.
“Calm down, I’m not admitting to anything. I’m simply saying, I would never bring a girl around all of you,” I tell Quinn. Then to Savanna, “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“I am. Payback is a bitch,” she tells me with a laugh.
It may have been a year ago when she and Nate met, but Savanna has a memory on her.
I gave the two of them the gears when they were first getting together.
Not that Jordan and I are getting together, at least not like Savanna and Nate, but I can see where she figures this is her opportunity to make me squirm a little.
It’s working.
“If you got her number, maybe you should invite her,” Nate suggests. “I’d like to meet the woman who Liam King is still talking about days later.”
Savanna, who is taking a sip of the drink Nate put down in front of her, chokes on it, spluttering all over herself.
Karma is a bitch.
“Let’s make one thing clear,” I say, pointing my beer bottle at each and every one of them. “I’m not the one that keeps talking about my fabulous sexcapades. That honor belongs to all of you.”
And it’s an honor Nate wants no part of.
Not that I can tell him that.
“Liam!”
Hearing my name called, I turn to find Savanna hurrying down the hall that leads out the door of the bar.
I’d spent enough time suffering in the bar where I never wanted to be in the first place.
Brody and I decided to split a cab back to the hotel, but he decided to hit the head while I went to find a ride.
Didn’t think our absence would be too noticed.
Quinn went back to the guy at the bar, Hailey and Luke haven’t been seen in hours, and Nate and Savanna, along with her brothers and best friend, were on the dance floor the last I saw.
“What’s up?” I ask when she reaches me.
She bites down on her lip, picking at her fingers in front of her. “Are you mad?”
I can’t help the smile. Savanna hates upsetting anyone, even if it’s in jest. I suppose it goes back to her ex and the abuse she suffered at his hands. Some habits, sadly, die hard.
I give her a playful nudge to the shoulder. “At you? Never.”
She gives me a tight smile before throwing a glance over her shoulder as if she’s trying to ensure we’re alone. Which can only mean one thing.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you two hypothetically stopped dancing around each other,” Savanna says, stepping closer to me so that she can keep her voice down but still be heard.
“Sav…” I caution. There was no dance. We flirted. I flirt with everyone.
Putting her hands on her hips, her lips form a thin line, her brows furrowed. “Oh, pull your head out of your butt. I’m not Nate, and you two are not subtle when you think no one is looking. Newsflash, Liam. I’ve been looking for months.”
It’s my turn to look over her shoulder. If we’re going to have this conversation, I need to make sure Nate hasn’t followed her, and Brody doesn’t sneak up on us. For being a giant, he can be a ninja.
Dropping my shoulder against the wall, I lean against it, crossing my arms over my chest. “Look, sure, there’s always been attraction. She’s gorgeous. I have this thing about flirting with gorgeous.”
“I’ve seen you flirt with some of Nate’s aunts. You flirt with anyone.”
I grin, lifting a shoulder to my ear. What can I say? I don’t discriminate. “All I’m saying is it’s not hard to flirt with her.”
“And that’s it? Before this week you’ve never thought of anything more than flirting with her?” she asks, raising her eyebrows in challenge.
I raise my own, accepting the confrontation. If she doesn’t like what she’s about to hear, that’s not my problem. “You want me to admit to fantasizing about fucking Nate’s little sister? I’m a warm blooded male, Sav. Of course I’ve rubbed a few out with her in my thoughts.”
Expecting her to look disgusted, I’m surprised when her eyes roll in exasperation. “No shit, Liam. I’m shocked. That’s not what I’m talking about.”
I wait for her to continue because I have no clue what she means.
Releasing a sigh that I hear over the bass, she throws her hands up in the air. “You’ve never even considered the idea of opening yourself up to more? Maybe taking her on a date?”
“I don’t da—”
“Yeah, yeah,” she cuts me off, “that crap about you not dating. I’ve heard it all. But it’s never crossed your mind?”
Reaching up, I rub my chin with my thumb and index finger, the scruff I’ve sported for the last couple of days getting longer. “Sav, before today I’d never even been on a date, so no, I’ve never thought about it.”
The change in her is instant. She stands straighter, her eyebrows raising in interest. “Before today? Oh my god. Was today a date? The Grand Canyon was a date?”
My mouth opens to answer her, then closes. When I open it again, no words come out.
Today was a date. We specified that it was.
But that’s not what strikes me as strange.
It’s the fact that I spent days researching the Grand Canyon just so I could take Jordan, and I wonder if I didn’t follow through on it until the very last minute because subconsciously, I knew that it would be a date.
Because subconsciously I wanted it to be a date.
And I don’t fucking date.
Until today.