Shocker is sitting in his normal spot at the end of the bar, the only one bellied up at the moment. Lightning is sitting on the couch against the wall, his head tipped backward, resting against the back of the cushion, a beer in his hand. He’s still recovering from being shot, but at least he doesn’t look half dead anymore.
I start to move toward him, to talk to him, when Lolita moves to stand in front of me. She’s wearing next to nothing—a pair of thong panties, high heels, and pasties. Really, she looks like she’s ready to party, and it feels a bit too early for that right now.
She tilts her head back, her eyes find mine, and her lips part slightly. I’m not sure if she’s trying to appear sexy, but it doesn’t work. In fact, I can’t help but snort, only because when Cidney looks up at me like that, my cock twitches. Lolita does the same, and nothing.
Fuck me, but I am seriously gone for the girl. Not even Lolita standing in front of me, sexy as shit, practically naked, could shift my attention from my woman to anyone else. I’m gone forCidney. I want to turn around right now and go back home…Home. Because anywhere with Cidney is home.
Lolita clears her throat, which causes my focus to shift from my own thoughts to her again. Although I’m slightly annoyed that she’s taken my thoughts of Cidney from the forefront of my mind, I’d rather be thinking about her than conversing with Lolita right now.
“Help you?” I ask.
She shifts her gaze to the side, then brings her attention back to mine. “You fell in love,” she whispers.
It’s a statement, not a question of any kind, but I arch a brow, my confusion still very much apparent as I attempt to figure out just how she could sense that I’ve fallen in love when I haven’t quite allowed myself to admit it, even internally, yet.
“What?” I ask.
She laughs softly, as if she finds me comical, or maybe she just thinks I’m fucking foolish and stupid—I’m not quite sure. She wouldn’t actually say it, though. If she did… find me funny or stupid, that is, she wouldn’t say shit, because that’s not her place.
“You fell in love. I can tell. I’ve seen it enough over the past couple of years. Bullet, Lightning, Ivy…” Her words trail off before her gaze focuses on mine. “Maverick.”
She says the name in a whisper, and I know it’s because the struggles we had with one another were no secret. But it’s really nobody else’s fucking business what happens between Maverick and me.
“You’re sticking your nose into shit that’s not yours,” I grind out through clenched teeth.
She shrugs a shoulder, taking a step backward. “Maybe,” she murmurs, “but I am not wrong. I know I’m not.”
And with that, she spins around and walks away. I watch her bare ass as she does. An ass I’ve bent over more than one table,bed, and pool table. Always a good fucking time, too, but the sight of it does nothing for me right now.
Turning from her swaying hips, I smirk at the sight of my brother standing a few feet away, his arms crossed over his chest, his head tipped slightly, and his brows raised. I press my lips together at the same time his curve up into a shit-eating grin.
“You’re in love,” he states.
Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I shake my head a couple of times. “I didn’t come here to get my balls busted,” I snap.
“No doubt that’s happening back at Cidney’s apartment plenty,” he says, his words coming out on a chuckle.
I flip him off, then walk over to the bar and slam my hand down a couple of times. A beer appears in front of me, and another for Maverick as he steps up beside me. I feel his hand clamp down around my shoulder, jerking me gently.
“Talk to me, brother.”
Lifting the beer to my lips, I take a pull, swallowing it before I turn to face him. I lift my gaze slowly to meet his. I’m not sure what to say, so I blurt out the only thing that comes to my mind.
“I’m fucking in love.”
CIDNEY
I feel like I’m on display. Like I’m standing in a store window for them to look at, to critique. I open my mouth to say something, but before I can get a word out, there is a knock on the door. Which is perfect timing because I don’t know what the hell I was going to say.
When I take a step toward the door, Dakota lifts her hand to stop me, which, of course, stops me in my tracks. “It’s Lainey with dessert,” she explains.
I watch as she hurries toward the door and wrenches it open without even looking through the peephole. That is a dangerous game. Justin has always told me, drilled it into my head, and ingrained it into me that you always look before you leap.
Opening doors for people is a big freaking leap.
The person behind the door, luckily, is Lainey, with two big and beautiful canary-yellow bakery boxes. I know that the contents are going to be heaven on my tongue. I can’t freaking wait to tear open one of those boxes.
Once Lainey is inside, our girls’ night can commence. But I’m not sure I’m ready for any of it, because that would mean I’m the center of attention… the focus. I don’t want to be that.
