“Agreed,” Izzy and Charli laugh.
Imogen rolls her eyes at her friends but continues on. “So yes, we’re a big happy family. And if you’re happy for us to adopt you, it will be that much bigger.”
I touch my hand to my chest and her words wrap around me. “Thank you,” I murmur. She couldn’t possibly know how much her words mean to me, but she’s truly touched me, right down to my soul.
Imogen seems to see something in my eyes and she gives me the sweetest little smile and nod.
“All the boys are coming soon,” Charli says, stealing my attention. “So, you’ll be able to meet them. But watch out for Jace,” she says with a gleam in her eyes as she looks across at Cami. “He’s a bit of a cranky ass lately.”
“Hey,” Cami defends. “He’s not that bad.”
“He is,” they all laugh.
Cami rolls her eyes and looks at me. “Don’t listen to them,” she tells me. “Jace is great, he’s just got a lot going on. His heart is hurting a little bit.”
“Oh?” I question.
She presses her lips together and gives me a tight smile, telling me there’s so much more to this story. “Yeah,” she starts. “We kind of have a bit of an on/off relationship. It’s a bit hard to explain, but it’s like we’re always so close to becoming something and it’s clear he wants more, but he’s always pulling away.”
“He loves you?” I ask though I don’t need her response to see the truth. He does love her and the fact that they’re not together is killing her. “It must be hard,” I say for just her to hear.
She gives me a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “It is,” she admits.
I give her hand a squeeze before reaching for her drink. “Here,” I say. “Tonight is about having fun. We can mess with him when he gets here.”
At that, her smile finally reaches her eyes. “Deal,” she laughs.
The night goes on and drinks are poured. I’m having an incredible time getting to know these girls and they’ve instantly welcomed me into their group. Rylee gets up and returns a moment later with a tray of shots that are all on fire and we join in, counting down from three before blowing out the flame and pouring the shot down our throats.
Izzy demands we all head out to the dance floor and with every one of us in complete agreement, we get up and squish our way through the hundreds of bodies dancing upon each other.
We make our own space and slowly spread out to push the other people away and give ourselves plenty of room to move. We go nuts, and with a smile on my face and a drink in my hand, I dance the night away.
It’s the perfect night for me and has already been exactly what I’ve been needing. I haven’t felt so relaxed since I was eighteen and carefree.
Charli suddenly squeals and throws herself at a man who catches her with open arms, and not a moment later, there are men all through our group. I look around in shock. Each of them are huge. They’re well-built and easily the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. Rylee and Chari had said something about their partners being MMA fighters, and that fact is clear just by looking at them.
“You’re fucking kidding me?” I hear from an oddly familiar voice behind me.
I turn on my heel and come face to face with the world’s biggest asshole and it’s not lost on me how he looks so damn good in his jeans and shirt. Though, I also notice that he didn’t really bother with the whole ‘black and white’ theme. None of the boys did.
“Oh great. You’re here,” I grunt. I mean, I was supposed to be having a great night. Not a night where I have to constantly dodge his bad attitude.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snaps.
“Me?” I scoff. “I have all the right in the world to be here. The question is, why the hell are you standing here in front of me, wasting oxygen?”
“I don’t answer to you,” he snaps with narrowed eyes.
I study him for a moment and cross my arms over my chest. “You… did you follow me here?” I ask as the thought pops into my head.
“You fucking wish,” he scoffs as he smirks at me.
A guy comes and barges his way between us and throws his arms over Luke’s shoulder. “Whoa,” he laughs. “What the hell’s going on over here?”
“Nothing,” Luke grunts, never removing his eyes from mine. “This is my new neighbor.”
At that, a wicked grin takes over the newcomer’s face. “Ah,” he says, offering me his hand. “You must be the feisty little thing my best friend’s been losing sleep over.”
I raise an eyebrow at his comment. I know he means that Luke’s physically losing sleep because of the whole speaker thing, but the way his friend has worded it makes it sound as though he’s crazy about me. “That’d be me,” I say, placing my hand in his and giving it a quick shake. “I’m Lexi.”
A smug expression crosses Luke’s face which completely confuses me, but I don’t dwell on it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the man says. “I’m Jace.”
“Ahh,” I smile. “So, you’re Jace. I’ve heard a lot about you tonight.”
“Jesus,” he grunts as his eyes flash across to Cami who laughs with the man clinging to Rylee. “I hope it was all good things.”
I can’t help but grin. “You’ll never know,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “Don’t listen to anything they tell you,” he warns me. “Now,” he says, letting go of Luke and taking me by the shoulders. He turns me back to the rest of the group. “Who needs another drink?”
With that, we all head back over to the table and I’m shocked to see it still empty. I was sure that the second we got up, we would have lost it, but I guess it pays to own the club. As we make our way over it occurs to me that the girls had said that the boys own a gym together, so Luke is most likely a Personal trainer or something along those lines. Maybe he’s a fighter like Cole and Xander. Whatever it is, it makes sense as he has a rock-hard body and eats like he’s never experienced the sweet taste of sugar.
We take our seats and I don’t miss how Luke sits as far from me as possible, and even though I purposeful look away, I feel his eyes constantly on me, burning a hole into my skin. I desperately want to look at him, but I don’t dare.
As we get comfortable, the girls go around and introduce all the guys, and as I’m busy trying to memorize the name that goes with the face, Jace returns with a whole lot of drinks.
He places them down on the table, slides in beside Cami, and throws his arm over her shoulder. She melts into him and tilts his head back to whisper something in her ear. I can’t help but watch as her face flushes and she smiles up at him.
It’s clear that whatever these two share is strong and it’s a shame that they can’t seem to work it out because from what I’m seeing, these two would make an incredible couple.
It doesn’t take long for Jace to announce to the table the connection between me and Luke, which apparently everybody already knows the story. The girls instantly burst into laughter as Cole and Caden smirk at Luke.
I finally look up at him only to look straight into his eyes. I feel like he holds me captive, that it’s impossible to look away, so I’m absolutely relieved when Cole steals the table’s attention. “So,” he says as he takes his beer off the table. “I got some news this afternoon.”
The guys all turn to him with questions in their eyes, while the girls wonder what the hell is going on. “We got the property for the new club.”
“What?” Caden asks with wide eyes. “Are you shitting me?”
“Nah, man,” Cole says with a grin. “It’s ours.”
“Fuck yeah,” Jace cheers.
The girls start cheering and the guys clink their glasses together. I look over at Luke who has a smile from ear to ear and it looks fucking good. I don’t really know what’s going on, but from the few details I’ve been able to piece together, the guys have bought a new gym. So, they’re either moving their gym somewhere else or building a second one. Either way, it’s exciting news and
I find myself extremely happy for them all.
“Come on,” Jace says, grabbing Cami and pulling her up beside him. “We need to celebrate.”
Chapter 8
Luke
She’s fucking wasted and who’s the sorry bastard who’s going to have to deal with it? That’s right. It’s me.
This is one of the main reasons I don’t want to bother with a girlfriend. I just don’t want to deal with all the bullshit that goes with it. I see my friends with their girls and they practically drool over them. Don’t get me wrong, I love the girls. They’re all incredible. But the guys are fucking whipped and that’s not me.
It’s been a great night despite her being here. The second I saw her, I considered leaving. I didn’t want to put up with that shit tonight, but then, it would have been a mistake. Sure, we mouthed off at each other at the start but once I came to terms with the fact that’s she’s becoming a bigger part of my life than I had originally planned, it was fine. In fact, it was actually kind of fun.
She completely lets loose in a way that I’ve never seen a woman do before. It’s like she was a kid going out for the first time. She had no fucks to give and just wanted to enjoy herself.
So naturally, she can’t walk in a straight fucking line.
The club closed an hour ago, but we’re all still here. Rylee and Cami are doing something behind the bar. Me and the boys haven’t stopped talking about the endless possibilities for the new club, while Lexi and the rest of the girls are somehow still dancing. Though, they lost their heels hours ago.
Hmmm. Lexi. I felt a massive win when she introduced herself to Jace. I was fucking smug, but I still can’t work out why the hell it matters. It suits her, though, and I was left wondering if that’s her real name or if it’s short for something.
I was smug right up until we walked over to the table and I had the thought that Luke and Lexi sound good together. I nearly fell over with the thought. I mean, what the fuck is wrong with me? What kind of grown ass man thinks like that? Luke and Lexi. For fuck's sake. I sound like a teenage girl writing in her diary.
“Dude,” Caden says, nudging me with his elbow. I tear my eyes away from Lexi and look over at him. “What’s up with you? You’ve been staring at this chick all night.”
“Nothing,” I grunt, purposely making a point of not looking back at her.
“Bullshit,” he says. “Are you into her?”
“No,” I laugh. What a fucking joke. Am I into her? “The woman is infuriating.”
“So you keep saying,” he says with a knowing grin. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot with her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not into her.”
“Alright,” he says holding his hands up. “So, what is it about her that you can’t stop looking at? Does she have a third tit that I can’t see?”
“Shut up, man,” I laugh. “It’s just… what is she even doing here?”
“You heard the girls,” he says. “Charli met her and invited her. Apparently, they’ve adopted her into the family.”
“For fuck's sake,” I groan to myself.
The conversation is finally cut short when Imogen goes down like a sack of shit before the girls start howling with laughter. “Shit,” Caden grunts as he gets up from the table. Cole follows and before I know it, our whole group is surrounding Imogen as Caden hoists her to her feet.
She throws her arms around him and attempts to whisper, only it’s loud enough that we can all hear. “I think we should go home,” she says with a seductive wink. “I want you to do that thing with your-”
“Whoa,” Cole cuts in. “I don’t want to hear what the fuck he’s been doing to you.”
I can’t help but laugh. We all know what they’re going home to do. They foster a little boy, Brandon, who’s having his first sleepover tonight, so with the rare night to themselves, I can only imagine what they’ll be getting up to.
And even though Cole says he’s fine with Caden dating his little sister, he’s still getting used to it and the more comfortable they become as a couple, the more they flaunt it.
Xander reaches out and pulls Charli into him. “I think it’s about time we go too,” he tells her. “We have that meeting with the wedding planner in a few hours.”
“Oh yeah,” she groans.
“What? You’re not excited about it?” he questions.
“I am,” she sighs with a groan. “Let me find my shoes.”
With that, Charli heads off to search the club for her shoes and all the girls follow. We all say our goodnight’s and I watch in amusement as Lexi waves goodbye and heads for the door.
I jog to catch up to her and come to a stop by herself. “Where do you think you’re going?” I question.
“Um, home,” she slurs as she swings her shoes around. The movement has her tripping over her own feet and I reach out to catch her. My hand clamps down around her forearm and I quickly release it, worrying that the simple touch could leave a bruise, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
“And how do you expect to do that?” I ask.
She grabs her purse and searches through it before ripping her keys out and nearly smacking herself in the face. “I can drive, you know?” she tells me.
I snatch the keys right out of her hand. “First of all, I’ve seen your driving. You suck. I don’t know how the hell you haven’t written that truck off yet, and secondly, I’m not letting you drive while you can’t even remember what day it is.”
“And you think I’m going to let you drive me home? You’d probably get lost.”
I stop her as we reach my truck and I indicated towards it. “Get in my truck,” I tell her.
“Uh, no thanks,” she says before pulling her purse up again and searching through it for the second time. “Have you seen my keys? They’re not in here.”
Fuck me. She’s completely annihilated.
I don’t wait for her to make the decision. I grab her around the waist, open the door of my truck, and throw her in. “I’m driving you home whether you like it or not,” I tell her.
“Not,” she replies with that angry crease between her brows.
“Tough shit,” I say as I close the door and head around to the driver’s side.
I get in my truck and start it up. It only takes a second for her to start pointing out why her truck is better. And yes, her truck is cool, but it’s not better than mine.
I roll my eyes and bite my tongue the whole way home as I know if I say just the littlest thing, she’s going to explode, and as fun as it would be to watch that happen. It’s nearly four in the morning and I’m fucking tired.
But I swear, if I get up in the morning to hear music blasting through my window, I’m going to scream.
For the first time all week, I’m able to pull into my driveway as the dumpster guy finally came back to get it. I come to a stop and have to nudge her as she gazes out the window, completely lost in her own world. “We’re home,” I tell her.
She flicks her head to me before thinking about what I’ve just said. A moment later, she finally comprehends. “Oh,” she says. “Right, ok. Thanks.”
She reaches for the door handle and I hold out her keys. “Hey, where’d you find them?” she questions.
I don’t respond, just watch as she takes them from me, hops down from my truck and starts walking across to her place. I watch as she fumbles around to get the key in the lock and finally manages after four dreadful attempts.
I hop out of my truck and I find my eyes still on her. She pushes the door open and hovers as she feels around for the light switch. She flicks it, but nothing happens. She tries a few more times and I watch as her eyebrows furrow in confusion.
Great. Another thing I’m going to have to fix.
“Hey,” I call out to her.
She looks up, surprised to find me still here. “Yes?” she grunts with an attitude.
“Your electricity is out again.”
“No shit, genius,�
�� she says.
I hold in a groan and take a slow deep breath. “Didn’t you get it fixed?”
“No,” she says. “You fixed it the other day, and then, I guess I forgot to call the electrician.”
This time, the groan comes out loud and clear. “You’re impossible,” I tell her.
“Yeah, well dealing with you is no vacation,” she replies with a huff before reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride.”
With that, she pulls the door closed with a bang that’s far too loud for this time of the night. I shake my head and try to calm myself as I walk to my front door. There’s a chill in the air and I find myself desperate to get inside to where it’s warm.
Then it really hits me. She has no electricity. She’ll spend the night freezing in the dark.
Fuck.
I turn on my heel, storm over to her place and push through the door that I know isn’t going to be locked. She squeals at the intrusion, but I don’t give her a chance to say a word. I follow the sound of her squeal, grab her around the waist and throw her over my shoulder.
She beats her fists into my back. “Put me down,” she demands.
“No,” I tell her as I walk straight back out the door and across to my place. “You’re sleeping in my guest room until you can get your shit sorted out.”
“Like hell I am,” she seethes.
“You’re telling me you’d prefer to sleep in a freezing house than in a proper bedroom with heating and lights?” I ask her as I shift her so I can dig through my pocket for my house keys.
“Yep,” she grunts.
“Bullshit,” I reply. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?”
“Why do you have to be such an ass?” she throws back at me.
“Because you’re stubborn.”
She groans and I ignore it as I get inside the house. I walk straight down the hallway with her over my shoulder, grab a towel out of the cupboard before pushing my way into the spare room.
Luke: Rebels Advocate (Book 3) Page 6