Page 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

carter

Honey blonde hair, scary pretty eyes, and a smile that brought Lowesy to his knees.

Penny walks up to the bartop and rests her arms on it.

She glances over at me, but I stare straight ahead.

She orders two tequila shots and a Long Island, saying nothing as she waits.

When the bartender places her drinks in front of her, she slides one shot in front of me.

I let out a long breath, looking down at it.

She holds hers up, and I finally look at her. I get what Lowesy was saying about her eyes. They just kind of trap you. Dark, stormy, a bit mystical—like she can see right into the deepest parts of you. She smiles gently and raises her shot glass toward me.

I grab the shot. What the hell? I’m already in a piss poor mood, might as well drink my troubles away. I lick my hand, douse it in salt, and then press my glass to hers and we both down them. She has no salt. No lemon, either. She looks perfectly composed as I cringe and bite into mine.

She might be crazier than I am .

“How are you doing?” she asks, placing her glass back on the bar top.

“Just dandy, Sweets. Just dandy.”

She winces at the sarcasm, but reaches over to place her hand on my shoulder anyway. Leans into me. I feel her cheek brush my shoulder and it hurts my heart, like she gets me—like she can hear all of those fucked up thoughts swirling around in my head.

“I like her,” she says.

I stare straight ahead and reach for my Jager and Coke. I bring it to my lips to soothe the burn from that shot and that comment. “Yeah. Me too.”

“Look,” she says, pulling back a bit. She looks at me, but I can’t look back. “That video was just a bump in the road. You haven’t scared her off. I talked to her. She just needs a second to breathe.”

“That girl has been running on fumes for years, Sweets. I’m putting her through hell. For my own benefit.”

That’s what’s been killing me since that phone call. That kid already got his way. I’m going to have to deal with the charges, and that’s that. If he wanted to paint me as a monster, fine, but hearing him fucking lie about what he did to her? That was bullshit.

And we wonder why women never come forward. I blame every single little shithead in those comments that suggested she either wanted it, or she lied about it because I caught her flirting with another dude.

Plot twist, you little fuckers, I didn’t even know her name yet.

Penny studies the side of my face for a moment. “So, you’re telling me that she’s getting absolutely nothing out of this little deal you made?”

My jaw tightens. I stare at my glass, twirling it on top of the bar .

“Exactly,” she says, leaning forward. She pats my shoulder again. “It’s just a bump, Forker. She’s not going anywhere. Why don’t you finish your drink, call her, and ask her if she’d like some chicken nuggets delivered to her house, since she just finished an exceptionally long shift.”

Chicken fucking nuggets. The ultimate Arden Doll cheat code.

I glance at her, a smile tugging at my lips. “You playing cupid, Sweets?”

She beams up at me, her head rolling against my arm. “Paying back the favour.”

I’m at her door with chicken nuggets within the hour.