Jarred’s phone vibrates against the slats of the crate. He turns it over and frowns at the screen. “How are things going with Lola, by the way?”
I pause, my bottle half raised to my lips. “Fine, why?”
“Because she’s calling me.”
My grip on my beer turns lethal, a surge of jealousy twisting inside of me.Why the fuck is Lola calling Jarred?
He slips off the bench and answers the call a few feet away.
I glower at him, bracing my boots against the worn wooden floor.
Cooper tunes out of whatever his teammates are chatting about and eyes me. “He won’t do anything if she’s yours. He’s got this whole honorable thing going for him.”
I work my jaw. “She’s not exactly mine,” I say, staring at Jarred as his brow creases.
When Cooper doesn’t say anything, I glance over at him. He nods to the death grip I have on my beer. “You sure about that?”
Fuck it. Lola is definitely mine, but apparently, she doesn’t know that yet.
Jarred strolls back over to our table.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“She’s fine. Mostly.”
I stiffen.
“She lost her contractor, and she needs help with the coffee shop. I’m going to head over and give her a hand.”
Yeah, that’s not happening.“I’ll go,” I say, grabbing my keys off the table and standing up.
Jarred sits back down, a slight smirk on his lips. “She’s going to be pissed when you show up instead of me.”
“She’ll get over it,” I growl. The damn woman’s going to have other things to worry about as soon as I get my hands on her. She barely knows Jarred and yet she’s calling him for help instead of me? I don’t think so.
“You alright to drive?” Jarred asks.
“I’ve only had half a beer.” Couldn’t bring myself to drink much when Mase is still sleeping it off on my couch.
Jarred nods, his eyes sparking with amusement. “Have fun.”
“Get laid!” Cooper calls, a grin across his goofy face.
I hold up my middle finger as I walk away and Cooper’s laughter follows me to the bar. I take out some cash and add it tothe tip jar and Kelsey looks over from where she’s pulling a pint. “Where you off to?”
I raise a brow at her but Kelsey just grins and says, “About damn time.” Because apparently everyone in this town knows I’m already halfway in love with Lola Ford. She brings the pint over to a man with his cap pulled low. “Go get your girl Roman, Lola’s been waiting long enough.”
Kelsey puts down the pint but the guy tenses. He pushes away from the bar, leaving his drink untouched and barging into my shoulder as he heads for the door. Kelsey and I blink after him.
She shrugs. “Well okay then, you want a free beer?”
I smirk as I walk backwards to the door. “Sorry, gotta go get my girl.”
I don’t even try to fight the pull to go to Lola. It doesn’t matter that she’s Mase’s little sister, it doesn’t matter that she’s barely twenty-four. It doesn’t matter that she could do so much better than me.
The second she called Jarred instead of me my inner caveman took over. Possessiveness surged through me, knocking down the remainders of the walls I’d built to hold myself back.
The need to be with Lola thrums in my veins. It pulses through me, pulling me towards her and urging me to make sure she knows that the next time she calls a man for help, it better damn well be me.
