at me from across the bar.
Every inch of me craves her.
Before she car-blocked her way into my life, I was who I wanted to be.
Who I deserved to be.
Callous. An asshole. Heartless. A loner.
It’s who I was.
Enter Georgia Fox.
Coming through with warmth, softening my callousness.
It’s unfair to her, us arguing.
Silas calls it foreplay.
I tell him to shut the fuck up.
We haven’t touched again.
But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t touched me in other places. That she hasn’t climbed her way into my thoughts and affected me in ways to make me a different man than who I am.
“Don’t forget, tomorrow is my birthday, bitches,” Silas says, sucking on a lollipop.
Finn slaps his back as he walks by. “I’ll be there.”
“I’ll think about it.” Lola smirks, her plump lips bright red.
Silas stops behind her stool, wraps his arms around her shoulders, and nuzzles her neck. “You’ll be there. Don’t forget my present, my little hellcat.”
She tips her head back, staring up at him. “I’ll be sure to purchase a value pack of condoms from Costco.”
He kisses her forehead. “That’s my girl.”
“Rule number one,” Finn says, sitting down on a stool at the pub table. “No one tells Archer that Georgia is coming.”
“I can hear you, dumbass,” I grind out, approaching the table. “I promised Silas I wouldn’t bail. I’ll be there.”
I wish she’d bail, though.
Georgia perks up in her stool. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Finn snorts and motions to Georgia and then me. “You’ll have at least one spat before the night ends.”
“Who even says spat?” Georgia asks.
Finn shoves his thumbs into his chest. “Fuckers like me.”
I want to go to the club like I want to hang out with Lincoln in his prison cell. Silas bribed me into going when I asked him to cover a shift for me. I’m a man of my word, so I’ll stop through, have a birthday drink, and then slip out.
Why Silas has his birthdays in clubs is beyond me. Dude is sober and drinks seltzer water at parties. Still a better time than me, though.
Silas has never shared why he doesn’t drink. It’s been brought up a few times, but he shuts us down—only sharing, “It’s not my thing.”
As a sober man, he still kills it as a bartender and as our liquor purchaser. Lola has a lot to do with it. She tells him what to buy, and he listens to her every word.
That’s why it’s no surprise that he invited the girls.
He invites her to everything.
With Lola comes Georgia.
With Georgia comes my aggravation.
With Georgia comes my frustration.
With Georgia comes everything I can never have.
The club is packed.
Club Soho is the best club in the city.
Once, I lived for this shit.
The loud music, expensive alcohol, drugs.
Now, when I take a seat, I cringe.
“Private tables are the bomb dot com,” Georgia says, walking into our VIP section with Grace and Lola. She straightens out her button-up denim skirt and collapses onto the white couch.
Why did she come looking like that?
To torture me?
Short skirt. Low-cut white top. Black suede boots hitting her knees.
Adorable woven into sexy.
I drink her in as if she were the drink that’d get me through the night.
Instead of the club being my high, it’s her.
That blond hair—I’ve dreamed of it tangled against my pillow.
I had her as a brunette, wild and in my bed.
Now, I need the other.
Tonight, it’s our small group—Georgia, Lola, Grace, Silas, Finn, and me.
“It’s not hard to get the VIP section when you’re the shit,” Silas replies, smirking around a blue sucker.
“You mean, it’s not hard when I set it up,” Lola says, elbowing him. “Happy Birthday, asshole.”
He points at her with his sucker. “True, but it’s also easier when you’re banging the owner of the club. You got me beat on that one, babe.”
Lola flips him off.
“Jealous she’s hooking up with him and not you?” Georgia asks—because she’s Georgia and she always has to talk some shit.
“Lola knows I’m always jealous of who she’s sleeping with.” He winks at Lola. “My services are available anytime she wants.”
Lola laughs. “Whatever. Everyone knows it’s stupid to screw your best friend.”
“Love you.” He kisses her cheek and drags her onto his lap.
“Hey!” Grace says at the same time Georgia says, “Oh, he’s your best friend now?”
“Best guy friend,” Lola corrects.
“Can I be offended by that?” Finn asks. “I thought we were friends.”
“Your best girl friend is Grace,” Silas answers before squeezing Lola’s knee as she squirms in his lap. “Stay away from mine.”
“Kinda feeling left out over here,”