by Liv Morris
Eventually.
I pick up the phone to call Josh while walking towards my bathroom. I need a very cold shower.
Josh and I pull up to Larry’s around noon. I’m pretty sure Josh is still drunk, so I’m hoping he doesn’t make me look like an ass, but I usually do that well enough on my own.
“Dude, why are we here at the bar? I feel like we just left,” Josh says as he gets out of my car.
I shrug my shoulders because I really don’t have an answer. I know Angel would have kissed me last night, but I don’t know if she will now that she is sober. I guess this is a trial session.
“Just going to have a few beers,” I answer, opening the front door.
“I think I should drink water.” He looks rough. His eyes puffy from lack of sleep, and he’s still in the same clothes from last night. His fiancé dumped him about six months ago, and he is still trying to drink her memory away.
“Hey guys,” Holly greets us as we each sit on a bar stool up at the bar. “What are you up to today?”
“Nothing,” Josh answers as he puts his head down on the bar.
I laugh. “Josh, why did you come if you’re still drunk? You could have stayed home and slept all day.”
He lifts his head and leans over to whisper so that Holly can’t hear his response. “Because you’re going to need all the help you can get with Sam.” I stop laughing and raise my eyebrows. I wasn’t expecting that. “She’s not the usual type you fuck around with, Slade.” He lays his head back down.
What does that mean?
Is it that obvious that I want Angel? I’ve never been one to be secretive when I want a woman, but there’s just something different about Angel. It’s like I want her in a different way. I just don’t know what way that is yet. When I’m not with her, all I can do is picture her naked as I’m having my way with her. Though, when I was around her last night, all I thought about was holding and touching her, but not sexually.
I just want to show her that she can trust me; that I can take care of her, protect her. I know she doesn’t trust me because the first time she needed me, I had lied to her. I want her to understand that I’m sorry for that.
“I’d like a Bud Light, please.” I think Josh fell asleep. “And he’ll have water.”
Holly laughs. “Okay.”
She turns around to get our drinks, and I take the opportunity to look around the bar for Angel. Where is she? Did she end up calling in sick? She sounded a bit hung over but okay. There were only three other guys in the bar, sitting on the far side by the pool tables, each drinking from a pitcher.
“She’s in the back.”
I swing my head around to look at Holly.
“We just had a shipment come in. She should be back out in a few minutes.” She slides my beer over to me.
I just nod. What else am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can deny why I’m here. I’ve never came in here during the day, or without Micah for that matter.
“You like her.”
I look up to her smiling face. My brows draw together, and I start to shake my head but I stop. Do I like her? I mean, actually like her? I don’t like women. I fuck women. There’s a difference. They get on my nerves. I can’t stand to hear them whine about how all I want them for is sex, but yet they always show up at my door, ready and willing. Is she different? Hell, even my passed out best friend knows she’s different.
“Just be careful.” Holly gets my attention, leaning on the bar in front of me.
“What do you mean?” I place my elbows up on the bar as well, tilting my head to one side.
She gives me a sly smile, shrugging both shoulders before she turns around. I don’t know what that was about, or why she’s being so cryptic, but I know Holly. She can’t keep secrets. So if she has one, it will come out sooner or later.
I take a swig of my beer, as I watch Angel walk out from the back room. She looks just as beautiful as she did last night, wearing a pair of skin tight blue jeans that sit low on her hips. She has a black spaghetti strap tank top that reads Larry’s across her full chest, her long dark hair up in a messy ponytail. My dick instantly gets hard.
“Hey, Sam.”
I look over to see Josh wide awake, smiling and sitting up. He looks like he never had a drink last night. What’s up with that?
“Hey, Josh.” She gives him a soft smile. “How are you guys feeling today?” She looks over at me for the first time, and her green eyes stare straight into mine. I smile as the feeling of warmth runs through me.
“Great,” Josh smiles.
Bullshit. Something very fishy is going on here.
“Hey, I think we should get a group together and go out on Friday to celebrate Slade winning his case in San Francisco,” Josh says, looking to everyone. “Are you girls off Friday?”
“Yep,” Holly answers. The scowl on Angel’s face says she wants to pick up an extra shift this week now, preferably Friday! She turns around, turns on the water in the sink and starts to wash her hands.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea.” I smile. Whatever her problem really is, we need to get it out in the open, and I know just the way to get her talking. Alcohol!
A phone starts to ring, and Angel turns around to look at Holly. “Will you answer that? My hands are wet.” She pushes her hip out for Holly to grab her phone out of her back pocket.
Holly pulls the phone out of the pocket and puts it on speakerphone as she holds it up for Angel.
“Hello?” Angel answers.
“Hi. Is this Samantha Hall?”
“Yes.”
“Hello, Miss Hall. This is Roger with the Edward Jones Dome. I was able to locate the seats you requested,” he says happily.
“That’s great.” She turns off the water and grabs a towel to dry her hands. “How many were you able to get?’’ She reaches out and takes the phone from Holly’s hand.
“Six total, ma’am.” He sounds proud of himself.
“Thank you so much. Do I need to come pick them up, or can you mail them to me?” Her smile is infectious. I want to see that smile on her face all the time, and I want to be the one to make her feel that good.
“I have all of your information here from when I spoke to you last week, so I will mail them to you.”
“Thank you, Roger, for all of your help. Have a nice week.”
They say their goodbyes, and hang up.
“Wait.” Josh holds up his hand. “Did you just get tickets to a Rams game?” He sounds very surprised. Now that I think of it that is the stadium where they play, but there’s no way she could like football enough to buy six tickets to a game.
She leans over, putting her forearms on the bar with a radiating smile on her face. “Yep,” she nods, as her beautiful green eyes light up.
“You bought six tickets to one game? Which game?” The Rams are my favorite NFL team.
She turns her beautiful green eyes to me, and her face is beaming. “I bought six season tickets.”
“You bought season tickets?” I think Josh is choking on his water. Or at least he sounds like it.
“Sam is a big football girl,” Holly explains.
“But why six?” Josh asks, still shocked that a woman would buy six tickets to a football game.
“Well, so Holly and Micah can go whenever they want. And for when my girlfriend from Tulsa comes and visits. And for whoever wants to just go to a game.” She shrugs her shoulders as if her reasoning was obvious.
“We love the Rams,” Josh states, pointing a finger between the two of us.
“Well, then you guys can come to a game or two.” She shrugs. “If you want, that is.” She looks back over at me shyly.
“Woo hoo! I need a beer now. Bud Light, please.” Josh says, clapping his hands together like a little school boy. I snicker as the girls laugh at him.
Angel turns around, and I catch a glimpse of a heart tattoo on the back of her neck, right below her hair line. It’s a half heart outlined in black. She didn’t co
me off as the type of girl to have a tattoo.
“Hey, Angel?” She turns around, looking like she wants me to stop calling her that. Not going to happen.
“What?” she snaps.
I smile. She looks so hot when she’s pissed off. “I see you have a tattoo on the back of your neck. What’s the meaning behind it?”
She takes a deep breath as her eyes drop to the floor for a moment before returning to mine. “It’s for my dad.” She turns and walks out from behind the bar and heads to the back.
What just happened here?
I turn my eyes from Angel’s back over to Holly. She leans in and whispers, “He passed away,” like it’s not allowed to be said out loud.
Fuck.
I feel like such a jack ass. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I wonder if her mother is dead as well. I know nothing about her. I want to know everything about her past.
I take a drink of my beer as Angel comes out from the back, carrying a case of beer.
“I’ll be right back.” Getting out of my seat, I follow her across the dance floor and over to the smaller back bar behind the pool tables. I feel the need to apologize about the tattoo comment.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She places the box on the floor and starts pulling a beer out one at a time, putting them into the small fridge.
“I just wanted to apologize. I’m truly sorry.” Does she not know she is the only woman I have ever said sorry to? And if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it fifty times to her.
Her shirt rides up, giving me a perfect shot at the two dimples on her lower back, and I have to readjust my pants. Fuck, no one has ever turned me on like she does. I feel like a horny teenager back in high school.
“No biggie. You didn’t know.”
I’m starting to get mad. “Why won’t you let me apologize? What I said obviously upset you.” I fist my hands at my sides. This woman is driving me nuts.
She stands and turns around as she folds up the now empty beer box, in a rough manner. As if she is getting pissed as well. Her frustration almost makes me smile.
“Fine! Thanks for the apology.” She walks past me, but stops to turn back to me.
“Slade,” she sighs, running a hand through her long ponytail. I have to lean up against the bar to keep from falling over, hearing her saying my name like that.
She looks to the floor for a second, then up to me. “Thanks.” She gives a little laugh like she can’t believe she’s really thanking me for something. “Thanks for last night.” She swallows. “For the drinks, and for making sure I made it home all right.” She looks up at me, and I can see how hard it was for her to thank me.
I give her a small smile. “No need to thank me, Angel.” I would have done anything for her last night. I would do anything for her right now just to hear her say my name again. I get myself put back together then head back to my seat.
“You ready to go, Josh?”
I have a ton of work to get done. My work schedule is pretty full for the next couple of weeks, and I might as well end this on a good note. She might start screaming at me if I stay much longer.
The following Tuesday, I head over to the Long’s residence. I can’t stay very long today though. I have some errands to run, but I just wanted to come by and say hello and see what they are up to.
Over the past month, I have gotten to know Micah and Slade’s parents. Their dad, Mark, is always working; running the firm takes a lot of his time. Vivian doesn’t work. So when she’s not out having a shopping day with her girlfriends, we come over and have girl time. Plus, she likes to drink wine just as much as we do.
I pull up in the circle drive of their beautiful Victorian house that sits on ten acres. I walk up to the door and ring the doorbell. Vivian answers with a smile on her face.
“Hello, darling,” she greets me sweetly.
“Hello.” I say entering the house as she shuts the door behind me. It reminds me of a little castle with its double stained glass doors, huge arch in the entry, and a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It’s full of little trinkets and gorgeous paintings. Vivian was an art major in college. She has her paintings displayed all over their house.
I follow Vivian to the kitchen. She pulls out a bottle of wine from the stainless steel fridge and fills her glass. Holly is sitting behind the breakfast bar.
“How is your day?” Vivian asks while giving me a shining smile. She’s beautiful. Her long blonde hair hangs straight down her back, and her warm amber eyes always seem to sparkle. She’s tall like her boys, and she is very lean. She spends a lot of time running. She once told me it’s how she stayed sane in a house with three boys. And I’ve never seen the woman with a frown on her face.
“It’s great. How is yours?”
“Very good,” she replies before taking a drink of her wine.
I look over to Holly, and she gives me a smile that makes me want to cringe. She’s planning something. I usually end up hating whatever she has planned for me.
“Wine?” Vivian asks, already grabbing me a glass.
“No thanks, I’ll have a glass of tea, though.” I have to work tonight and still have a few errands to run once I leave here.
“Holly filled me in on the current events of this week.” Vivian’s brows scrunch, handing me my tea. “Are you sure you don’t want a glass of wine?”
“Yeah.” I smile at her. Her eyes move over to Holly and then back to me. She tilts her head to the side, and one side of her lip turns up in an amused smile.
“What?” I ask, looking to Holly then back to Vivian.
“Well, I was just thinking… Holly told me that you met Slade this past weekend and it didn’t go so well.” She leans down and puts her elbows on her kitchen island.
I’m rethinking the tea because I’m going to need an entire bottle of wine if we’re having a Slade conversation.
“No.” I look down at my hands. What can I possibly say?
Hey, I met your son just as he was about to get it on with a girl in the bathroom. A girl that I wanted to be me. Oh, and I consider him sex on a stick. Then I let it bother me so much that I went and consumed enough alcohol to pass out in his arms. All the while, I was mean to him.
“I was kind of a bitch to him.” I feel my face start to heat up as I realize what I just said. I look up at her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.” Vivian doesn’t cuss. Ever.
“It’s okay. I’m used to hearing that sort of language. Slade got his vocabulary from his father.” She smiles warmly. “I bet he went crazy,” she says rather excitedly.
“What do you mean?” I frown. I remember him being a lot of things, Sexy, annoying, hot, vulgar…
She shrugs. “I just heard that girls fawn over him.” Oh, I bet they do.
“Well, not me.” I try to sound sure, but the smile Vivian is giving me tells me she’s not buying it.
“You like him.” It’s not a question.
“He left an impression.” More like despise him. So that’s not true. I find him extremely irresistible, and that is what makes me despise him. Big difference.
“This is fantastic!” She starts to clap her hands, but I stop her.
“No, no. I’m not saying it was a good one.” Although, all I can think about is how my body felt when he held me outside the bar.
I take a drink of my tea, wishing I would have said yes to the wine. I look over to Holly as she speaks.
She shrugs. “He likes you.”
“So? I’m pretty sure he likes every one of the female gender.”
Vivian laughs.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sleeping around. If that is what one wants to do, then that’s their choice. It’s just not something that I do. Although, having sex with Slade is all my body has wanted since I first saw him in the bathroom. Can everyone tell how bad my body is craving him? God, I hope not.
“He likes you,” Holly repeats.
“You
said that.”
“That’s a good thing.” She smiles as she pops a grape into her mouth and gives me a closed lipped smile.
“Anyway…” I change the subject. “How was Mark’s birthday party?”
“It was great,” Vivian says happily. “Wish you would have been able to make it.” She frowns.
“Me too.” I had wanted to go, but Jax hadn’t. He said that even though I knew them a little, he didn’t know them at all. He was right at the time, so I nicely declined Vivian’s invitation. I don’t know if it was a good thing or not that I didn’t come. That would have been my first time meeting Slade, instead in the bathroom at Larry’s.
“Well you didn’t miss much. Slade was on the phone most of time, and Micah and Holly didn’t stay very long,” Vivian says sadly.
“Yeah, I don’t know what was wrong with him,” Holly says. “He kept telling me he was just tired.”
“He seemed fine when he showed up to Larry’s later that evening,” I point out.
“He did,” she agrees. “They have been working a lot though, that could have been it.”
“Probably,” I say before I finish off my tea. “I’m going to get out of here. I need to run a few errands, then get to the bank before they close.”
“Okay, hon. Glad you came over today.” Vivian walks around the island to give me a hug.
“You filling in for Joey tonight?” Holly asks.
“Yes. I don’t have to go in until nine.” I stand up from my chair.
“Okay, I’ll see you there.” She leans over, giving me a big squeeze.
“I didn’t think you worked tonight.”
“I’m not scheduled, but I’m filling in for Becky. Her daughter is sick.”
They both start to walk me towards the door and I wave goodbye as they close the door behind me.
I walk into my house after running by the bank and grabbing something to eat. I just set my Wendy’s sack down on the kitchen counter when my cell phone rings. I pull it out of my back pocket to see Kitty light up my screen.