I casually fist a bar rag in both hands in front of me, shielding my poor, uninterested cock from her inspection.
“I think I’m going to pass, yeah…”Think, Finn.I search through the files in my brain for a solid excuse.“I’ve a headache, just going home to sleep.”
Marlee stares at me like I’ve lost my mind before she shrugs and turns, walking out the door.
Maybe Ihavelost my mind.
11
“Is that a mirror in your pocket?I think I can see myself in your pants.”
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near the same size.”
Adelaide
The entire drive home is lost to me.I was there, awake and aware but not.Completely on autopilot.I’ve never needed a friend to help me sort something out like this before.My friends here have proven to be more than biased toward the Irish Casanova, and since it’s after eight at night, they’re most likely in bed already anyway.
That whole antisocial thing I have going on is totally biting me in the ass.I could talk to Eric about it, but I need more.Another girl’s perspective.
Climbing the stairs to my apartment, I text my friend Brielle, hoping she’s not out with her fiancé, Brad.She’s one of the few girls I hung out with in high school.We were pretty tight even though she’s a couple of years older than me.
Instead of pinging with a notification, my phone buzzes, and Bri’s smiling face lights up the screen.
“Hey, am I interrupting anything?You didn’t need to actually call me.”
“Oh my gosh, Adelaide, no.How are you?”
Hearing her voice makes me kind of miss my friend in Kansas City.I was so eager to get away, spread my wings, and start fresh that I never thought twice about the things I would be without, true friendships being one of them.
“I’m okay.I didn’t pull you away from Brad, did I?”
“No.”She snorts.“We need time and a bottle of wine for that story, but that’s over.No more Brad.What’s going on?You sound…I don’t know…thinky.”There’s nothing like a librarian making up words.
“I amthinky, I guess.”I don’t touch on the Brad issue, because I’m thrilled that asshole is out of the picture.
“Is it a guy?A one-night stand who wants more?Is Eric still the only man in your life?”She giggles at the notion of Eric.
I unlock my door, grab his leash from the end table, and go straight for his crate.His little sausage-shaped body wiggles excitedly.
“He’s more than enough testosterone for me.Usually.”I settle him in my arm and head back down the stairs to let him do his thing.
“So, it is about a guy.Spill it.”
I sigh heavily, thinking maybe I should have just slept on the whole thing and then ignored it with every fiber of my being.
“I don’t need a guy.Relationships are a pain in the ass.As a general rule, I don’t like people enough to want to spend large amounts of time with any of them.I’m just not wired that way.I don’tpeople.”
“But?”
“But this guy has me all confused and rattled.I don’t know, Bri.It makes no sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense, Adelaide?”
“He tends bar, and I thought he was nothing but bad pickup lines and one-night stands.Thinks his shit doesn’t stink, and he’s God’s gift to women.I can’t stand that shit.”I scoop Eric up since he’s done with his business and his short, little legs aren’t conducive to two flights of stairs.
“Keep going.There’s more you’re not telling me.”
“He’s in my class—one that I’m teaching at the community center.And he’s so sweet with my ladies.And he kissed me tonight.And, Bri, I thought I was going to die—like, my skin was all tight and tingly.”
