Page 49 of Rum & Coke

Paul shrugged. “All right. Let’s do it.”

The arena was huge, but that wasn’t going to stop me fromaccidentallyrunning into Tessa and her boss.

Watching Tessa shoot a gun was hot. There was something about watching her handle a firearm that was badass and it made me hard watching her be strong and self-reliant. I loved it. Plus, she was a decent shot, and I knew if anything were to happen, she’d be able to defend herself. But then, when we were done, she wasn’t ready to purchase a gun. I understood. Guns weren’t my thing either unlike all of our other friends. So, Tessa settled on getting pepper spray from Autumn, who had a supply she sold to her class.

Since Tessa had to go on a date with her boss the next night, I took her straight home after the range because she still needed to buy a dress for the fight. A high profile match brought out all the celebrities and power players, so people dressed up if they were in the decent seats where cameras might see them. Since she said she had to get a dress, I knew they had good seats.

So, that meant I had to get the boys and me good seats too.

Before I walked away from Tessa’s door, I asked her to be my date for Paul’s wedding. She was the only one I wanted to go with, and she was already getting along with everyone who would be there.

“Now that you’re cool with Autumn and Joss, want to go to Paul and Joss’s wedding with me on Saturday?”

Her blue eyes widened. “Yes!”

I grinned. “I mean as my date, Tess.”

“Like a real date?”

“Like a real date.”

She thought for a moment as we stared at each other and then she finally agreed. “Okay. I would love to.”

“Great. Have fun tomorrow night. The boys and I are going to get Paul fucked up.”

She laughed. “I can only imagine all of you drunk. I didn’t get to see that.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get to see that.” I chuckled.

“I bet I’ll see you drunk at the wedding.”

“Yeah, I bet you will too.”

Now, I was getting ready for a night at the arena with my boys so I could stalk the girl I had feelings for. All so I could make sure her boss was on his best fucking behavior because I didn’t like that she was going out with him. Which meant I needed to figure my shit out with S&R and maybe take that break Gabe suggested.

Of course, that needed to be after my date with Shelby on Sunday.

When Vinny droppedme off after the range, Melony and I went shopping. I wasn’t exactly sure how fancy to get for the fight because when I googled it, some celebrities dressed in thousand dollar dresses and some people wore simple cocktail dresses. Others wore jeans and a T-shirt, but I assumed the T-shirts cost at least a hundred bucks—not the kind found at Target. Plus, it seemed it was only the men who dressed down.

“Do you think it’s weird that Sebastian asked me to go with him to the fight?” I asked, looking at the dresses in the department store.

“No, I’ve actually known a few girls who’ve gone.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“Well, Sommer for starters.”

I glared at her. “Seriously?”

“What?”

“Sommer gives him sexual favors. Do you think that’s what he wants from me?”

Melony shrugged. “I don’t know, but like I told you before, you don’t need to do anything you don’t want to.”