“Well…I’ve wanted to meetyoufor a long time.”
Oh, really?My skin tingled with the possibilities in those words. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wasn’t bothered by the fact that a woman knew who I was and approached me. Hell, I should’ve manned up and gone after her hours ago.
Before I could respond, before I could ask for her name or number or whole life story, the friend appeared and tugged insistently on her arm. “Berkley, can we please go? I’mstarving,” she said dramatically.
Well, there’s one mystery solved.
Berkley.
Wanting to make a good impression, I stuck out a hand. “Brent Jean.”
The brunette simply looked me up and down, and the only way I could’ve felt more naked was to actually have been naked. Her honey gaze cut right to my soul. Her expression remained unimpressed as she said, “I know who you are.”
Okay then.
The awkwardness was broken by the bartender returning with my credit card and sliding it over the sticky counter to me. “Here’s your bill, man.”
I blinked at the kid in surprise, having completely forgotten that’s why I’d been standing here when Berkley approached me.
And now, I wasn’t sure I still wanted to leave.
Offering him a smile, I said, “Thanks, man. Just one second…”
But when I turned back, Berkley and her friend had already disappeared. I rose onto my tiptoes, using my six foot, three inch height to scan the crowd for a flash of blonde hair or her friend’s dark head and white top, but found nothing.
Berkley had simply vanished.
“What the fuck,” I murmured, turning back to the bar and quickly scribbling my name on the credit card receipt.
The bartender chuckled, and I lifted my head slowly, shooting him a glare that typically had stronger men withering. The kid only shrugged, unperturbed. “It’s just not every day you see Brent Jean get rejected.”
“Shut up,” I scoffed, though there was no heat behind the words. “She didn’t reject me. She just…left.”
“Yeah, without giving you her name or any way of contacting her.”
“I know her name,” I said defensively. “Berkley. And just because she didn’t give me her number doesn’t mean anything. Haven’t you ever heard of Cinderella? We all saw how well that worked out for them.”
The kid—whose name I really should’ve learned by now—snorted. “Yeah, you’re a real Prince Charming alright.”
“Fuck off,” I said, but I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. “Mark my words. I’m going to make that girl mine one day.”
“How was the bar last night?”
I rolled my eyes at Mitch, shoving past him to my stall in the locker room, answering his question with one of my own.
“What exactly was worth ditching me for?”
Mitch smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. “I’ll give you one guess.”
I gagged. “You’re disgusting.”
“My partner didn’t think so when I had my head between her—”
“Fucking hell, dude,” I said, raising my hands to plug my ears. “I don’t need details.”
Mitch shrugged. “You didn’t answer my question.”
I returned his gesture. “It was fine.”
