So why was what she knew Griffin Houser was up to with her making her feel like her heart was breaking? Why would anything a stranger do make her feel so full of emotion?
Jess had no clue as to why she felt that way. All she knew for sure was that she hoped like hell his heart ached like hers was when he found she’d gone without a word to him.
And she hoped her face would stick in his head for a very long time. She knew she’d be seeing his face in her dreams. He was the best-looking man she’d ever had interested in her. Then she reminded herself that he wasn’t really interested in her at all.
Jess was just a piece of ass to the man, nothing more or less than that. She could’ve been any woman that night. It didn’t matter who; it just mattered how quickly he could get what he was after.
Any female subject would do!
Chapter 11
Kel gave their cousin Marty the thumbs up as she had Ethan in a frenzy of desire and right where she wanted him to be when she ran out on him. The lights went lower, nearly all the way out.
“Time to close the pub, I think, Ethan. Is this where we end the night? Or do you want to get to know each other even better?” she asked him.
“I want you to come with me, Kel. Stay the night with me. I’ll take you somewhere nice,” he said as he kissed her neck. His dick was as hard as a diamond, and Kel was having a hard time not giving into the man. But she had to.
“Call a cab, and I’ll meet you outside,” she said. “I need to make a quick bathroom stop before we go. Girl stuff, you know.”
He grabbed her face and left a hard kiss on her lips, making them pulse even more. “I cannot wait to get you in that backseat. I hope I have the patience to get you to a hotel room before I devour you, my love.”
“Me too,” she said with a giggle. Then she left Ethan and headed to the ladies’ room.
The lights triggered Cait and Jess to make their getaways too. Cait had Phoenix go outside to hail a cab, and Jess sent Griff to get one too. The sisters made their way to the ladies’ room too and peeked around the corner, seeing the men exchange high fives, further pissing them off.
“Assholes,” Cait whispered. “They deserve those blue balls they’ll have to find ice packs for.”
Jess nodded in agreement. She couldn’t talk, as a lump had formed in her throat. She’d held out hope until that very moment that Griffin would do the right thing and let his friends know he was out of the bet they’d made.
Instead of the bathroom, the women went out a back door and got into Kel’s car that was parked in the employee parking lot behind the pub. They went out a back way and down the road to their family’s home. Not one of them felt like talking. The silence hung heavy in the air.
When they got home, Kel realized she’d left her purse at the pub. Her cell was inside of it. “Did either of you give your phone numbers to your guys?” she asked her sisters as they made their way into the large two-story brick home they’d grown up in.
“No,” Cait said. “Why, did you?”
Kel nodded, and Jess shook her head as she said, “That was foolish, Kel. They were only using us all. I think you’re still gullible.”
“Most likely,” Kel said. “I’m glad I left my purse at the pub. I’d probably answer Ethan’s call and sneak out to meet him. I’m such a dumbass.”
Cait wrapped her arm around her older sister. “You’re not a dumbass. You’re just sexually frustrated. You need to get some action, and soon.”
They went into the bedroom they’d shared forever and went to their closets to get out of their clothes and change into their pajamas. Each of them had a small twin-sized bed they crawled under the blankets of and all let out sighs as they lay back in their beds.
“Why do men have to be so shallow?” Jess asked her sisters as if they could possibly answer her question. They both seemed just as heartbroken as she was.
“God made some of them that way, Jess,” Kel answered. “They’re not all that way. Only the ones we know.”
“I think meeting a man at a bar and thinking he can be a good guy is the wrong thing to do,” Cait said. “It’s like going to a snake farm to pick the best pet for you. It’s foolish. They’re all snakes. There’s not a good one in the whole bunch.”
“You’re right,” Jess said. “You know, we’re fools to have even given those dudes a chance in hell. We should make a pact never to date or even consider messing with any man we ever meet in a bar anywhere in the world.”
Cait wiggled down in her bed to get comfortable, a thing she hadn’t been since she left Phoenix’s strong arms. “I think you’re right, Jess. We’ll have to help each other when we see one of us falling for a jackass’ lines.”
“I’ve got your backs,” Jess said.
“Me too,” Kel added.
“And I have yours too,” Cait said. “Let’s try to get some sleep now and put this terrible night behind us all.”
“Do you think there’s a chance they’ll go back to the pub tomorrow night?” Kel asked. “We all have to work tomorrow night and the next. What should we do if they come in looking for us?”
“Let them know that we know about their bet and fucked them over before they could fuck us over,” Cait said with a laugh.
“I don’t think we should be that damn honest with them,” Jess said. “I’d like Griff to hurt a bit. Just like I am. It’s amazing how quickly he got under my skin and made my heart ache. No one has ever made my heart hurt like this.”
“So we keep the fact we know their game to ourselves, then? If they come in, I mean, which I doubt they will,” Cait asked her sisters.
Kel agreed, “I think Jess is right. Let them think we ditched them for no other reason than we were playing them. Let that sink into their frozen hearts. Maybe it’ll thaw them out for the next females who come along in their lives.”
“Maybe you two are right,” Cait said. “But if I may be truthful, I’d like to say that if you two weren’t involved, I’d have helped Phoenix win his bet.”
“Thanks for the support, Cait,” Kel said. “And I knew that already.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jess agreed. “But thanks for staying with us. It’s not cool to play that way with all women. Some are fragile.”
“And some are young and inexperienced,” Kel said. “Men should know more about the women they play games with before going forward with them. I let Ethan know how I’d been hurt and he went ahead with his plan to try to win the bet.”
“I let Griffin know about me too,” Jess said. “And he too went on with the bet. I gave him up until the very end to change his mind. He didn’t do it. So I hope he has terrible dreams and finds himself missing me like crazy.”
The others laughed and agreed in unison, “Me too!”
As hard as it was, the young women closed their eyes and tried not to think of the handsome men who must be waiting outside the pub, wondering what was taking their women so damn long to join them in their sexual endeavors.
Chapter 12
In three different cabs sat the men who were sure they were all going to get lucky; it was just a matter of who got to who first. Each one had a strong opinion that it would be he who struck gold before the others.
They texted one another with taunts and jibes meant to demoralize their opponents. And it was Ethan who first asked the others if they thought thirty minutes was a bit too long for the women to be freshening up.
Getting out of the cabs, the men met at the entrance to the pub to find it was locked. They walked around the building to find the back parking lot was empty and the rear entrance was also locked.
“They ditched us!” Phoenix said as his face fell. “Why would they all three run off?”
“I have no idea,” Ethan said as he pulled out his cell. “I have Kel’s number, and I’m damn well going to ask her where the hell she is and go find her ass. She told me point blank that she’d go with me to a hotel.”
“Jess told me that too,” Griffin said with kind of
a weepy tone to his deep voice. “I can’t understand this at all.”
“Cait was all over me. There was never any doubt that she was as into it as I was,” Phoenix moaned as they went back to where the cabs were waiting on them.
Ethan swiped the screen of his cell as he frowned. “It went to voicemail. Kel’s not going to answer me tonight. I just can’t understand it at all. I told her we’d still see each other. I knew she’d been hurt before and that she was still healing. I didn’t mean to stop seeing her after our bet was done. Why the hell would she just leave me like this?”
The men let the other two cabs go and got into one that took them back to the bed and breakfast. No one wanted to talk as they rode back. All were completely perplexed by what the women they thought they were getting to know pretty well had done to them.
As they walked up the stairs, Ethan took out the card with the keypad code on it. “This just means we have to work that much harder to get them into our beds, guys. We knew this might not happen on the first night. Tomorrow is a new day, and this place is small enough that someone will know each of them. We’ll find our girls and let them know we’re not about to give up.”
Griffin gave him a nod, then took the card out of his hand and punched in the number. “Let’s be quiet. I don’t want to wake the old couple up.”
When they got inside, they saw gray light coming from what must have been a television in the living room. A man came out of it, wearing an old brown terry cloth robe. “Hello, gents. My wife told me you all were going to be coming in late. I’m Mr. O’Toole.”
Ethan shook the man’s hand. “Ethan Southern, sir. Happy to meet you.”
Griffin was next to shake the owner of the bed and breakfast’s hand. “Griffin Houser. A pleasure, sir.”
“And I’m Phoenix Nelson,” Phoenix said as he took the older man’s hand in a firm shake. “Thank you for being such a good host.”
“Not a problem,” Mr. O’Toole said. “I can’t imagine why you three look so grim. Didn’t you have a nice time while you were out?”
“A very nice time,” Ethan said. “But our girls left us hanging.”
“You had dates?” he asked them.
“Kind of,” Phoenix said. “We met three of the most amazing women any of us have ever met. And we all thought they liked us, but they must’ve been playing us all.”
“Where’d you go, might I ask?”
“Flannigan’s,” Griffin answered.
“My nephews own that place. A couple of brothers; my sister’s kids. I know most who go in there. What were the names of the women? I’ll probably be able to tell you if you dodged a bullet with them and got lucky they left you out in the cold.”
“Mine was named Kel,” Ethen said as he frowned. “She was a gorgeous little thing. I thought she was the beauty to my beast.”
“That’s not like her,” the man said. “Not one bit. And the girl you fancied, Griffin?”
“Her name’s Jess. She’s tall and blonde.”
“Yep, and she’s my great niece too. So’s Kel,” Mr. O’Toole said. “How about your girl, Phoenix?”
“Cait,” he said and was a bit surprised when he found the man nodding.
“That’s the other two’s sister. She’s the middle girl. They have a younger brother named Scott. He’s still in high school. Those girls are all pretty good girls. All hard workers, all go to college. I can’t see them ditching you three. They must’ve had their reasons.”
“Sisters, huh?” Ethan said. “They never mentioned that fact to us. That’s odd, don’t you think?”
“A bit,” Mr. O’Toole agreed. “They work the weekends at the pub. You could go back tomorrow night to see if you could find out what happened. Maybe there’s a logical explanation, after all.”
“Maybe,” Griffin said. “Goodnight, sir. We’ll see you at breakfast at ten.”
“Night boys. See you then.”
The men headed up the stairs, each wondering why the girls hadn’t bothered to let them in on the fact that they were sisters and that they all worked at the pub. The numbers weren’t adding up in any of their heads. And that was a thing they all decided had to be dealt with.
It was one thing to leave them without a word. It was a whole new ball game to cover up the facts they had. That night the men all had trouble sleeping as they couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to them.
Had they all been played by the sisters?
Chapter 13
The next evening had the three men going back to the pub, where they were all set on finding out not only why the women had kept the fact they were related from them, but also why none of them saw fit to tell them that they worked at the pub their father was a part owner in.
The smell of fried foods hit them as they entered the very busy Flannigan’s Pub and Grill. Ethan was first to set his eyes on Kel, who was taking an order at a table full of young men. She was laughing and joking with them, being nice, chipper, and what he considered to be a bit too flirty.
He made no attempt to slow his roll as he came up behind her. “Fancy seeing you here.”
She spun around and looked at him with a gaping mouth. “You as well. I thought you’d be long gone by now. And I’m working, so leave me be, Ethan Southern!”
“Is he bothering you?” one of the foolish men asked as he stood up from his place at the round table of six young men.
“Mind your business, boy!” Ethan growled at him. “This young woman and I have a history. Don’t we, love?”
She looked over her shoulder at the young man who’d come to her defense. “It’s okay, Charlie. I’ll turn in your order and bring your drinks right out.”
“You let me know if you need me to get rid of any riffraff, Kel,” Charlie said as he took his seat.
“Will do,” she said as she walked away with Ethan on her heels.
“You owe me …” That was all he got out before she spun around.
Her face was red with anger. “Do not tell me what I owe you. Take a seat or take a hike, Ethan!”
Her eyes flashed red, and Ethan thought he’d better give her a moment to calm herself. “I’m going nowhere, my love. I’ll be right here until you find time to talk to me. And we will talk, you and I.”
With a huff, she walked away, leaving him staring after her.
Phoenix spotted his curvy redhead as she was behind the bar, cleaning glasses. “Cait!” he called out to her.
She ducked her head when she saw him and hightailed it to the back where he couldn’t go. Or so she thought. When he went right back into the kitchen, she was shocked. “You can’t be back here!”
He grabbed her by the wrist as he spoke between clenched teeth. “You and I are going to talk. You can pick where that’ll be.”
“I don’t have to talk to you, Phoenix. Just let me go.” Her eyes darted back and forth, and she looked a little afraid.
He thought it might be because she and her sisters had some kind of a deal going. “I want to know why you lied to me.”
“I never lied to you,” she said as she struggled to make him let her go. His hand was making waves of heat move through her as she’d dreamt about the man making hot love to her all night long. Him holding her the way he was had been a part of that riotous dream.
“You three are sisters, Cait!”
“How’d you find that out?” she asked him with a shocked expression.
“We have our ways. So let’s talk about why you three skipped out on us all.”
She jerked her arm, and he let her go. “Just leave us all alone, Phoenix. None of us want to see any of you three ever again. Not ever!” Then she ran away from him, disappearing into the blackness of a hallway at the very back of the kitchen.
Jess saw Griffin before he found her. She left her station at the cash register, darting past one of her cousin co-workers. “Take over the register, Patsy.”
Patsy did as she was told as Jess ducked into the hallway that led to the restrooms, not
noticing that Griffin had spotted her and was heading her way. When he walked into the ladies’ room right behind her, closing the door and grabbing her, she tried to scream, but his mouth on hers muffled it.
When she felt his lips on hers and his tongue moved into her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her and turned her around so her back was up against the door, she melted into him and wrapped her legs around him.
His kiss was hard and demanding. Jess hated that she loved it so much. He pressed his hard cock against her soft core, grinding into her body, making her heat up and grow moist.
She was powerless to stop him. But when he went too far and moved one hand to unbutton her jeans, she pulled her mouth from his, remembering the damn bet. “No! No, Griff!”
“Why’d you all do it?” he asked her as he rested his forehead on hers. “Why didn’t you tell any of us that you three are sisters and that you all work here?”
“It’s not important. What is important is that we’re not going to be seeing any of you. Now let me go,” Jess said as she didn’t even bother to struggle to get away from him.
“What’s your game, Jess?” he asked her, making her furious.
The sisters had all agreed not to let the men know, if they did come back for them, that they knew about their bet. So Jess was left on her own to make something up. “I don’t think you’ll stick around, and I don’t want to be another notch on your belt.”
“You should give me a chance, don’t you think?” he asked her, then kissed her neck, making her moan.
Griffin could tell it was her sisters who were stopping her from doing what she wanted with him. Her hands plunged into his thick curls as she continued to moan with his attention to her neck. “Yes,” came her soft response.
“Is that a yes, you’ll give me a chance?” he whispered in her ear then gave her earlobe a nip.
“No,” she moaned. “It was a yes, that feels so good. But I can’t be doing this. Not with you, anyway.”
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