Tinder dates, but strangely enough, you don’t see that much out here. We get fishermen, lonely housewives, retired couples, and tourists. Not many first dates and you can spot them a mile away, believe me.
Presley studies their mannerisms for a moment. “No way. I’m going with he’s a forty-year-old virgin and she’s a schoolteacher.”
“You just literally described the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” Mal notes, her cheeks flushed, hair frizzy.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, taking in her appearance.
“Kids were up with stomach flu last night. Puke. Everywhere.”
“Yikes.”
“I didn’t describe that movie,” Presley argues, shaking a drink up with one hand and waving the other at Mal. She smacks Dylan right in the face in the process, who drops the glass she had in her hand on the floor. It bounces off the rubber mat. “She sold eBay shit. She wasn’t a schoolteacher.”
“Okay, sure.” Mal’s eyes lift to the table. “I’d say he’s a computer programmer. Wait—” She looks at Dylan, who stands, the glass in her hand again. “What did he order?”
Dylan frowns, annoyed with the drink choice. “Old fashioned.”
We all groan. Whiskey is sweet enough if you ask me. Don’t add sugar, orange, and cherry to it. Just… don’t. The four of us spend the next few hours trying to figure out the relationship going on.
I place twenty bucks on the bartop. “I bet he’s rich as fuck, and she grew up with a single dad.”
Dylan snorts, carrying the drink away. “You’re probably right.”
Around eight, George brings over pizza for Kylo’s party. Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about him, and even though he’s not talking to me, I refuse to let him hate me.
“Party time!” I announce in the kitchen, holding out a cupcake with a candle on it.
“What?” Avie barks from his office. “Oh, hell no. We can’t have a party? It’s fucking slammed out there.”
“Don’t be a dick,” Mal waves him off.
With a cupcake in hand, I hold it out to him. Kylo’s dark eyes make a leisurely pass over my face, my lips, and then land on my eyes. He seems to consider his reaction for a moment, wiggling his lower jaw slightly, and then looks back at Everett. “I don’t think I should be given a flame.”
I blink at him. He frowns, but winks. “Thank you.” And he takes the cupcake from me.
Instinctively, I wrap my arms around him and make him hug me. “I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me.”
With his hands around my waist, his body tenses. “I wasn’t mad at you,” he whispers, his cheek against mine.
Awkwardly, I pull out of the hug and smile at Everett. “Pizza’s in Avie’s office.” And then to piss Avie off completely, back behind the bar, I yell, “Half-priced drinks for the next five minutes if you sing loud enough that our boy Kylo can hear you tell him happy birthday!”
As you can imagine, it doesn’t go over well with the owner.
It’s around closing that Presley leans her elbows into the bartop. “Are we going to find out who Burt is?” I can’t miss the excitement in her eyes. She glances over her shoulder at Avie, who’s deep in conversation with Mal, but watching us intently. He’s still pissed at me for doing this.
Breaking my stare away from Avie, I lift my eyes to Presley. “I don’t know. Do you think I should? Lincoln said he wouldn’t.”
“You talked to him about it?”
“I shrug one shoulder. “Yeah, well, I mean, he saw the scar and asked.”
It’s then that my shirt slips, and the bruise I now have thanks to Lincoln is revealed. “What the fuck is that?” She reaches up and moves my shirt, her eyes wide. “What happened?”
I’m quick to turn and rip my shirt from her hand. “He bit me and sucked my blood.”
“What the fuck? Seriously?”
Warmth fans across my cheeks. I sigh, and swallow at the same time and choke on my own spit. “It’s nothing. And I liked it. I asked him to.”
She squints at me. “What kind of freaky shit are you into?”
I give her a steady look. “Maybe Burt’s into it? Ever thought about that?”
She leans forward, eyeing me carefully, but there’s a smile curving her lips. “Tell me more. Like, does he actually suck your blood or just give you a little, ya know, love bite?”
It’s no surprise, but Dylan hears this and joins in. “I was once with a guy who liked it when I was on my period.” A memory seems to flash across her face, as