“You’re too sweet to have a nemesis, Con.” Jordan ran a hand through my hair, like the sister I’d never had. “Besides, with your smile and your positive attitude, everything will work out.”
I sat up straighter and gave her a grin. “Of course it will. Can’t keep me down for long.” But I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to fight bad luck and past-Con’s shitty choices.
Jordan looked at me thoughtfully. “When the Universe gives you problems, it usually gives you solutions, too. You just need to keep your eyes open.”
I smiled and nodded. “You’ve been working on your bartender speeches, haven’t you?”
She leaned in confidingly. “Little bit. I’m trying to be less fortune-cookie, more new-age. What do you think?”
“It was beautiful. VeryChicken Soup for the Soul.”
She grinned and threw an extra handful of cherries in my drink before she went to serve someone else. I hunched over my glass again and sighed.
All around me, the bar was hopping in typical Saturday night fashion. At one end of the room, a small dance floor was packed with half-dressed guys and girls moving together in beautiful chaos, like swarms of butterflies under flashing lights. This end of the room was dominated by a large bar ringed with stools and maybe a half-dozen high-top tables. Almost every stool was filled, and still more people crowded in around us, trying to catch the attention of one of the three servers and more importantly, trying to catch the attention of whoever they most wanted to leave with that evening.
This was my Saturday night routine—head out, look cute, get picked up by the hottest and most persistent guy or gal at The Hive, fuck or be fucked, and whistle a happy tune as I drove home a couple hours later. The sights were familiar, the rhythm was comforting, the rules were simple and understood, and the expectations wereminimal, unlike the rest of my life.
But for maybe the first time ever, the whole thing left me cold. I needed something… different. But I didn’t know exactly what I needed, let alone how to get it.
And wasn’tthatthe story of my whole damn life?
“Hey, cutie. Looking for distraction?”
I swiveled my head toward the blond who’d literally elbowed into the spot at my side and was now leaning said elbow on the bar, effectively forming a wall to the left of me.
“Don’t think I’m distractible tonight, buddy, but thanks anyway.”
“Maybe justonedrink? My name’s Tyler. What’s yours?”
I looked the guy up and down. He was short, blond, and twinky, with gray-blue eyes that stood out from his tan skin. Good-looking. Very.
And I wasangryat myself because this was exactly the kind of distraction I needed after today, but instead of feeling my dick plumping or my belly giving a pleasant sort of swoop, I felt preciselynothing.
“I’ve already got a drink, Tyler. And I’ve had a shit day. I’m not real good company. But thanks anyway.”
“You know, sometimes when you feel least distractible, that’s when you most need distraction,” the guy said solemnly. “The problem is also the solution.”
“Have you and Jordan been reading the same books?” I demanded.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Listen, I admire the, uh, perseverance. Okay? But I am not in the mood for whatever you’re offering.” I waved a hand in the general direction of his crotch.
Tyler’s eyes glinted with humor. “What do you think I’m offering exactly?” He waved a hand, copying my motion. “To suck you off in the back hallway? To take you back to my hotel to fuck?” The person on the stool behind Tyler moved away and Tyler dropped into the empty seat without hesitation.
“Yeah.” I felt my cheeks get warm. “Any of those.”
“Good, because I don’t recall offering. I saiddistraction, not… random back-room fuckery. Do those mean the same thing to you?”
“Well…” I licked my lips, embarrassed. Actually, to me they generally did.
“Ah. One ofthose.” Tyler rolled his eyes and turned toward the bar, signaling for Jordan to bring him a beer. “You need to fuck ten thousand frogs before you find your soulmate and get your happily ever after?”
I snickered. “Happily ever after? I don’t know if thereissuch a thing.” But I thought of my parents, and of the way Caelan James looked at his new boyfriend, Ash. “For me, anyway,” I added. “I don’t thinkeveryonefinds a soulmate.”
“Well,Ibelieve there’s someone out there for everyone.” Jordan set Tyler’s beer in front of him and Tyler gave her a smile, then contemplated the glass. “A person who comes along at precisely the right time and changes the way you see yourself, the way you feel about the future… everything. I’ve seen it happen.”
“Uhhuh. And you think you might find this life-changing soulmatehere?” I looked around the overly warm room, at the group of men near us who were laughing a little too loud, at the other men and women standing at the high tables in the corners sucking down alcohol like they were hoping for a temporary transformation into someone bold and confident, at the guys and gals on the dance floor grinding with total abandon. I knew most of them by sight. I knew many of them… more intimately. And they were all lovely,lovelyfolks, but there was not a single magical unicorn among them. Still, I saluted Tyler with my drink for being optimistic enough to try. “Good luck.”
