God, I couldn’t wait until Jess’s dad returned to work. He’d recently had open-heart surgery, and she’d taken over while he was down. But if he didn’t hurry his ass up and recover soon, his precious baby girl was going to run his nightclub into the ground.
Tipping my head up in greeting, I said, “Hey. What’s your name?”
The new guy shoved his hands into his back pockets and tore his attention away from Ten to glance my way. “Mason,” he said. “Mason Lowe.”
I nodded. “Nice to meet you. You ever bartend before?”
When Lowe shook his head, Ten snorted and slapped me in the stomach. “He’s all yours, baby.” Dismissing us both, he returned to his job of taking the chairs off the tables.
“Fine,” I called. “We get the bar then; you wait tables.”
“What the fuck ever. Make the new guy wait tables.”
“Shit, you want him to quit on his first night?”
Ten paused to study Lowe from head to foot. Then he nodded. “Yeah, with a pretty face like his, he’d be molested beyond repair within the first five minutes. I’ll take the tables. But just for tonight.” He pointed threateningly at Lowe. “You got that, newbie?”
Lowe was beginning to look a little alarmed. “What’s he talking about? I thought this was just a regular bar.”
Humph. There was nothing regular about Forbidden. But to reassure him, I said, “It is.” With a friendly pat on his back, I shrugged. “Don’t listen to Ten. He’s just sore because his vagina got ridden too hard last night.”
“Fucker,” Ten called from across the room.
I ignored him, focusing on Lowe. “But every Thursday is ladies’ night. So it’ll probably get a little crazy. Drinks are fifty percent off for every woman who comes in, which means a lot of drunk, handsy chicks are going to try to get a piece of you...all night long.”
A green tinge immediately coated Lowe’s face. “Great,” he muttered weakly.
With a laugh, I slugged my elbow into his arm. “Trust me. It is. Your tips will triple. But seriously. You might want to protect the boys. I recommend wearing a cup every Thursday from here on out.”
“Sure.” With a gulp and longing glance toward the exit, Lowe nodded.
“Your accent’s different,” I noted as I led him toward the bar. “Where’re you from?”
“Florida. Just moved here a couple months ago.”
“Dude.” Appearing out of nowhere, Ten plopped down on a stool and rested his elbows on the bar while he frowned at Lowe. “Why the hell would you leave Florida for fucking Ellamore, Illinois?”
Mason shrugged as if it was no big deal. “My girlfriend’s from here. She wanted to come home.”
Ten snorted. “Wait, wait, wait. You traveled halfway across the country for some pussy? Damn, that’s lame.”
I thought Lowe was going to leap across the bar and strangle my pathetic excuse for a roommate, so I beat him to the punch. “Ignore him,” I said, slinging my hand out to smack Ten on the side of the head. “Like I said; sore vagina.”
Glaring at me, Ten sniffed. “At least I’m not banging my teacher for a good grade.”
Oh, that did it.
“Go away.” I pointed at his face and sent him the stare of death until he rolled his eyes and pushed from the bar to saunter off. Once his back was turned, I couldn’t help but slice a worried glance toward Lowe. “I’m not—”
Lowe lifted his hands and waved me quiet, telling me I didn’t have to explain myself. “Hey, cougars aren’t my thing. But if you—”
“She’s not a cougar,” I hissed in defense before I could stop myself. “I mean...shit.” I stabbed my fingers through my hair, my mind skipping to figure out how to talk my way out of this because now it totally sounded like I was banging my teacher. “I’m not sleeping with any of my teachers, okay. Butt Licker over there is just harassing me because I somehow miraculously sweet-talked my hard-ass English professor into letting me rewrite a paper. That’s it.”
Fuck, I sounded too defensive, didn’t I?
“Kavanagh and Gamble sitting in a tree,” Ten—the five-year-old trapped in a horny twenty-one-year old’s body—sang from across the room. “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”
I shut him up at that point by grabbing a football from a shelf behind the bar and winding back my arm to take aim. When I hit him square in the back, he grunted and went sprawling forward to the floor.
Lowe whistled, clearly impressed by my skill. “Lucky shot.”
“Lucky?” I cranked my head around to gape at the new guy. “Obviously you have no idea who I am.”
“Uh...” His eyebrows wrinkled as he shook his head. “No. Who are you?”
“Son, you are in the presence of a local legend.” With a sweeping bow, I introduced myself. “Noel Gamble, beloved quarterback for the university’s football team.”
“Oh, okay.” Lowe nodded as recognition sparked in his gaze. “I didn’t transfer over until this semester, but I heard how well the team did this year. And I’m pretty sure I’ve heard your name float around campus.”
With a hoot of pride, I called toward my roommate. “Hear that, Ten? Even the newbie’s heard of me.”
Ten snorted. “You’re only popular because we make you look good.”
I laughed and turned back to Lowe. “That’s Asswipe, otherwise known as Oren Tenning. But most everyone calls him Ten. If you ask me, though, he’s more like a Zero. He’s a third-string receiver for the team.”
“Third string my ass. I played more than you did this season.”
True. But I didn’t admit it aloud. Ignoring him, I asked Lowe, “So how much do you know about mixing drinks?”
The rueful grin and lifting of his eyebrows told me he knew absolutely nothing. I sighed, already ready for this night to be over. “Awesome. Let’s get started learning then, shall we?”
I was giving him the lay of the land, showing him how to mix up the most basic of drinks and run the cash register when Pick slipped in right before opening, pissing me off with his usual tardiness. Personality-wise, the guy was my favorite coworker, but damn, sometimes he didn’t make it in until after we opened.
“Nice of you to finally join us,” I called, tossing him a waist apron so it hit him square in the face. “You got the floor with Ten tonight. The twins quit. This is the new guy, Mason Lowe. Now get to work.”
My abrupt little speech, getting him up to speed, only made him smile. The silver studs in his eyebrow twitched. “Damn, your bossy little mouth never fails to turn me on, Gamble.”
I snorted because Pick Ryan was more of a man-whore than Ten and I put together. I guess women totally went for the tatted-up, metal-faced, bad-boy image. But if you asked me, I’d say he was the furthest thing from a true bad boy as a guy could get.
He worked his ass off with two jobs to support himself, plus he respected women more than anyone I knew. He was always the first to jump in and kick ass if some drunk idiot was harassing a female, and he knew exactly what to say to make them happy. He just loved everything there was about the ladies, and they loved everything there was about him.
“Pick! My man!” Ten bounded forward, practically tackling the new arrival. “Thank God you didn’t quit too. Looks like we have the floor tonight, fucker. You got your cup on?”
When he balled his hand into a fist and went to roshambo Pick in the junk, Pick slapped his hand down. “Hey, hey. That’s not a toy, princess. Some lucky lady may need to use it later on.”
Ten snorted. “Whatever, douche. You know you’re saving yourself for me.” He really mauled the other guy then, dry humping his leg.
“Not tonight, sweetheart.” His voice mild, Pick shoved Ten back by the forehead. “I’ve got a headache.”
“What the fuck ever. You totally want me.”
As they moved off still bantering back and forth to unlock the front doors, Mason glanced my way. “You weren’t kidding about the cup thing, were you?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “No. No,
I wasn’t.”
He paled. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
***
Half an hour later, we were already overcrowded with chicks slurping down their fifty-percent frou-frou drinks and horny dicks hoping to reap the benefits. I watched the new guy make a sale, smiling uneasily at a girl who handed him her phone number along with her cash payment. Once she turned her back, he tossed the slip of paper discretely into the trash.
Easing up to his side when he reached for the wrong nozzle to make a Tom Collins for the next girl who was unable to take her eyes off him, I silently corrected him, physically taking his hand to reach for the right lever. “Jesus, you’re popular tonight. I’m supposed to be the big deal around here, but every single woman who comes up to the bar passes right over me to check you out.” Must be a fresh meat thing.
With a roll of his eyes, he muttered, “Have at ’em. I’m not interested.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I could tell.”
About to inform him he could field them my way the next time some randy girl wanted to hand out her number, I caught sight of a familiar face approaching the bar. Relieved to know someone was here to see me, not Lowe, I leapt forward with a ready smile. “There’s my favorite groupie.” Reaching across the bar to catch Tianna by the back of the neck and haul her halfway across the counter for a quick but deliciously dirty kiss, I smiled appreciatively at her.
“Hey, Noel baby,” she said, distracted, immediately pulling away from me so she could crane her head and peer around me to get a look at Lowe. “Who’s the new guy?”
When her eyes glittered with straight-up lust, I gritted my teeth and seared Lowe with a lethal glance. He only smirked as if amused by my jealousy. His loose-shouldered shrug seemed to say, Hey, what do you want me to do about it?
No way was I letting go of my favorite football groupie. So I turned back to Tianna and lied through my teeth. “That’s Milo. Just got out of the pen. He’s married with three kids.”
But the lie didn’t seem to deter her in the least. She kept staring and even tossed her hair before wiggling her fingers at him in a cutesy wave before introducing herself.
Fuck. I didn’t think the guy was that good-looking, but apparently he was some kind of freaking catnip for women. The bastard.
Tianna’s stalkerish stare seemed to skeeve him out though, because he helpfully added, “Four kids. We have another one on the way.”
I grinned, deciding he might be okay after all.
“Where’s your friend tonight?” I asked Tianna, taking her hand to play with her fingers and coax her attention back to me. “You guys still keeping my rain check on that threesome you offered me?”
Tianna finally tore her gaze away from Lowe. “Oh, sorry. Marci had dance class tonight. So we’ll have to do it another time. But yeah, don’t worry. She’s still good for it. I swear that girl’s panties have been wet for you for months. Ever since I introduced you two during that party after the last football game, she will not stop talking about you. It’s actually annoying.”
“So, she talks about me, huh?” A slow grin spread across my face, my ego suitably fed, knowing someone still preferred me over freaking Mason Lowe. And her name was Marci. Cute.
“Well, I hate to make a girl suffer. What say you hook us up sometime? Soon.”
“Sure.” Her gaze returned to Lowe as she kept talking to me. “You going to that frat party next weekend?”
“Next weekend?” I groaned. “You’re killing me here, Tianna. I need something before next weekend.”
She let out a harassed sigh and sent me a scowl. “Okay, fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“You’re the best.” I hauled her in for another quick kiss. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure to bring your new friend there to the party too, and I’ll pay you back…big time.” She ran a fingernail down my cheek as her face lit with a devious smile.
I was about to tell her not to even try with Lowe, he seemed attached to his girlfriend, but Ten appeared behind her. “Tianna!” He gave her a loud slap on the ass. “You ready to give me another go yet?”
Snorting, Tianna spun around to cross her arms over her chest and glare. “I haven’t lost my mind yet, so…hell no. Touch me again, and I’ll kick your nuts up into your throat.”
As she stormed away, I let out a low whistle and winced at the mere thought. Ten had some kind of talent. He was the only guy I knew who could piss off the queen of casual sex. Tianna never got mad at any guy, for anything. Made me wonder what the hell he’d done to offend her. Then again, he was Ten. The possibilities were endless.
After watching her march away, he turned to grin at me. “She totally wants me. She was asking about me, wasn’t she?”
I laughed. “Between kissing me, staring at Lowe, and setting me up with one of her friends, no, your name didn’t come up once.”
“A setup, huh? Who’s her friend? Dr. Kavanagh?”
Narrowing my eyes, I pointed at him threateningly. “I swear to God, if you don’t shut up about that, I’ll kick your nuts up into your throat.”
“Whatever, man. You know you want your teacher.” Then he put in his order to Mason and started flirting with a pair of ladies sitting at the bar.
The sad thing was, Ten was only teasing me about her because he was sure I didn’t want her, while, Jesus, even the mention of her stirred something inside me.
I should’ve gotten Marci’s number from Tianna. I needed something—anything—to flush thoughts of a certain dowdy teacher from my head. Because if this kept up, I’d no doubt find myself in a shit bowl full of trouble.
***
When closing time came, I put Lowe on cleaning duty. While he was wiping down the back counter, his cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and, I swear, as soon as he saw the I.D. on his screen, his face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Hey, sweet pea,” he answered, his voice going all husky and private, letting me know he must be talking to his girl. Tucking the phone between his shoulder and ear so he could continue his work, he chuckled in response to something she said. “It’s been...interesting. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home. Oh yeah?” His eyebrows shot up, and I could only imagine what else his girl was suggesting they do when he got home, because all kinds of horny lit up across his face.
I couldn’t seem to look away as I watched him talk to her, though. It was just so...strange. The guys on the football team who had steady girlfriends never looked happy when their old ladies called to check in. They were rarely faithful to their girls, always hooking up with one-night-stands whenever we had out-of-town games. It made me wonder why they even bothered to stick with one girl.
Now that I thought of it, I hadn’t grown up around any monogamous couples in my life. My mom had rarely brought home the same guy more than twice, and all the marriages in our neighborhood ended in divorce or widowhood. So, okay, it really was rare for me to see a guy talking to his girl as if he wanted to talk to no one else in the world. And he looked so damn happy about it, too. It was kind of...sweet.
When he hung up with her, still grinning, Lowe pocketed his phone and went back to work, looking as if he’d just won the national championships or something.
“Who the hell was that?” Ten wanted to know as he neared the bar with a handful of glasses that needed to be cleaned. “You just win the lottery, newbie?”
“Hmm?” Lowe turned and glanced at him. “Oh. My girlfriend. She just wanted to know how my first night went.”
Again with the sweetness. It was a little endearing to watch such a pure, open emotion light his face when he talked about her. I was suddenly very curious about girlfriends and monogamy. Maybe they weren’t as awful as some of the guys on the team made them seem. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world to settle down with one person.
I mean, no one had ever called me just to see how my day had gone. No one had cared. I knew my brothers and sister loved me, but they’d never che
cked in just to reassure me whenever I was nervous as hell before a big game, or huge test, or even asked me how something had gone. Not that I bothered them with that kind of shit; they had their own problems to worry about.
But maybe, I don’t know, maybe it’d be nice if—
“God, newbie, you are so whipped.” Ten snorted and was off again, wiping down tables as Pick swept the floor.
I turned away and finished counting the cash register, slightly mortified by my own thoughts. I had no problem getting female companionship in this town. Most of my teammates complained about how lucky I was. Why the hell was I daydreaming about something else?
Another quick glance at Lowe, who was cheerfully humming—yes, humming—under his breath, told me exactly why though. He had something good and dependable, something that made him happy and brightened his entire day. He didn’t have to meet a new girl each night and try to learn her in a couple minutes so he’d know how to charm her into a bed. He already had someone he probably knew inside and out, and who no doubt understood him in return. He didn’t have to pretend to like her stories just to get her shirt off or act like some badass quarterback to keep up an image. He could just be himself with her, and enjoy life.
For the first time in my life, I was jealous of someone in a committed relationship. It felt really uncomfortable, but I just couldn’t seem to help myself. Lowe looked so damn content. And I wanted something like that for myself.
CHAPTER FIVE
“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being, not just with my hands but with my heart.” - Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me
~ASPEN~
I loved the smell of popcorn. It was the forbidden scent of a youth I’d never been allowed to taste. Carbonated sodas had also been taboo in my home growing up.
As soon as I paid for my Pepsi and popcorn combo at the concession stand, I had to take a quick suck from my straw and scoop up a handful of buttery deliciousness straight off the top of the tub. A couple kernels tumbled off the overfilled sides and fell to the concrete floor to mix with fallen popcorn from all the purchases past. I loved it. It was so messy and carefree, something that would’ve given my parents a coronary.