was.
Of course he was groveling like an idiot, claiming he regretted his actions. What else was he going to do? Get up there and say, in front of the entire nation, “Hookers are awesome. I especially love how you can pay them to do kinky stuff that my wife won’t do.” I think I’d actually admire that; at least I’d know he wasn’t full of crap. Because like I said, he’s not really sorry. He’s only sorry he got caught. It’s just how guys are.
With my resolve against Jake wavering, this was the wake-up call I needed. The more I reminded myself why I wasn’t dating Jake, the better.
Chapter Five
Now, I realize I’ve compared myself to Cinderella. I may not have two evil stepsisters, but I do have two evil stepbrothers. Actually, Drew and Devin aren’t really evil, and I love them to death.
But having to spend the end of my childhood in the tiny town of Longmont, when they were making fun of me and lining the horse pens with my clothes, I was sure they were evil. When Mom and I moved in with three guys, it had taken some time to adjust. Eventually, though, they became part of my family. Drew and I had gotten even closer the past few years.
He’d called me this afternoon to say he was driving down to hang out, which usually meant he wanted to go trolling for women. Which meant he and Michelle must’ve broken up.
Drew showed up a few minutes after six and announced he was starving. I grabbed all my take-out menus from the kitchen drawer, flopped onto the couch, and handed them to him.
He started flipping through the stack. “I’m surprised you don’t want to go to Blue.”
“I’m sick of eating there,” I said. “Now, tell me what happened with Michelle.”
“You know I’m not a girl, right? I don’t need to talk it out.” He glanced at me. “Besides, this is a good thing for you, remember? You need me to stay single forever, because you’re obviously not having any luck.”
My mouth dropped open. I smacked him across the chest with the back of my hand. “Thanks for rubbing it in, but we’re not close enough to our fifties to decide that yet.”
Drew and I had both had a string of failed relationships. One night, we’d made a pact. If we hit our fifties and were still single, we’d get a big place together. We’d be kind of like Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in
Drew rubbed the place where I’d smacked him. “Jeez.”
“Like it really hurt. Spill it.”
“I told Dad and Janet that Michelle and I broke up because she wanted to get more serious than I did, which I’m sure she probably did. Really, she was just irritating me more and more by the day. I started wondering if her voice had always sounded so nasally—”
“She does kind of have an annoying voice,” I said.
“And she’d call, like, every hour and ask what I was doing. I wanted to shout, ‘I’m working. Some of us work.’”
I leaned back on the couch. “You always attract clingy girls.”
Drew shrugged. “I guess I should start trying relationships with women I don’t think are my type.”
I swiped a hand through the air. “I tried that before. I hunted out guys I’d never usually go for, but all I got were several short relationships with noncompatible people.”
“I’m not looking for anything serious right now, anyway.”
I shook my head at him. “Typical guy.”
He huffed and shoved my knee. “Like you’re any better. You don’t even believe in long-term relationships.”
“I don’t believe in short-term flings, either.” I knew this conversation would only get us arguing about women and men, so I grabbed the menu for the Yellow Dragon out of his hands and pointed at the chicken lo mein. “This is what I’m getting. What do you want?”
Drew pointed out the orange chicken and the Szechuan beef. “I’ll eat the leftovers tomorrow morning.”
“Ew. You can’t eat Chinese leftovers for
“Fine. I’ll eat them for lunch. What time do you have to go in tomorrow?”
“I can slide in a little late.”
“Okay, then!” Drew tossed the rest of the menus onto my glass coffee table. “Chinese food, then we go find us some insignificant others for the night.”
“You know, you really are a bad influence.” I grinned at him. “You should come over more often.”
…
The Wagon Wheel, a rustic bar with a jukebox full of country music, seemed like a good place to take Drew. I didn’t think the girls there would mind that he was a full-on cowboy, even though he didn’t so much look the part in his T-shirt and loose-fitting jeans. Plus, it was a nice break from the norm for me. Stephanie’s fiance, Anthony, always insisted on going to the nightclub hot spots. Which meant my options were hanging out alone at home or being a third wheel. Neither was all that great.
“Now that’s more like it,” Drew said, eyeing a couple of girls who sat down at the opposite end of the bar.
“Which one?” I asked.
“The redhead with the—” Drew froze, cupped hands out in front of his chest. He dropped them. “Who looks like she’s really smart.”
I’d gone off before about him looking at girls like they were pieces of meat. At least he’d tried to edit this time. Drew was very charismatic, and I’d seen what he did with his charm. He got a girl all wrapped up in him, then got bored and moved on. So far tonight, he’d flirted with three women but decided none of them was worth a drink or more than a few minutes of his time.
Drew slapped the bar with his palms. “I’m going in.”
He walked over, sat down next to the redhead, and introduced himself. Immediately, she was laughing, leaning in as he told another joke or story. She was already hooked. So it looked like he’d settled on her—at least for tonight. Or the next five minutes. You never knew with him.
A guy with enough hair gel for ten people walked up to me. “Yo, hot stuff, how you doin’ tonight?” His Jersey Shore accent was so thick I lost a few IQ points just listening to it.
“I’m okay.”
He puffed out his chest. “You need Romeo to buy you a drink?”
“Is your name actually Romeo, or do you just think you’re a Romeo?”
He put his hand on the bar and leaned closer to me. “Both.”
I held up my glass—cranberry juice and Sprite, because I’d had a feeling I’d be driving home. “I’m good, thanks.”
The guy didn’t even look old enough to be buying drinks, which just made me feel old. And only the tiniest bit flattered.
“I get you. You playin’ it cool. Let me guess, you’re one of those uptight gals. All wound up. Let Romeo unwind you.”
“Okay, you can move on now. Thanks for playing.” I glanced over at Drew, who had his arm around the redhead.
Romeo looked back at his friends, seeming unsure whether he’d been rejected or not.
I waited for him to get the hint.
When he didn’t, I leveled my eyes on him. “Look, if you’re worried about saving face, you can tell your friends I have a boyfriend or that I’m meeting you later or whatever you want. But I’m not interested.”
He lowered his head and walked off.
Some people might think that was mean. What
