At the busy bar, Cole only needs to nod his head at the barmaid for beers and chasers to appear almost immediately.
“Cheers,” I say, holding his shot up.
“What are we drinking to?” Cole asks.
“To forgetting the bullshit and having fun,” I declare.
“I’ll drink to that,” Rex chimes in. I hope he doesn’t think I’m referring to his bullshit. I can’t just forget how he lied to me, how he manipulated me.
I ignore Rex, looking at Cole as he smiles in that slow, seductive way of his. “Fuck the Iron Vultures,” he thunders, downing his shot and slamming it on the bar.
We echo him, as do several other men, who loudly declare their hatred for the rival club.
“You wanna go sit?” Rex suggests, pointing to the booth that I used to think of as ours.
“No, let’s shoot some pool,” I suggest.
“Sure,” the guys agree, and we head over to the pool table.
The group playing immediately confirms that we can take the table once they’ve finished, and one of the club girls happily volunteers to be Rex’s partner in a doubles game against Cole and me.
I’m a hopeless pool player, but the last thing I want to do is sit next to Rex in that booth and be reminded of what we had, or rather what I thought we had. Or of the last day I saw him, when he left me here to rush off to his wife, and I was humiliated to find out the truth from a club bunny who relished in telling me. At least she helped me leave, and as soon as I could, I sent the money back to her. She didn’t get in touch, though. Why would she?
“Is Mary Beth in tonight?” I ask, looking around to see if I can spot her. “Or Amanda?” I add, feeling guilty that I left without ever saying goodbye to my new friend. I imagine neither woman would be delighted to see me back here.
“Amanda might be in later, Tank’s here already, so she’ll probably come drag his drunken ass home later,” Cole replies.
“Why would you ask about Mary Beth?” Rex asks, looking at me with a strange, intense expression.
Does he know she’s the one who told me that he’s married? Does he blame her for my leaving?
“Why wouldn’t I ask about people I met?” I retort.
“She’ll no doubt come in tonight, she usually does. Especially if she gets wind that Rex is here,” Cole says, answering my question and earning a glower from Rex.
The other team finishes their game, and we’re distracted by playing ours. Rex and Cole are both good players, even Starla, the club bunny, is pretty adept, which makes my poor efforts at hitting the ball anywhere remotely close to the hole even more pitiful.
“Come here, let me show you,” Cole says, coming to stand close behind me and showing me how to handle the cue and aim properly.
I try to listen to what he’s telling me, but all I can think of is his hand on mine, his body so close that it occasionally touches me, driving me wild. Thoughts of him bending me over this table and fucking me on it flood my mind, and I flush pink. From the look on Rex’s face, he can tell exactly the effect Cole’s proximity is having on me, and he hates it, which only makes me respond more. There’s a mean, vengeful part of me that wants to hurt him the way he hurt me, and I can’t stop myself from flirting and pushing myself closer to Cole, asking for help when I no longer need it.
Starla notices my tactic and tries it on Rex herself. He’s initially uninterested, gruffly telling her what to do. But the more Cole makes me laugh, or he sees me placing a hand on Cole’s chest as we speak, the more he seems to try to get a rise from me by flirting back with Starla, much to her delight.
To my frustration, it works. When I see the beautiful, petite yet curvy woman pressing herself against Rex, I can’t helpthe green-eyed monster that rises within me. It becomes almost a competition as Rex and I continue to try to make the other jealous. I try to convince myself that I’m not using Cole, that I actually enjoy flirting with him and I am attracted to him. That I’m not just doing it to make Rex jealous.
After playing pool and taking one too many shots, a live band comes on, and we move to the dance floor to watch them. Starla follows close behind Rex, not seeming to mind that he ignores her when he thinks I’m not looking. I ignore them and talk to Cole, needing to get close so I can shout over the music. We dance, and I find myself increasingly more attracted to him. There’s something on a chemical, base level that draws me to him like a moth to a flame. However, I felt that way about Rex and learned my lesson the hard way.
Still, it would be too messy getting involved with Rex’s best friend. I can’t do it, for that reason and many others.
However, later in the night, when I look over to see Starla with her legs wrapped around Rex’s waist, kissing him passionately, I forget all of that. I throw caution to the wind and I kiss Cole. Initially, he’s surprised, and he doesn’t immediately respond, but when my tongue flicks out exploratorily, he gives in and kisses me back. He’s a good kisser, and when I press myself close to him, I can feel that he’s as turned on as I am, his cock growing hard in his pants. However, he pulls away earlier than I want, and when I look up into his eyes, I see hurt in them. He knows that I only kissed him because of Rex and Starla.
“Don’t ever use me like that again,” he says quietly. “I want you, but not like that.”
Shame floods me, and I open my mouth to speak. But before I can say anything, we’re interrupted.
“Well, well, well, look who came crawling back.” I turn to see the familiar woman standing behind me.
“Hello, Mary Beth,” I reply.
