Bad For You - Sherilee Gray Page 0,14

my man. I’ll be on my best behavior. I swear no besmirching the Rocktown Ink name.”

Dane’s phone beeped, and he checked it.

Cal’s lips twitched, an almost smile. “Glad to hear it. Right, I need to clean up.” He headed back to his room, and I turned back to Dane.

“What’re you doing tonight. Bar?”

“Nah, that was Eves. She’s having her girls over later. I’ve been sent a list of shit to get, and I said I’d be sober driver to take them all home later. I’ll spend my evening banished to the workshop in the garage.”

“That mean Lila will be there?”

“Dude…”

“I’m only thinking about you, all by yourself in the garage. That’s just mean, especially since I’ve been gone so long. I’ll come over, we’ll have some quality bro time.”

“Bro time?” Dane laughed. “Where the hell have you been the last few months?”

“Shut up and get me the keys to my new apartment. I’ll get my shit tomorrow.”

Dane opened the drawer behind the counter and handed me a bundle of keys. “You think you should be trying to talk to her again?”

I pulled off my hat and rubbed a hand over my cropped hair. “Probably not. But I was a dick to her earlier. I’d like the chance to smooth things over.”

Dane gave me an odd look, like the words coming out of my mouth were foreign. How bad was it that he was actually shocked that I gave a shit?

“Fine, but if you upset Lila, Eves will get upset, and I don’t need my woman pissed at me, brother.”

“I’ll be good.”

“You fucking better be.”

I swiped my fingers across my chest. “Cross my heart.”

“That shit only works if you have one,” Dane deadpanned.

Wasn’t that the truth.

I headed upstairs to check out the apartment and figure out how I was going to get Lila to talk to me again.

Lila

“What’s in these again?” Addie said to Quinn as she walked back in with another pitcher of fruity cocktail.

“Coconut rum,” she said and winked. “You know I don’t get to flex my cocktail-making muscles at The Mule often, so as always you’re my guinea pigs.” Quinn was Bull’s wife, and she was a cocktail-making genius.

Eves took a deep sip of hers. “We’re more than happy to oblige.”

“I second that,” I said and held my glass out for Quinn to top off.

“So what’s Brooks up to tonight?” Trix asked, eyes sparking with mischief.

I was between her and Eves on the couch. Quinn and Addie sat across from us on big, comfy chairs, and they all turned to me expectantly.

Don’t make me talk about myself. My stomach squirmed unhappily and I had to fight not to dip my head, to shrink in on myself.

Eves, Quinn, and Trixie knew about my past, but Addie did not. “Um…I’m not sure. We’re just keeping things super casual, you know. We’re just hanging out.”

“Do you like him?” Quinn asked, her gray eyes on me and as always seeing way too much.

I sipped my drink to stall.

Eves nudged me with her elbow. “It’s just us, Ly.”

She was right, of course. I don’t know why I had such a problem with intimacy, even just talking about it. “He’s nice.” I swallowed, suddenly hearing Jesse’s comment about how nice Brooks was echoing through my head. “He’s also hot and funny. Yeah, I like him.” And I did, just not as much as I’d liked a certain jackass biker.

“Is he a good kisser? Because that’s what we all want to know.” Trix lifted a hand when our friends protested weakly. “Oh shut up, you know you wanted to ask.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it. The disgruntled look on Trix’s face was too funny. Probably helped that I was more than a little tipsy.

“Yes, I will confirm that Brooks is a good kisser.” But again, despite Brooks’s excellent technique, my heart didn’t race and my palms didn’t sweat like they had when Jesse had kissed me. When Jesse’d pressed his lips to mine, I’d melted. Turned into a puddle.

“I’m glad,” Eves said and pulled me in for a hug. She was as tipsy as me.

“Me too,” Trix said. “I’m glad you’ve moved on from Grifter. You know he’s back?” Trix said, her eyes softening.

“Is that why you two were arguing this morning?” Addie asked. “You used to date?”

Eves frowned. “You were arguing?”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” I said, trying not to squirm. “And we never dated, not really. He was just…”

“Being a giant douchebag,” Addie said.

“Tell him to get lost,” Trix said. “The last thing