Trick - By Lori Garrett Page 0,41

a huge asshole for making fun of you. I had no idea, Har.”

I smile. “It’s okay. Because this summer, Daisy hunted him down. And he and...Um, well...we reconnected?” I push away the drama of the last three days, because I know, I just know, Gunner and I will get past it. Or maybe I just want to believe my own fairytale.

The entire group crows and shouts.

“She means, ‘We boned!’” Becca shouts.

“She means, ‘He gave me his hot beef injection!’” Alex yells, jumping up and pumping her hips.

“Who is this mystery stud?” Madison demands.

“Um, his name is Gunner Hunt,” I say.

Alex’s eyes go wide.

“Do you know something about him?” My heart hammers loud in my ears. Maybe Alex knows Rochelle? Maybe she’s going to tell me something I really don’t want to hear?

“No. Not a Gunner Hunt. I had an amazing weekend with a Greyson Hunt, but there are a million Hunts in Piedmont. Who knows if they’re even related. But if Gunner is as unfuckingbelievable in bed as Greyson is...” Alex closes her eyes and runs her hands over her body. “Holy shit, girl, I’m dying of jealousy right now!”

Jilly shakes her head. “Hunt is like the Smith of Piedmont. Okay, girls! Now that we know Harlow is having a very active social life with the mysterious Gunner Hunt, you should all be extra ashamed, because she’s still blowing every one of you out of the water. Don’t even look at the phone pile, Jerika! You know who gets phone privileges? Amazing dancers. Right now I see a whole lotta mediocre. Again from the top. Five, six, seven, eight...”

I glance over at the phone pile when Jilly’s back is turned. Has he called? What’s he going to say about Rochelle? Did she tell him we met? Damn Daisy and her three-day rule!

I dance my heart out and encourage my girls to do the same, in a small part because I love what I’m doing, and in a huge part because I need to get to that damn phone.

CHAPTER 10

GUNNER

The first time anyone ever handed me a beer was my at my eighth grade graduation. My Uncle Billy said, “Kid got farther than I ever managed. I’ll drink to that, and I think he should to!”

I had no mama to knock him upside the head, so I drank. And didn’t stop until the summer I met Harlow. I lost the desire to be drunk on alcohol once I’d been drunk off the taste of her, the feel of her body under mine.

When I sent her on her way, I couldn’t seem to drink enough, which is part of the reason I opened my bar. I slowed back down because I had too much responsibility to be wasted every day. But now that it’s been three fucking days since I’ve been able to hear her voice or see her face, I’m nursing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Black Label, and even my favorite drink isn’t doing a damn thing.

Rochelle’s irritating voice doesn’t do anything to help.

“Hey, handsome. You look like death warmed over.”

I hold my arms out. “Didn’t I give you my credit card yesterday? Go buy yourself something and get out of my damn face, Rochelle.”

She sits down on the barstool next to me and smiles at Jared. “Vodka sour.” She watches him walk back to make her drink, looking him up and down and licking her lips appreciatively. She turns to look at me, a challenge in her icy eyes.

“What’s that look for?” I growl.

“You jealous that I’m checking Jared out?” she purrs.

I see Jared’s shoulders go stiff. He’s been with his girl, Rosie, since they were in junior high. He says that he can appreciate a good-looking female, but he’d never mess around.

“I don’t give a shit who you look at, Rochelle. But keep your hands off anyone I work with. I don’t need you turning everything here to shit.”

Jared drops the glass on the bar and rushes to the boxes waiting to be broken down in the storage room. Lucky bastard. I’m stuck staring at Rochelle. She sips her drink and stuffs a fifty in the tip jar, which makes me laugh. It’s probably my fucking fifty.

“You were supposed to meet me at the jewelry store. I waited for half an hour. Bought a nice necklace and two pairs of earrings I might never wear.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask, knowing I shouldn’t bother. She wants me to ask because she loves the drama.

“I did it because