6. Iris
6
IRIS
It’s Friday. The day I promised my two best friends we’d go back to the bar to see if he remembers me. It’s a long shot. I’m sure he meets more than a handful of beautiful women every week.
It’s not that I’m not memorable. I’m pretty enough to catch most men’s eyes even when I’m not trying. But if he had been interested, he would’ve said something to me or asked for my phone number at the very least…right?
“I feel stupid.” I stare at my reflection in the glass outside the bar. “I can’t believe I let you two talk me into this. You have the worst ideas.”
Sandy bumps me with her shoulder as her eyes catch my reflection. “You won’t be saying that when his dick?—”
“Stop,” I say quickly, turning to face her. “I’m not doing this for sex.”
Sandy raises an eyebrow as she stares back at me. “You sure about that?”
“One hundred percent,” I say without my voice wavering, which is impressive since I’m not sure I’m telling the truth. And by the look on Sandy’s face, she doesn’t think I am either. “Okay. Okay. Maybe eighty.”
She snorts. “Well, at least that thing isn’t dead,” she says as her gaze dips down my body. “I was starting to get worried.”
“I’m here. I’m here,” Mikayala says, running down the sidewalk in our direction. “Parking is a bitch around here.”
“You should’ve met us at Iris’s,” Sandy tells her, having zero patience when it comes to Mikayla’s ability to be on time—or, I should say, lack thereof.
Mikayla motions up and down her body. “This doesn’t happen as quickly for me as it does you.”
She is ridiculous. Mikayla is stunning and could easily go without makeup and still get hit on by plenty of men. She has a big chest, a flat stomach, an ass you could rest a drink on, and the deepest green eyes. Absolutely stunning. She is her own harshest critic, though, and picks herself apart more often than I am comfortable with.
“We’re here for Iris to land her man. Not you,” Sandy tells her with a disapproving shake of her head.
“Just because she’s here to get some dick doesn’t mean I can’t be too,” Mikayla replies .
I groan loudly and stare up at the night sky. “I’m not here for dick.”
Mikayla and Sandy laugh in unison as I roll my eyes.
“I’m not.”
“Oh. Okay,” Mikayla says as she reaches up to clasp my shoulders before spinning me around to face the door. “Then, in you go.”
The city street is surprisingly quiet, but I don’t realize it until I walk through the doors of the Hook & Hustle. Most of the people inside are staring at a professional basketball game on television and coaching from their seats at the bar.
“Men,” Sandy mutters behind me. “There’s a booth.”
I barely see where she points as my gaze drifts behind the bar, where Brax is standing. He isn’t looking in our direction because he’s too busy talking to a beautiful woman sitting at the opposite end.
“Damn. He’s better in person,” Sandy whispers in my ear before giving me a nudge forward.
My feet move, finally feeling like they aren’t stuck to the floor by his presence. “I know,” I say on an airy breath as I follow Mikayla to the booth in the corner.
I try to take the side with my back to him, but Sandy isn’t having it. She grabs me by the hips and pushes me toward Mikayla on the other side.
Mikayla stays standing, waiting for me to get in first. They’re trying to hold me captive—or, at least, that’s how it feels. I thought my best friends were supposed to have my back, not force me into something that could be another huge blow to my confidence. There is little left after Lucas, and I’m not sure a rejection from the hot bartender won’t take the last remaining sliver.
“How’s the food?” Sandy asks as she grabs the menus from the condiment caddy on the table. “I’m starving.”
“I didn’t eat anything when I was here.”
“I bet it’s good,” Mikayla says, swiping the menu from Sandy. “Italian bar has to have good food. It’s impossible for it to be bad.”
“Let’s hope,” Sandy replies as she stares down at her menu after taking it back from Mikayla’s hands.
I study the menu like I’m going to have an exam on it in a few hours. I shift in my seat, hating the feeling of dread that’s quickly taking root deep in my stomach.
“He’s looking,” Mikayla says. “Oh my God, he’s so dreamy too.”
Sandy glances over her shoulder as I peer up at her. “Damn, girl. If you don’t make a move tonight, I may have to end our friendship to have a piece of him.”
“You’re gross,” Mikayla tells her. “You’d never do that to our friend. You know she likes him.”
“Then she better start acting like it,” Sandy replies, giving my shin a kick under the table .
“He’s coming. Shit. He’s coming,” Mikayla says quickly, her voice all high-pitched and nearly a squeal.
“Damn it,” I whisper and take a few breaths, trying to get control of my anxiety.
“Iris.” His deep, rich voice hits me, making the butterflies in my chest swirl into a full-on tornado. “What are you doing here?”
I glance up, meeting his dark eyes. “Hey.” Somehow, my voice is strong and doesn’t quaver as I take in his stunning smile.
“I’m Mikayla, her best friend, and she told us about this great bar, and we just had to see you…it…for ourselves.” Mikayla gives Brax a sweet smile as I try to not choke on my own spit from her word slip.
Brax’s smile widens. “I was hoping you’d come back,” he says to me, completely ignoring Mikayla.
“You were?” I ask, shock filling my voice.
Sandy pats the pleather spot next to her in the booth. “Wanna sit?” she asks him. “I’m Sandy. The other best friend.”
“Brax,” he says to Sandy and then looks at Mikayla, finally acknowledging her. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
Mikayla doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that a moment ago, he was so into me, he didn’t even give her the time of day.
“You can sit,” Mikayla tells him when he doesn’t take the spot next to Sandy right away.
He pitches his thumb over his shoulder, but his gaze is firmly planted on me. “The bar’s busy, but I can get you guys some drinks to get started. And when it quiets down, if it does, I’ll come sit for a few.”
“I’ll take a Moscow mule,” Mikayla tells him.
“Cosmo,” Sandy orders as an homage to our favorite television series.
“Beer,” I say to him.
“You sure about that?” he asks me.
I nod. “One beer won’t hurt.”
Mikayla and Sandy stare at me, and I can almost see the wheels inside their heads turning after that tiny exchange.
“You got it,” Brax says. “I’ll be right back.”
When Brax is a few feet away, Mikayla shoulder checks me. “What was that?”
“What was what?” I reply, playing dumb.
“He knows what alcohol does to you?”
I had left that part of our evening together out of the conversation I had with them. I knew they’d read too much into it because they already had us in a long-term relationship in their heads.
“We did shots.”
Sandy glares at me. “And?”
I shrug. “I may have sleepwalked.”
“And?” Sandy asks again.
“I may have curled up next to him.”
Mikayla gasps. “How could you not tell us?”
“It didn’t seem important. ”
Sandy scrubs her hands down her cheeks. “It didn’t seem important.”
“You snuggled with the man, and it didn’t seem important?” Mikayla asks me, turning her body in the booth until she’s facing me.
“I woke up in my bed alone. Nothing happened.”
“Did he push you away?” Sandy asks, glaring at me.
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Girl,” Mikayla says, drawing out the single word. “No man who isn’t into a woman is going to let her snuggle up to him.”
“He’s just nice,” I say, but when I glance in his direction, he’s staring at me as he shakes what I assume is Sandy’s cosmo.
I smile at him, and he smiles back, making me squirm.
“You really are an idiot. I take back what I said earlier,” Sandy says to me as she shakes her head.
“You’re giving him your number before we leave this bar,” Mikayla tells me.
“What if he doesn’t ask for it?”
“He’s going to ask for it,” she replies. “And if he doesn’t, he’s a bigger idiot than you.”
“Yeah,” Sandy adds. “The space between you two was crackling with so much electricity, I was worried I’d get shocked if I moved.”
“You two are weird,” I say, trying to bury my face in the menu .
“Here we go,” Brax says, setting down Sandy’s cosmo and then Mikayla’s mule. “I brought you the lightest beer I could find behind the bar. Only three percent alcohol.”
“Thank you,” I say to him, taking the beer from his hands. “You’re really sweet.”
My fingers graze his skin, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the contact shocked me. But then again, it is winter and with the air being so dry, it happens often and when I least expect it.
“Just looking out for you. I wouldn’t want you wandering off in your sleep tonight before I had a chance to take you out on a date.”
Sandy and Mikayla both gasp, but thankfully, the sound is soft and hopefully quiet enough that Brax didn’t hear it.
“Me?” I ask, tightening my hold on the beer bottle.
“Yeah, Iris. You.” The soft smile on his face has my heart pitter-pattering a hundred miles an hour in my chest. “If you don’t want to, though…”
“She wants,” Mikayla says quickly, and it’s my turn to knock my knee into her so she’ll shut up.
“Sure,” I answer.
“Sure,” he repeats with a hint of laughter. “I’m almost wounded.”
“No. Yes. I’d love to,” I say.
It’s now or never. I can’t let Lucas’s shit behavior ruin my entire life. He already screwed up the last handful of years. Brax is sweet and handsome. I should at least give him a shot, especially after the easiness of our conversation after the bar closed and the morning after at the apartment.
“Yeah?” he asks, his face so full of hope.
“Yeah.” I smile up at him, hoping I’m not going to screw this up.
“Thank God,” Mikayla whispers as she clutches her chest.
“Will we be needing chaperones?” Sandy asks, but again, I ignore her and so does Brax.
“I’ll grab your number in a bit. Do you ladies know what you want to order?”
My stomach’s such a mess, I opt for the giant pretzel with the beer cheese dip. Anything greasy could send me over the edge at this point. I am so nervous I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep down much more.
Once we give him our order, he promises to be back soon to check on us. I sit there in shock, unable to say anything right away.
But as soon as he is back behind the bar, Mikayla is the first to speak. “Fuck me,” she mutters. “I thought for sure you were going to screw that up.”
“Me too,” Sandy says, reaching into her purse for her phone. “But I’m proud of you.”
“What if I mess this up?” I ask them. “I could mess this up.”
“How would you do that?” Mikayla asks .
“I could say something stupid.”
“I’m not sure anything you say would chase that man away. He is smitten. S.M.I.T.T.E.N,” Mikayla says, being overdramatic like she usually is.
“No, he’s not.”
Sandy stares at me, and I can read her mind. I’m an idiot. “You’re the smartest out of the three of us with some things and so damn dense about other things.”
“I take offense to that.”
“You would,” Sandy says. “I agree with Mikayla. I never once saw Lucas look at you that way. Not for a single moment.”
I don’t answer right away. I think about what Sandy just said and how Brax looked at me. Did Lucas look at me the same way? Maybe. I blocked out so much of our time together after he shattered my heart into a million pieces. It is almost impossible to think about any happy times we had together after what he did to me. The way he hurt me. How he embarrassed me.
“Not all men are like Lucas, darling,” Sandy says, reaching across the table to touch my hand. “You have to put yourself out there sometime, and I think Brax is the right person for right now.”
“I’ve never been good at casual,” I remind her.
“I know, baby. I know,” Sandy says as she pulls back her hand. “Maybe it won’t be casual. Maybe it will. Don’t label things right now. You deserve a night out with a nice guy who’s so handsome he could be a movie star. You deserve some laughs and some flirting.”
“She deserves some heavy petting too,” Mikayla adds with a giggle-snort.
Sandy nods. “A lot of heavy petting.”
I sigh as I glance in Brax’s direction. As soon as our eyes meet, he winks. Luckily, I’m not in the middle of swallowing my beer or I might have choked to death on the liquid.
“He’s dreamy,” Mikayla whispers.
“You two sound like you need to get laid more than me.”
“Does he have an older brother?” Sandy asks. “Because you’re right. I do. I deserve it too.”
“He has a younger one.”
Sandy wrinkles her nose. “I like my men more seasoned.”
“Then you’re shit out of luck.”
“How young are we talking?” Mikayla asks. “I’m not as picky as her.”
From her lips to God’s ears. Mikayla is an equal opportunity dater and makes no bones about it. She’s never been shy or embarrassed by anything. I love that about her too.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Shame,” she mutters against the rim of her mule.
The food arrives in record time, and Brax makes a point to bring it over personally. I haven’t seen him wait on any other tables besides ours. He’s too busy with the customers around the bar to wander into the main dining room. That means something, right? We’re special in some way. Maybe Mikayla and Sandy are right. Maybe he is smitten with me.
“I’ll be over for a bit once you’re done eating. Hard to eat and talk,” he says as he hands me the plate with a giant pretzel. “I gave you extra cheese dip.”
I smile up at him as I take in the three small bowls on the plate, which I know is overkill, but I’m not mad about it. “Thank you.”
“Smart man. The way to a woman’s heart is always through melted cheese,” Mikayla says as she grabs the ketchup bottle from the middle of the table.
“That’s what my sister says too,” he replies. “Be back in a few. Holler if you need anything.”
“Thanks,” I say again, not sure of what else there is to add.
“If you don’t get naked with that man on your date, I’ll be extremely disappointed in you,” Mikayla says, using a French fry to point at Brax’s behind. “I’d bite that. It’s built for biting.”
“I’m not a vampire.”
“I didn’t say drink his blood. Bite that ass, girl. Leave a mark.”
I gawk at her, blinking a few times. “What?”
“Claim it.”
“Who are you?” I ask her .
Mikayla tilts her head, studying his ass some more. “A woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. You either bite that ass or someone else will.”
“You’re seriously delusional,” I mumble as I tear my pretzel apart and wonder… Do people really do that? “I would never. I couldn’t.”
“You better expand your horizons.” Mikayla turns her head toward me, showing me her teeth before she snaps at me like a turtle. “If you want to own that ass, you got to claim it.”
“I need new friends,” I lie, because I know I have the two best friends in the world and all they want for me is the very best.
Although I have no plans to bite his ass, I know I want to see it…soon.