“I can’t take him home and sleep with him. That’s not me!”
“You mean that wasn’t you. There are a lot of things that have changed in the past few weeks, and I would say Liam has very little to do with any of your decisions anymore.”
My eyes drifted to the man in question, and then over to the brooding man in the corner, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me the whole night. God, I wished I could just forget about him, erase him from my mind and move on with life. At least then I wouldn’t have this constant ache in my chest that I was trying to ignore.
I wouldn’t have to pretend that I was completely fine when inside, I felt like I was shattered. I’d been barely holding it together, ignoring every instinct to cry into my pillow at night, and the annoying thoughts that crept into my mind about running over to his house to fuck him just to get him out of my system.
But that wouldn’t actually make me feel better, no matter how much I wanted to spend one last night with him. No, my heart would truly shatter if I ever had the audacity to do something like that.
“Bailes, you can’t just pine away for the man across the room,” Cheyenne said sympathetically. “I know you think you’re doing a great job of hiding how much he hurt you, but I see the look in your eyes. I can feel how depressed you are every time you drift off when you think no one’s paying attention. You can’t hide that from me.”
I huffed out a laugh, trying to brush off her concern, but the desperate look in her eyes had me rethinking my actions.
“I just want to pretend it never happened,” I whispered. “If I could erase him from my mind, I would.”
“But you can’t. Not as long as you’re still holding onto hope that something might happen.”
“I’m not—” I started, jerking my head up to face her.
But as I looked into her eyes, I saw the truth of her words staring right back at me.
Had I been waiting around for him? Hoping he would come back to me and tell me it was all a mistake? I didn’t think I was that type of woman, but as I sat there and thought about it, I realized there was no moving on from Liam because I wouldn’t allow it.
Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, I must have convinced myself that he was somehow redeemable, but how could that be? He’d slept with another woman—thrown her in my face—all without the slightest care in the world.
And I’d set myself up for it. I dove in headfirst without checking to make sure my safety net was in place.
Downing my drink, I shoved back from the table and grabbed my purse.
“Where are you going?”
“To get over Liam in the only way I know how.”
A grin spread across her face. “I never thought I would say this, but go get that dick!”
Rolling my eyes, I sauntered in the direction of Liam. His eyes darkened as I approached, and his tongue darted out, wetting his lower lip.
But at the last second, I turned and headed across the bar to where Archer was caught up in a friendly game of pool with Remi, the deputy sheriff.
“Any room for me, boys?” I asked, jutting my hip out against the table.
Archer’s eyes instantly narrowed on the action, but it was Remi who looked like he was about to swallow his tongue.
“You can break,” Archer said, tossing over his cue.
I knew absolutely nothing about pool. I’d watched it enough, but never actually tried playing it. However, if there was one thing I hadpicked up from watching other ladies play, it was how to use pool to my advantage when trying to catch a man.
Walking over in front of Archer, I bit my lip. “Maybe you could teach me. I’m not sure I know how to hold the stick.”
The smirk that grew on his face didn’t surprise me at all. And while I felt a slight lift in my mood from his response, it was quickly drowned out when I turned to face the table and caught Liam watching me.
In a matter of seconds, Archer was behind me, his cock pressed against me as he showed me how to hold the cue in my hands. Hot breath skimmed over my flesh, heating me to the point of discomfort.
I was not this woman, and yet, I couldn’t let Liam win. He had shown me up the last time we were in this bar. He’d let another woman crawl into his lap and kiss him, then he took her home.
So, as much as I didn’t want to take Archer home with me, I played the game. I let him run his fingers along the length of my arm. I turned into him when he whispered in my ear, bringing our lips just scant inches from his.
And I let him grind his hard cock against my ass.
