“Good thing you look good in those pants.” A slow grin spread over his face.
“No thinking about my pants.” She pointed a warning finger at him, not trusting the gleam in his eyes.Damn. Why couldn’t her solution be as simple as getting under Aiden to get over Jake?
“So are we trying to make this guy jealous?”
“No!” The startled response burst out of her. She tried again more calmly. “No. And besides, he won’t be there tomorrow.”
“Okay then. I’ll be your babysitter.” His lips curved into a smile. “What time should I pick you up?”
Twenty-Four
They were quite a trio that night. Robbie in a tight black T-shirt, cuffed jeans, skinny suspenders, a belt with a huge devil’s-head buckle around his waist; Milo in slacks and a blazer because he was convinced women liked a man who wasn’t afraid of dressing up; and Jake in jeans and a navy button-down, sleeves rolled up. They started the night at a steakhouse overlooking the Illinois River and consumed enormous amounts of beef—the better to soak up the alcohol later on, Milo had argued—and arrived at the bar a little after nine.
Brandon was holding the Brick Babe auditions at a place called Draven’s, which Robbie described over dinner as a sticky-floored nightmare that catered heavily to the Rayman College crowd. Of course Brandon would choose a place known for its cheap draft beer and vomit-covered parking lot. By the time they arrived, the place was wall to wall with bodies, and the music was so loud they had to shout. Robbie dove through the crowd like a salmon swimming upstream to secure them all beer while Jake tried to locate Brandon in the midst of the throng. He didn’t particularly want to be a part of the auditions, but he ought to say hello since he was there.
He and Milo edged around the crowded room toward a raised platform in the back where the station booth was assembled for the night. Robbie found them there and passed around the beers dangling from his fingers.
By then they’d made it far enough along the circuit of the room that Brandon spotted them and waved them over to the booth. Naturally, he was surrounded by women with numbers pinned to their admittedly impressive chests.
“Jakehammer! I didn’t think you’d come!” Brandon waved a clipboard full of notes, his grin euphoric. Apparently, ranking women based on their looks agreed with him. Brandon explained his evaluation methods to a bemused Robbie and an enthusiastic Milo. “We’re looking for women who’ll show up to station events, mingle with the crowds, make sure everybody’s having a good time and buying plenty of alcohol,” Brandon hollered over the music and the chatter. “Feel free to tell the applicants that you three are with the station, and let me know which numbers impress you. This may be the best perk of the job, fellas!”
“I’ve been training my whole life for this,” Milo deadpanned.
A woman with a bright red Bettie Page haircut and floral tattoo sleeve covering her left arm stood on her tiptoes to holler at Robbie, “Hi, I’m number seven! Want to know why I’d make a good Brick Babe?”
“Uh, sure?” Robbie tilted his head down to the tiny grinning woman.
“My conversation skills, of course!” she said with a wink. Then she stood on her tiptoes to whisper something in Robbie’s ear that made his eyelids flutter shut. He turned to Jake with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, man. When a beautiful woman wants to go someplace quieter to talk, you damn well go someplace quieter to talk. It’s only polite.” Then he and Bettie Page disappeared into the crowd.
“I guess number seven gets his vote.” Milo inclined his chin at numbers fourteen and twenty-one, who were eyeing him appreciatively from a few feet away.
“I’m way too married to be here,” said a voice in Jake’s ear. He swung around to see an uncomfortable-looking Dave Chilton trying to blend in with the wall. His thin fingers clenched a beer bottle, and he looked ready to bolt. “They’re like ravenous wolves, and I’m the haunch of beef.”
Jake hid a smile at Dave’s hunted expression and introduced him to Milo, whom Dave greeted with a gloomy, “Hiya.”
“They’re going to start trying some of the women on the morning show with Dave,” Jake explained to Milo. “I don’t think he’s looking forward to it.”
“Emphatically not,” Dave said. “And I wish they understood that I have no decision-making power. I’ve had my neck licked three times tonight.Three times.”
Milo perked up at that. “Which numbers?”
Jake and Dave pretended not to have heard him.
“She’s here, by the way,” Dave told Jake in a quieter voice.
He stared at Dave for a beat, certain he’d misheard. Mabel washere?Forthis?He’d avoided her for weeks, and now they were under the same roof, which was packed with alcohol and throbbing base and college kids making out in every corner? Fuckinggreat.
“She?” Milo asked. “So thereisa girl?”
Jake groaned as a delighted smile spread across Milo’s face. Ears like a bat, that one, even in this overstuffed, overloud bar.
“No,” he said quickly at the same time that Dave said, “Mabel.”
“Iiiiinteresting. There’s a girl named Mabel,” Milo said, but when Jake didn’t brush away his comment, the teasing smile fell from his face. “Wait, is this somebody you’re serious about?”
Jake cut his eyes to Dave, then nodded. “Yeah.”
“Like Asha serious?” Milo’s eyes widened.
