Pushing His Luck - Rhyannon Byrd Page 0,5
up and go home. You’re so drunk you can barely stand, and this shit isn’t cool.” He cut a dark look toward Stacy/Kasey, then brought his narrowed gaze back to him. “I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, but I’m not going to stand by and watch you hurt someone I care about. So get the hell out of here.”
“Paul,” his date whined, choosing that moment to speak up. “I thought you said this party was going to be fun.”
“Sorry,” he muttered as he looked her way, wondering why there were suddenly two of her. “But at least I bought all your drinks earlier at the bar. And paid for the Uber. Night’s not a total waste, Stacy.”
“Stacy?” she screeched, looking ready to take his head off. “My name is Lacey, you ass!”
“Oh.” His forehead scrunched as he tried to focus on her pissed-off face. “Then who’s Stacy? Or is it Kasey?”
“Stacy’s my roommate,” she bit out through her clenched teeth. “You met her at the bar.”
One of the guys from Chris’s work who was close enough to overhear started to laugh, and his brother turned his head and glared the jackass into silence. Paul was so drunk he was on the verge of snickering himself, when he looked over Sean’s shoulder and caught sight of Karin still staring at him, her brown eyes big and shadowed, full lower lip caught in her teeth. Her fucking beauty hit him like a kick to the gut.
“Paul,” Lacey growled, stamping her bare foot in the sand. “God, are you even listening to me right now?”
“Sorry, babe,” he muttered, figuring it was time to slam the final nail in his coffin. “I’ll make it up to you once I get my mouth between your legs.”
His voice had been loud enough for Karin to hear, and sure enough, she flinched as if she’d been physically struck, then immediately turned and started walking away, Natalie and Sophie hurrying after her. Paul would have kept right on watching her, chugging down every second like a desperate man dying of thirst, but Sean was quick to get right back in his face.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you,” his brother seethed, “but you’re being a goddamn dick.”
“What? ‘Cause of Karin? Did Sophie and Nat tell you some sob story and you’re taking their side now? Jesus, man, what happened to bros before hos?”
He heard Chris make a rough, graveled sound, and then Sean was quickly pushed to the side just before Chris’s powerful fist connected with the edge of Paul’s jaw, the blow jerking his head to the side so hard it nearly spun him around.
Fuck, he thought, fighting back a wave of nausea as he hunched forward. That shit hurt. Almost as bad as he figured it was going to feel when he sobered up and realized he’d actually muttered such a juvenile saying.
Chest heaving, Chris reached down and fisted his hand in the front of Paul’s T-shirt, jerking him upright again. “Don’t make me hit you a second time, because I hate that shit. But you don’t get to act like that to Karin…and you sure as fuck don’t get to call my woman a whore.”
“Jesus, man, it’s just a saying.”
Chris sighed with disgust, then shoved him away. “Call an Uber and go home, Paul. You need to sober the hell up.”
“Fine, I’m outta here. Anything’s gotta be better than watching you pathetic pussies following your bitches—”
One minute he’d been spewing nothing but a load of drunken bullshit, and in the next, his brother’s powerful right jab was connecting with the center of his face, cracking against his nose.
Paul felt his feet actually leave the sand as he sailed backward, his breath gusting out on a pained groan as he hit the ground.
Then everything went black.
And he mercifully passed out.
Chapter Two
Early April
The “Bonfire from Hell” had been a week ago, but there were times when Paul could swear his skull still throbbed from the hangover that had kicked his ass over the past weekend. Granted, he was kicking his ass for a hell of a lot more reasons than over-drinking.
Like the fact that he’d been a dick to his brother and Chris.
Had said shit about their girlfriends that made him an even bigger dick. Not only were Natalie and Sophie great women, they were his friends.
And Karin… Yeah, he wasn’t even going to think about that. He was still at work and the last damn thing he needed