“I just don’t know. He made her cry. In front of everyone. I was so humiliated for her.”
My bottle of beer landed on the cardboard coaster and shook the pub table a little.
Kelsey stared back, eyes wide, a smile slowly turning her lips up at the corner. “He pinned your arms against the wall?” She shook her head back and forth. “I told you.”
Embarrassment flooded my cheeks and I glanced away. Donahue’s was an Irish pub–sports bar in the suburb we lived in. It was quiet and low-key, the way I liked it. Flat-screen televisions lined the walls with different baseball games on all of them. An L-shaped bar jutted out from the wall with dozens of liquor bottles on shelves behind it. Booths ran along the perimeter with cluttered drink-special signs and sports memorabilia strewn above them. It was where Dad and I always watched games until he could no longer leave the house. But it felt like an extension of home.
I leaned in and lowered my voice. “I’m not saying it wasn’t pretty much the greatest sexual experience of my life—”
“There’s a ‘but’ coming. There shouldn’t be a ‘but’ coming at this point.” Kelsey’s smile fell to a blank expression.
“But.” I glared, half-jokingly. “It’s a bad idea.”
“If getting fucked against a wall by a hot cocky millionaire is a bad idea”—she paused and shook her head in derision—“I don’t want to have any good ideas.”
I started to speak and she cut me off.
“Ever. All the bad ideas, they’re all mine. I want them all.” She laughed and hadn’t lowered her voice at all. The F-bomb echoed off the walls and drew stares in our direction.
I blushed. “Will you keep it down?”
She stared.
“Point taken. Look, he doesn’t need anyone to feed his ego. Giving in to him would shoot it into the clouds.”
She crossed her arms across her chest, and the words “Led Zeppelin” tightened across her boobs. Robert Plant would’ve been proud. “All I’m saying is if you don’t put your vagina to use, it’s going to close up on you. It can happen. It’s science.”
Her deadpan delivery made me snort beer out of my nose. I waved her joke away with a flippant hand. “Why do I hang out with you?”
“Because I’m awesome, duh!” She brought a rocks glass full of scotch to her lips. I’d never seen her drink anything else. For someone so quirky and eclectic, she was a creature of habit at her core.
“I’m not giving him what he wants.” I shook my head. “He does need to learn a lesson though.”
She cocked an eyebrow up. “This is interesting too. Go on.”
I whipped out my phone. It was juvenile. I knew this. But I couldn’t help myself. Beer number four gave me just enough courage to toy with Ethan Mason a little.
Me: Hey there.
Immediate response.
Ethan: Didn’t expect to hear from you today.
I tapped my chin as Kelsey begged for a play by play. She scooted her barstool around until we were giggling like middle school girls at a cafeteria. This wasn’t me. It wasn’t her. But it was fun. How often did you get to fuck with a guy like Ethan?
Me: Couldn’t stop thinking about…
Ethan: Is that so?
I had to be careful. Ethan wasn’t some idiot you met at a bar and made bad decisions with. He was sharp. Too sharp. He analyzed everything, down to the last word. Multiple times. He was a calculator, like me. Short and succinct was key.
Me: Yep.
Ethan: I’ll need specifics on what you were thinking about.
Me: You’re a smart guy. Figure it out.
“You’re far too good at this.” Kelsey chuckled.
“I’ve never messed with a guy like this before. I kinda thought I was failing miserably. Why did we never do this when it was age appropriate?”
She leaned back and stared at me like I was a funny bug. “Probably because you were too busy looking at baseball statistics and talking about WAR. Whatever the fuck that is. I still don’t have a clue.”
“Wins above—”
She shot me a glare and then glanced down at the phone. “Focus. And do not explain baseball stats and ruin this for me.” There was a laugh hidden behind her glare, but I didn’t press my luck.
Baseball stats always just clicked in my brain. I couldn’t see how others couldn’t understand. Ethan did though. I could’ve talked to him about it all afternoon. My brain began to drift.
“Focus, woman!” Kelsey gave me a playful slap to the back of my head.
“Fine!” I looked back at my phone.
Ethan: You never answered my last question.
Hmm. Playing stupid never seemed to work with him. He’d always seen right through it.
Me: Shoes.
Ethan: Shoes? You’re playing a dangerous game, Miss Jackson.
My breath hitched. I didn’t even need to hear his voice for it to happen. When he said my name like that, I could picture it in my mind, hear it in my ear. It was his “cocky, smirking, I’ll take what I want from you” voice. It should’ve repulsed me, but it made me wet. I scissored my legs under the pub table.
“Good God. He owns you.”
I whipped my head around to Kelsey’s smug grin. “You’re full of it.”
“Yeah right. He has you by the balls. The figurative ones you’ve had, well, since you were born.”
I chuckled.
“They hang low and to the left, in case you were wondering.” She sipped her scotch while I laughed.
It was true. I didn’t back down from much. Perk of being raised by a single father.
Me: Do I seem scared?
Ethan: Nope. But you are.
I squirmed in my seat. I think Kelsey might’ve too when she read it.
“He’s so going to make you say his name into a pillow.”
I gave her a hard stare. “We’ll see about that.”
Me: What are you wearing?
Kelsey’s goading and his cocky attitude put me on the offensive. Defense was boring anyway, and I knew it’d eat at him. He liked to be in control.
Ethan: Black boxer briefs. It can be nothing if you’d like.
I bit my knuckle, hard. Tingles ripped through me and I squeezed my thighs together. A vivid image of him stretched out on a leather couch, looking sexy as fuck, flooded my brain. Ripped abs, curved pecs, the bulge of his cock—all of the air left my lungs. Kelsey snatched the phone from my hand.
“Holy fuck.”
I yanked my phone from her. Part of me raged inside that she’d seen that message. Part of me wanted it to be for my eyes only. Was I jealous? I’d never been jealous of anything in my life. “Sorry. I’ve had enough fun, I think.”
Something in me changed after that. Kelsey could sense it and didn’t joke back. She knew me. I wanted to go home.
Me: That’s okay. See you Monday.
I clicked my phone off and tossed it onto the table. “Sorry.”
She put a hand on my shoulder. I tried to shrug it off but she kept it there. “It’s okay.”
I moved my gaze up to her. “No, it’s not.”
“You’re dealing with a lot right now. You need to allow yourself to have some fun.” She rubbed my neck and my shoulders relaxed.
I dropped my stare back down to the table. “I don’t have time for fantasies. Dad needs me.”
“Hey.” She lifted my chin with her index finger so that I was looking back up at her. “We’re in this together, okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“You’re still a woman with fucking needs. Got it?”
I nodded and she pulled me into a hug. “Thank you.”