Page 12 of Cookies and Cream

“Lighten up, babe. You know Freddie flirts with everybody,” Layla giggles. She kisses my cheek and smiles.

“Hey now! Why I gotta be a flirt? You should see your old man in act—”

I throw a glare at Freddie before he can finish his sentence. He starts to whistle and walks off to do his job.

“What did he mean? I should see…”

I kiss Layla on her lips before she can finish her question. The last thing I want to do is go down the slippery slope of my whoreish past. Hell, there are still barflies that come in here wanting a repeat of what I gave them. Of course, I always explain I’m off the market, and not once have I even wanted to stray. But some of these women are ruthless. I think they want me even more now that I’m in a relationship than when I was single. The shit is bananas.

“Why don’t you take your sexy ass to the booth, and I’ll get you a drink. Zane and Dontae should be here any minute now.” I kiss her once more and tap her on the ass.

Layla squints her eyes at me but shakes her head and walks off.

I know my lady has some issues with trusting men since her last slimeball ex-boyfriend cheated on her. We agreed we were too old to be playing games and telling lies. I don’t want that kind of life anyway. I didn’t even live like that when I was single. I might’ve been a horny fucker, but I’ve never been a liar or a cheater.

A few minutes later, I see one of my most aggressive pursuers. The issue with Erin is I have never slept with her. I’ve seen her type of crazy before, and I could tell she was insane at first glance. I stayed ten feet away from that mess on legs, and I will continue to do so. Especially after I figured out she was following me.

“Hi, Si. I didn’t know you were working tonight.” Erin sits on the barstool directly in front of me and bats her eyelashes, and touches my hand as I wipe down the bar.

“Uh-huh. What can I get you?” I can’t keep the snark out of my voice if I tried, which I didn’t.

The worse I treat her, the more of a challenge she thinks I am, and she chases me harder. So, I decided to give her a monotone and no emotion. But every now and then, I can’t help the sarcasm that slips out. It’s just a part of my personality when dealing with people like her.

“I don’t know, what do you suggest? You know I’ll takewhateveryou give me,” Erin suggestively giggles, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

As usual, Erin is wearing a tight, low-cut dress that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. Her blonde hair is “Texas big,” and her make-up is done to perfection. She looks like the stereotypical twenty-something barfly. She’s a pretty girl, and I never see her leaving with a bunch of different guys, not that that matters. But I just can’t understand why she wastes her time trying to chat me up when I told her I wasn’t interested from the start.

She’s barely twenty-two, still in college, and a chatterbox. Three things I have zero interest in whatsoever. I might be a former manwhore, but I was never a cradle robber. Twenty-two is entirely too young for my thirty-eight-year-old ass.

“You want the usual or…” I look at Erin expectantly, wanting this interaction to end.

I know she’s going to keep flirting and asking when we can go out on a date. I’m not sure why she even chose me to be infatuated with. I’m not even nice to her.

“Umm, like I said… I’ll takewhateveryou want to give me.” Erin licks her lips and again places her hand on mine.

I keep my face blank and move my hand away. If I show her any emotion, her crazy eyes will go wild, and she’ll start talking about our future again. The first time she did that, the shit totally freaked me out.

I pop the top on a corona, place a lime inside and slide it her way. I don’t have the patience to play mixologist with Erin today.

“Thanks. You know I’m free whenever you get off work. We can go anywhere you wanna go and doanythingyou wanna do.”

“I’m busy with my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? Since when do you have a girlfriend?”

Before Erin can continue with her twenty thousand questions that are none of her business, my best friend, Zane, and his fiancé comes in. I’m glad to see my buddy finally get his happy ending. And since it was at his bachelor party that I met Layla, I can’t be salty about Zane’s new love life.

“Hey, Si! What’s up, man?”

“What’s up, Z? Good to see you, man. Hey, Tae!” I come from around the bar and give my best friend a dap and his fiancé, Tae, a hug.

“Hey, Si.” Tae smiles, returning my hug.

As much as the women come here to get together, I hardly ever see Zane. If it weren’t for Cookie and Tae, we wouldn’t be getting together now.

“Cookie is waiting at the usual booth,” I say to Tae, and she gives me a smile and a nod before walking off.

“It’s busy in here tonight, man. And I see you have an admirer.” Zane tilts his head at Erin, and I shake mine.