by C. J. Lake
When Pellican got up to grab another beer, Matt reached for the remote and started flipping, and Tray looked restlessly around the room. “Bardo—you got blackjack on your phone?”
“Yep.”
“Here, throw,” Tray said, holding up his hands. So Jamie pulled out his phone and tossed it to him.
“Why don’t you just get it on your phone?” Matt asked.
“Nah, I can’t,” Tray replied, already distracted. “I’ll play too much.”
Just then Andy came into the living room. “Hey, do you guys want more—”
“Yes,” all three guys said at once, referring to the quesadillas she’d made earlier.
She smiled. “Okay, I’ll bring in another batch.”
“Thanks, babe,” Tray said. “Oh—Bardo, you got a text message. Do I have to open it?”
“Who’s it from?” Jamie asked.
“Lily?” Tray read, clearly not remembering the blond waitress from the Billiard Grill, who’d approached Jamie during his birthday dinner. In truth, Jamie had forgotten about Lily himself. It was probably because he hadn’t been to the Billiard Grill since that night. Although he still loved the place, it was kind of inconvenient to his new apartment.
“All right,” Tray said, pausing his blackjack game to read the message aloud: “‘Hey, J, haven’t seen you at BG lately. Was hoping you’d come back... I miss seeing you around…xo Lily.’”
“Hmm, somehow I don’t get that warm, fuzzy feeling when Tray reads it,” Jamie joked. “Especially when he says dot dot dot…”
Matt laughed at that. “Yeah, it kind of loses something,” he agreed—since Tray’s low, gravelly voice hardly captured Lily’s feminine charms. Nevertheless…
Jamie was intrigued. Sort of.
Well…
Enh, maybe not.
“She’s into you again, bro,” Pellican remarked as he re-entered the living room with a bottle of beer.
“Are you going to pursue it?” Matt asked casually, smiling as Andy returned with an aluminum tin of quesadillas and set them down on the coffee table.
“I don’t know,” Jamie said honestly. “She’s cute, I like her, but…enh. Not sure if I want to get into a thing with Lily right now.”
“How come?” Andy said. “No spark anymore?”
Thinking about Andy’s question for a second, Jamie speculated, “I guess there could be a spark. But…” He shrugged. “She already moved to L.A. once. Sure, she got discouraged and came right home, but she’s only twenty-two. It’s only logical to assume that she’s going to want to try again.”
“Make sense,” Matt agreed as he piled quesadilla triangles onto his plate.
“Damn!” Tray said suddenly. “I lost. Oh—another text, Bardo,” he said and tossed the phone back to Jamie.
When Jamie read the screen, he felt an unexpected hitch in his pulse.
“Lily again?” Pellican asked, diving into the food next.
“Jesus, she’s not going to text again,” Tragan said with a gruff laugh. “It’s only been two minutes!”
“Hey, you’d think so, buddy, but some girls don’t know when to quit,” Pellican declared. “Like that psycho stalker I met at Grendel’s last week.” Only vaguely was Jamie aware of what Pellican was saying—that he was reiterating a story he’d already told about a woman approaching him at the bar after Jamie had left to go home. It was while Pellican was waiting for his food order. He recapped how she’d asked him to pass her a napkin, how they started talking, exchanged numbers, and how the woman was now texting him around the clock with inane chitchat and persistent hints about going out. In fact, Jamie almost tuned out his friends’ conversation entirely as he read Sky’s text:
Out w/new guy. His nails are shiny-can’t tell if he’s got clear polish on or it’s the lighting. Thoughts?
A grin formed on Jamie’s lips as he sent her a thumbs-down emoji.
Ha, Sky texted back. But what if it’s just the lighting?
Jamie typed: The mere possibility that it’s not makes it a FAIL. Sorry, jmo.
That’s ok, I want your opinion, Sky wrote. His grin widened and he felt a surge of excitement in his chest as more text appeared on his screen. I’m in the ladies’ room; date’s almost over…
Are you having fun? he typed back.
Not particularly. Btw, he asked me to leave the tip.
FAIL.
Ha. I knew you’d say that!
Jamie chuckled softly at that response. “Who are you talking to?” Pellican asked, breaking the moment.
“It’s Sky,” Jamie said, glancing over. “I’ve been helping her out lately. See, she has to go on a bunch of blind dates, so I’m helping her figure out which guys aren’t worth her time.”
“Why can’t she decide that for herself?” Pellican said skeptically.
“Well, I guess she could,” Jamie reasoned, “but then she wouldn’t have access to my perceptive nature. So who wins there?” he added rhetorically.
“So…do you like her?” Andy asked, giving Jamie an almost conspiratorial smile as she took a seat beside Tragan on the couch.
For some reason, Jamie side-stepped the question and said, “Sky and I are just friends.” Damn, he really hated the sound of it now that he’d tried it. And it wasn’t in sync with how he actually felt, which is probably what prompted him to babble, “She’s cool—and very attractive, don’t get me wrong—but I kind of got a vibe early on…she’s extremely picky, sort of Fault-Finder-Girl when it comes to guys, and she’s got a little bit of a hot temper. Take the other night; her salad was missing carrot straws and she almost went postal. But then, luckily, I found them for her at the bottom of the bag,” he rambled on. “Anyway…Sky’s funny and sarcastic and she’s really sweet, too. I…” Suddenly he became more aware of himself. “Wait—what was the question?”
“Wow,” Matt said.
“You’re just friends?” Tragan said.
“Yeah.” For now, Jamie thought, but kept it to himself.
Then Andy tilted her head, looking gently inquisitive. “How come you’re not interested?”
Before Jamie could come up with an answer, Pellican’s phone rang, shifting everyone’s focus. Being that his ring tone was now the ominous theme song to the new Death Call Asylum game, it was hard to miss. Which was just as well since Jamie obviously couldn’t yet speak—or think—clearly when it came to Sky.
Reading the screen, Pellican winced and groaned, “Ugh, it’s Megan again.”
“Who’s Megan?” Tragan asked as Pellican shoved the phone back into his pocket.
“Who’s Megan?” Jamie repeated incredulously (though glad for a way to divert the conversation). “Tray, have you listened to a word this man has said since a woman asked him for a napkin a week ago?”
Apparently Tray had simply forgotten that Megan was the name of Pellican’s “psycho stalker”—but it was all the encouragement Pellican needed to once again recount the tale.
Chapter 11
After everyone had left, Tragan was sitting on the bed, waiting for Andy—who just emerged from the shower. “Nice…” Tragan said, as she entered the bedroom with her towel wrapped around her.
With a laugh, Andy rolled her eyes as she headed to her dresser. “I love having a greeter whenever I’m naked.”
Tragan grinned, already eager to get his hands on her. As Andy dropped her towel and pulled panties out of her top drawer, Tragan lost track of what she was saying for a second. “You know?” she finished. Reluctantly, his eyes traveled back up to her face.
“Wait, what?”
“I said: Jamie really likes that girl, huh?”
“Oh, Lily?”
Furrowing her brows, Andy said, “No—he’s not into Lily. I thought that was kind of clear.” After sliding her panties on, she grabbed a white tank top that always drove Tragan crazy¸ probably because it was practically see-through. Once she shimmied it over her head, Andy clarified, “I mean that girl, Sky.” Coiling her wet blond hair around
her fingers, she said, “He was lighting up every time Sky texted him. Didn’t you notice?”
“Sorry; I don’t notice guys lighting up, babe.”
Andy smirked. “All right, fine. Well, I noticed. I hope she likes him back.”
Tragan shrugged. “Either way, Bardo will be fine. He always is.”
Thoughtfully, Andy leaned against the dresser, then said, “I know how Jamie is with you guys. He’s sort of the funny one of the group—”
“Hey, I’m funny,” Tragan protested and Andy held up a palm.
“Yes, you’re hilarious,” she hastily agreed, clearly humoring him, “but about Jamie… Is he shy with women?”
Tragan shook his head. “Nah, he’ll talk to girls. The thing about Bardo is: he doesn’t have a game. He’s just himself.”
“But that’s what’s so great about him!” Andy maintained. “He’s a sweetheart. He’s like lava cake; he’s got that warm, chocolate center.”
“You know, he had a serious girlfriend for years,” Tragan mentioned.
Andy’s blue eyes widened. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
“Sure,” Tragan said, standing up from the bed. “They dated all through high school and then for a year or so after.”
“What happened?”
Tragan shrugged, before pulling off his tee shirt. “She went away to college and I guess it eventually fizzled.”
Now as Tragan’s hands slid around her waist, Andy pressed her cheek to his chest and murmured, “I just think he deserves a great girl.”
When Tragan wrapped his arms tighter, Andy seemed to melt into him. “You’re very perceptive, you know that?” he said softly. “You really pay attention to people.”
Andy pulled back to look at him. Smiled. “I try,” she said.
He couldn’t resist giving her a wicked grin then and saying, “Can you pick up on what I’m thinking about right now?”
Her mouth broke into a knowing smile as she shook her head. “First of all, you said perceptive—not psychic,” she pointed out. “However, I think I do know. I have the feeling it’s X-rated. Or at least NC-17?”
“No, X was closer,” Tragan said, suggestively pressing his lower body up against hers.
“And I have the feeling it involves me…” she managed, sounding a little breathless as she twined her arms around his neck.
“Definitely,” he murmured, nuzzling her ear.
“Now how did I know that…?” Andy whispered.
Perceptive was going to be his glib answer, but he didn’t even bother because they were already kissing.
Chapter 12
“Hey, you!” Sky said, rushing over to Jamie as soon as he entered Grendel’s a few nights later. “Good timing! Keith just texted me,” she said, holding up her phone. “He’s around the corner.”
“Cool,” Jamie said, smiling at her, then dropped a glance down at her outfit. She wore a cream-colored sweater that looked awesome on her, especially with her olive complexion, tight pants and knee-high boots. Damn, she looked sexy. He hoped this Keith guy was a real troll. “You look nice,” he said, understating it by a mile. Sky hesitated for a second and then sort of stammered a thank you. “Are you nervous?” Jamie asked. “For this guy?”
“No,” Sky replied, adding vaguely, “Not nervous for him,”
They both meandered over to the side, and now were standing at the corner of the bar. “Are you picking up?” a woman said from behind the bar. Both Sky and Jamie looked over.
“Yes,” Jamie answered. “Pick up for—”
“It’s Jamie, right?” the woman said with a brief smile.
“Right.” When she ducked back into the kitchen to get his takeout, he stated proudly, “Hey, they’re already starting to know me around here.”
“And I thought you came here tonight for me,” Sky said, pursing her mouth a little. It was supposed to be a look of slight disapproval, but somehow all Jamie saw were sexy lips pouting at him.
Still he managed an affable, unaffected tone as he assured her, “I did come for you. But hey, I’ve got to eat.”
“Well, if a person gets every single meal here, then, yes, I’m sure the staff might get to know his name,” Sky said dryly.
“Hmm, I see someone’s jealous that I’m more popular at the local establishments than she is,” Jamie said. “And you had a four-month jump on me,” he pointed out, then tsked with mock pity. “This can’t be easy for you.”
Sky started laughing at that, then abruptly tried to stop. “No—don’t make me laugh right now,” she warned. “I don’t want to make a first impression as some giggly girl when Keith walks through that door.”
“Oh, of course,” Jamie agreed. “After all, this could be the man of your dreams, right?”
Cynically, Sky rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Or another weirdo cheapskate.”
Now it was Jamie’s turn to laugh—though he couldn’t resist advising her, “Listen, Sky, about that adorable guy-hate thing you’ve got going…” He gave her a patronizing tap on the shoulder. “You might not want to lead with that.”
“Now wait a second. I don’t have ‘guy-hate,’” she said. “You make it sound like I’m not an equal opportunity hater and that’s just wrong.”
“So sorry for that,” Jamie said, matching her sarcasm. “Hate’s too strong a word anyway. But you can be a little contentious,” he said, recalling yesterday’s word in his Word-of-the-Day calendar. “Sorry, I’m expanding my vocabulary. See, ‘contentious’ means—”
“I know what contentious means,” Sky interrupted, tipping up her face a little smugly—which brought it just a fraction closer to his. Unwittingly, he inched closer, too.
“Damn,” Jamie muttered, meeting Sky’s gaze dead-on, but keeping his tone playful. “Why do girls always have to know more than me?”
“We don’t have to, Jamie,” Sky said, leaning in, “we just do.”
“I see…” Jamie murmured, distracted by her proximity, by how good she smelled. He broke their eye contact to gaze at her mouth. Her lips were a little shiny, glimmering with a hint of clear gloss. For an instant, he forgot that they were standing in a public place, at the corner of a bar, and that the bar was packed. He didn’t give a damn about any of that; he just wanted to grab her and devour her mouth right now.
When his eyes traveled back up, he found Sky looking at his mouth.
“Here you go,” the waitress announced, loudly reappearing and dropping a hefty takeout bag on the bar. “That’s $14.50.”
“Uh, thanks,” Jamie managed, reaching for his wallet. Damn, he’d really wanted to kiss her. Actually, for a few seconds, he’d almost forgotten where they were and that anyone else existed.
But the waitress wasn’t the only one intent on interrupting.
“Sky?” a deep male voice said. Jamie looked over, unreasonably annoyed by the guy approaching. “I’m Keith.” He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten all about Sky’s date. The reason he’d been summoned down here via text, the reason Sky looked extra pretty tonight. As Jamie appraised the guy, he was skeptical. Surely it took more than being tall, polite, and well-dressed to win over Sky.
“Wow, I’m very pleasantly surprised!” Keith declared, clearly noticing her prettiness as well. (Of course, who wouldn’t? Jamie thought. She looked hot as hell tonight.) “To be honest, Alison’s no-photo rule had me pretty freaked out, but I went along with it—nervously—but now I’m glad that I did.”
“Thank you,” Sky said. Her bright smile was sincere; Jamie could tell. “Alison obviously takes this whole old-school approach of hers very seriously,” Sky added, still smiling at Keith.
“Tell me about it,” Keith laughed. “I felt like I was about to meet my bride for the first time, stepping off a covered wagon.” Sky laughed out loud—legitimately laughed! What the hell? Jamie thought, while jealousy began to twist in his gut. She seemed genuinely charmed and amused by his guy. Keith’s expression sobered and his voice took a deeper timbre when he said, “In all
seriousness, though, Sky, you are absolutely gorgeous.”
“Wow, thank you,” she said, clearly flattered. Jamie noticed a faint blush come to her cheeks, which only made her complexion prettier and sultrier.
Well, shit, if she was going to be taken in by the most clichéd flattery…
Of course, in this case, it happened to be true, Jamie noted. Damn she really was so beautiful.
“Shall we sit down?” Keith said, motioning for her to lead the way toward the dining area.
“Yes--oh! I forgot,” Sky said, looking over at Jamie. “This is my neighbor, Jamie.” She might have felt obligated to introduce them because she’d been talking to Jamie when Keith arrived. Or, Jamie hoped, she cared about Jamie’s opinion and wanted him to get a read on the guy.
After exchanging a brief hello, Jamie picked up his bag of food and Sky turned to go. “Well, have a good night,” he said.
“Thanks—you, too!” Sky responded, shooting a cursory glance over her shoulder as she walked toward the dining area. Keith followed behind. And that was when Jamie noticed something…
Grimacing, he shook his head, disgusted.
Okay, he hated the guy now.
On his way to the door, Jamie overheard Keith say, “I hope you’re hungry!” and couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Hope you’re hungry? Really?
Protectively, he couldn’t resist glancing back one more time. Now Sky and Keith were at a table, about to sit down, when Jamie observed something else—and it was all he needed to see.
Hesitating at the entrance, he tried to get Sky’s attention again as she took her seat, but she was too busy laughing at something Keith was saying. Damn, how could Jamie give her the signal if she wasn’t looking? When her eyes moved off Keith for a moment, Jamie made a last-ditch effort to signal her again. He honestly wasn’t sure if she’d noticed.
“Excuse me,” two people said, pushing through the door. He shifted over to let them through and realized that he couldn’t keep lingering. He’d just have to talk to Sky later, he thought, aggravated as he stepped out into the gusty night. One thing was obvious: this guy did not deserve her. Hopefully she’d see it for herself.