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CHAPTER 15

“A re you even listening to me, Marty?”

Marty scanned the bar one more time before she returned her attention to Melissa, who’d been crying for the past hour over her boyfriend. Well, he was probably her ex-boyfriend now that she’d caught him making out with her boss yesterday.

“She’s not listening to any of us!” Diane cried, causing the people around them to turn around.

How in the hell did she let them convince her that this was a good idea? She didn’t want to be here. She would have been perfectly happy hiding in her room…with the door locked…and the window locked along with every door and window in the house locked and barricaded instead of coming here.

“I cannot believe it’s over! I loved him!” Angie sobbed into a small pile of cocktail napkins.

Oh, that’s right.

She came out because three of her friends got dumped within a twenty-four-hour period and they’d all guilt-tripped her into coming today. Since they’d all been dumped, they were looking to her for support. Why? She had no idea. She’d never really had a boyfriend. Granted, Tristan had broken her heart and had been driving her crazy over the past couple of weeks, but that didn’t make her an expert.

She really didn’t fit in for this girl’s night out and had explained that to them several times. Why they didn’t just go to each other for comfort, she would never know.

For the past hour, they’d been taking turns telling her what happened and how wonderful their love had been. She just sat there, sipping her beer, nodding every now and then, and admittedly not really listening. It was the same damn drama every couple of weeks.

“Marty, do you think I should give him another chance?”

“Hmmm?” Marty murmured, glancing up in time to find Diane glaring at her.

“I asked if you think that I should give Billy another chance?”

“Who’s Billy?” Marty asked before she could stop herself, only to add, “I thought his name was James.”

“James was two weeks ago! Why would you bring him up when you know how much he meant to me!” Diane demanded as she grabbed more cocktail napkins and buried her face in them.

Right, Marty thought, the pizza delivery guy who’d dumped her because she’d sent too many text messages in one day, or rather in one hour. Again, who the hell was Billy?

“It’s not really her fault,” Melissa said, giving Marty a pitying look and leaving her struggling not to roll her eyes.

Angie picked up the conversation with a pained sigh. “She’s never been in love like us.”

Now, all three of them were looking at her like she was pathetic, which only pissed her off more.

“First off,” Marty said, holding up a finger, “I have dated. I just know when it’s just dating and nothing more.”

“What are you saying?” Angie demanded. “I loved Eric!”

“Uh-huh, and how long did you date him?” Marty asked, sick of playing this game every couple of weeks. Maybe if she pissed them off, they wouldn’t invite her anymore. One could hope.

“Three of the best weeks of my entire life!”

“My point exactly. You were just dating. Nothing more. Have you guys ever thought that maybe the reason why so many guys dump you is because you get too serious way too soon?” Marty asked.

The three of them shared a look before scoffing. “No, we’re just very lovable. We know true love when we see it,” Melissa insisted.

“Uh-huh, have you ever found it odd that the three of you find true love on a weekly basis?”

“ Gawd , you’re so insensitive!”

Marty just barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. This was pathetic. Then again, not having anything better to do than to come here and listen to this nonsense again was pathetic.

Maybe she needed a hobby?

“She’s just bitter because no real man wants her. She goes after losers,” Melissa said in a pitying tone, drawing Marty away from her musings.

“I’m sorry. What’s this, now?” Marty asked, sure that she’d misheard her.

“You know exactly what I said. You’ve never really dated. Don’t think we haven’t noticed. You only agree to go out with guys you know that you’re not interested in.”

Marty waved a hand impatiently to get them to focus. “What’s this about no real men wanting me?”

Instead of answering her, they all just kind of stared at her, well, more like a few inches past her shoulder to the right.

“What about me?” a disturbingly familiar deep voice asked, making it difficult to remember how to breathe.

Oh, God, no, the man she’d been avoiding since Friday night had finally found her. This wasn’t going to end well. Not even a little bit. She’d publicly humiliated him. Actually, according to the video that went viral, it was more like globally humiliated him. It looked like it was her turn to become an internet sensation.

She slowly turned her head, too frightened to force this moment. She would not cry or scream or run away screaming for her daddy. She wouldn’t! Mostly because he wasn’t cuffed and naked this time and he would most definitely catch her. Still…

Before she could entertain any real escape plans, he was kissing her. Tristan Black was kissing her! In public! Like he had every right in the world to do it. She moaned against his lips and nearly whimpered when he pulled away.

“Did you miss me, baby?”

“Er…”

“I just wanted to return these,” Tristan said as he made a show of reaching into his back pocket.

He wouldn’t…

Oh, God, he did! He placed the silver handcuffs in the middle of the table. It seemed like the entire bar went quiet except for the occasional gasp.

“Next time, it’s my turn,” Tristan said with a wink before he stood up and strolled out of the bar, leaving her sitting there as every pair of eyes moved between her and the cuffs. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

Shit!

“You slut!” her three friends said in unison. It would have been funny if she wasn’t sure that was the new consensus in the bar.

* * *

“Oh, lad, ye really shouldn’t have done that to her,” Shayne said from the passenger seat of his truck.

Tristan kept his eyes locked on the front door of the bar as he drove away. If he knew Marty, and he was pretty sure that he knew her better than anyone else, she’d be storming out that door to kick his ass any minute now.

“Ye need to go back in there and apologize, maybe tell the people in there that ye were joking,” Shayne said.

“Not happening,” Tristan said, grinding his teeth together.

“Lad, if ye don’t fix this I…I think whatever chances ye had with the lass will be destroyed. Are ye ready to finally be rid of her forever?”

Tristan gave a casual shrug that he wasn’t feeling and said, “It’s going to happen sooner or later. Might as well get it over with now.” Before the words were out of his mouth, his stomach gave a violent twist at the idea of never seeing Marty again.

She aggravated him, pissed him off, got on his last nerve, but he’d be damned if she didn’t make him smile, laugh, and made him glad to be alive. Without her, his life was going to amount to absolutely nothing.