“Yeah!” Lulu shouted, not even trying to whisper. “Rider was pissed at her for doin’ that girl-on-girl with you on the dancefloor and drawing all that attention. She told him he’d have thought it was hot if it wasn’t with his baby sister.”
Andie grabbed my arm. “He agreed that it would be if it were some other chick and started pointing out women she should’ve picked instead. Including me! She got fumin’ mad at him.” Andie was being extra animated, clearly not only inebriated but also high off the ego boosting fact that my brother had gestured to her as an option for hot girl-on-girl action.
“Not cool, Jojo,” Spency was already there, sitting beside Pippa and putting his arm around her.
Pippa was smirking.
Spencer gave her a bit of side-eye. She rolled her eyes.
The song the band was playing ended and Chase called out, “Band’s on break. Be back soon! Jukebox’ll keep ya company for twenty minutes.”
People whistled and clapped.
“Band’s good,” Lulu said, eyeing the stage. “And that singer is hot.”
“He’s definitely a fan of the Jenna and Jojo dancing revue,” Ella called over.
“Who wouldn’t be?” Brady muttered.
I snorted.
Brady shot me a look that said he wasn’t trying to be funny. In fact, he was clearly angry that me and Jenna dancing together was hot. He sat kitty-corner across from me. Christian Forker sat right across from me. Brady worked it just like we planned. But he did not look happy.
“Whatever. It’s a free country. We were just dancing. I didn’t French kiss her or push her face into my boobs.” I rolled my eyes and leaned forward to sip from my very full jack and coke since the ice had melted making it so I needed to sip it without lifting it to keep it from spilling. Leanne was back and dropping off a tray of drinks.
“Here, Jojo.” She produced a straw from her black apron pocket with the grey Deke’s Roadhouse logo on it and passed it over. I plunked it in and took another big sip.
He was directly across from me, but his eyes were on his beer bottle, not on me or my cleavage and he was the only male at our table that didn’t look pissed off, which was sort of funny since he usually looked pissed off. Correction: more like he didn’t give a fuck. Brady, Spencer, and Scooter all looked angry. Scooter didn’t have a stake in the fact that Jenna and I danced, but as a club member, he was often charged with protecting us.
“You missed the last round, Jojo, so this round I brought ya two,” Leanne said.
“Wait. That means I have four shooters to drink?” I asked.
“Yup,” Pippa told me with a half-drunk grin. “And hurry up about it.”
“Fantastic.” Shooters were handed out one by one to all us girls, me first and then me again last. I threw them both back at once, garnering hoots and palms slapping on the table from the girls. When I put the shot glasses down with a flourish, I realized Chase from AbstractED was standing beside my chair.
“Hey Jojo,” he said, a little closer to my ear than necessary.
“Hi Chase. Is it Abstracted, or Abstract Ed?”
“It’s Abstract E… D” he pronounced the initials. “But the ED are capitalized as if the word ain’t only abstract ed but E.D. as in…”
“Erectile dysfunction?” Andie piped up.
This was totally unlike her on a regular day. She was super-shy unless she was completely comfortable and in a small group. The booze tonight had the result of her getting loose-lipped and losing a modicum of her shyness.
Most of us burst out laughing.
“Bingo,” Chase said putting his index finger to his nose.
“I’m steppin’ outside to the smoking area. Care to join me, Jojo?” he asked.
My eyes darted to Christian’s. He was alert, eyes on Chase and though he hadn’t been staring at him angrily, was I now sensing hostility? Maybe? Hopefully?
“I don’t smoke, Chase. And aren’t you supposed to play about double the songs in set one before a break?”
“I’ll make up for it next set. Keep me company?”
“Uh… naw, I’m good.”
He put his palm to his chest in a stricken way. “Shot down?” he asked. Then he looked at Christian across the table from me and he either read something or made an assumption, because he said, “Oh. Bud. My mistake. No offence.”
My eyes went laser focused on Christian for his response and