Page 25

Is it weird that having the dog makes me feel closer to her?
Christ, this stress is making me feel shit that’s completely foreign.
The bartender slides the glass of clear liquid in front of me, and I take a long gulp. The vodka burns a path down my throat. Pure rubbing alcohol. It may be smooth, but that part escapes me as I choke it down.
Max claps me on the back. “Hey, have as many as you want and put everything on my tab. I’m gonna find Sloane.”
I nod and hold up my glass. “I’ll just be here.”
Max walks toward a corner and dips his head down to give his girlfriend Sloane a kiss. I shake my head, still wondering how Max of all people would fall for a good girl like her. His dick was always wrapped up in girls who owned more clothes made of pleather and lace than cotton, whose faces were masks of makeup, and who choked on three-syllable words.
Sloane, though…she really turned him inside out. And I’m happy for him. For them.
It’s taken him a long time to forgive me for what I did to him years ago, but I’m glad it finally happened.
And he doesn’t even know the truth.
I see Nico sink down next to his girlfriend Shaye, Max’s sister and Sloane’s best friend. He drapes an arm over her shoulders and she smiles up at him. I have no doubt that’s the thing he had to ‘take care of’ before.
That’s just great.
Everyone is fucking happy.
I’m so glad for all of them.
And I’m the only asshole who’s left dodging death.
I take another long gulp of my vodka and swing myself around to face the bar. I slam my near-empty glass on the dark wood and drop my head into my hands.
“Rough night?”
I peek through my fingers, dragging my hand down the front of my face. I manage a half-grin. “So rough I needed vodka.”
Kat smiles. “I always told you it makes things better. Fuck the scotch. Shoot the vodka instead.”
Shoot it, lick it off your tits…I’ll do anything you want with it.
“I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “So you thought about seeing me?”
I run a hand through my hair and look away since my poker face is shit when she’s around. “I wondered who’d show up. It’s not like I thought about you specifically.”
“Mm-hm.” Her red lips curl upward, and it’s hard for me to not think about them sucking my cock and leaving her mark on me.
I clear my throat. “So Stoli 2, he’s, uh, a really good dog. Lindy wanted to stay with him tonight, so I brought him over to my parents’ house. Thought he’d like the company.”
“He was…” she murmurs, a faraway look in her eyes. I wish I knew where she was right now.
Something tells me I already do know, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it unless I have a death wish.
But as quickly as the look appeared, it’s gone, and her eyes are all boarded up again.
“You know, you can come by and see him whenever you want.” I don’t know why I feel the need to make this offer again, but she’s with me right now. She doesn’t have to be. She could have found Shaye and the rest of the crew who are already here in the club, and let’s face it…
We’ve always had kind of a lust-hate relationship.
Okay, maybe the lust thing is a little one-sided.