I smirked, but found that I was amused by him too. Even so, I didn’t want to commit too much. I took out a pen from my pocket and wrote the name of the bar Kim and I would be at tonight to start the party.
“I’ll be there at seven. Lauren and Evie are invited too.”
Devin laughed again.
Danny shook his head. “They’ll never go for that.”
I shrugged. “Regular folk don’t have cooties.”
“Rena! Table eight,” my manager yelled.
“Gotta go, boys.”
“I’ll see you at seven,” Devin said as I walked off.
I didn’t believe it for a minute that he’d be there, and so I was shocked when he stepped up beside me as I waited for my first shot of whiskey.
“So this is how the real world parties, huh?”
Kim blinked as Devin slung his arm over my shoulder.
“You came,” I managed around my shock.
“Yep.”
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s not like you’ve never been clubbing. You can’t tell me you’ve never been bar hopping.”
“I have, but with the plastic people.”
“Who are plastic people?” Kim asked.
“The people I normally hang out with,” he said waving to the bartender and calling out for a shot of whiskey.
“Rich people,” I clarified for Kim. “He wants to slum it tonight.”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I’m looking for real. Like you.”
“Where is your friend?”
“With the plastic people. I didn’t catch your name before.”
“Serena and this is Kim.” To my thinking, Kim was more his type. She wasn’t rich or fake, but she was thin, tall, and more classically pretty.
“I’m Devin.” He grabbed the three drinks and handed one to each of us. “Sláinte.”
And then we were off, making our way through New York, visiting bars on the pub crawl route, drinking and laughing. Laughing a lot. He didn’t come off as rich and pompous, although I suppose that was why he was with us instead of his usual crew; he was bored of rich and pompous.
“So where are you going in a week that you don’t know when you’ll be back?” I asked about his friend’s comment at our third bar. Kim was lost in a gaze with Todd, a college classmate she was into.
The relaxed smile on Devin’s face faded. “Europe.”
“Gee, how awful.” I quipped. Only a rich person could feel put out by having to go to Europe.
He shook his head. “My parents think it’s time for me to grow up. I’m being sent there to learn the family business. My gap year after finishing my MBA is over. Time to enter the real world.”
“So, your family business is in Europe?”
He nodded. “Here, Dublin, London, Paris…” He shook his head. “The purpose of tonight is to not have to think about it.” He downed his drink.
Not wanting to ruin his fun, I didn’t ask him more about it.
Around ten, at the fifth bar, Kim and Todd disappeared.
“Your friend dumped you,” Devin said as we each nursed a Guinness.
“I don’t mind. She’s into him.”
“Who are you into?” Devin had to yell over the music and people even though I was just a few feet from him.
“No one.” Well, that wasn’t true. Three hours and twice as many drinks, and I was well into him.
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “No one is into me either.”
“Fucking waste.”
I quirked a brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re funny and pretty. It’s a waste that you’re not into someone.”
“You’ve got your booze goggles on.”
He frowned. “It’s not that. Why would you think that?”
I sighed, not wanting to go into my love life or lack thereof. Better to focus on him. “Is Lauren or Evie wondering where you are?”
He scoffed. “They’re probably pissed, but the best they could come up with was annoyance.”
I had no idea what he meant.
“The people in my world don’t like to show emotion except annoyance. No passion. No rage. No laughing…not that free and open kind anyway.”
“Sounds miserable. With all that money, you’d think they could afford to be happy.”
He laughed. “You’d think.”
“So, what makes people like you happy?”
“I’m happy now.” He held up his drink and I clicked my glass to his.
“Your girlfriend is probably missing you though.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend. Not technically, anyway.”
What did that mean?
He leaned forward. “Is your friend going to meet us again at the next place or has she committed the rest of the night to the guy?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s committed the rest of the night.”
“At least someone is getting laid.” He held up his glass again.
“To getting laid.” I clicked my glass to his.
He studied me. “When was the last time you got laid?”
Had I not been filled with booze, I’d probably have been coy with my answer, but as it was, I was feeling loose. “Never.”
He sat back with his jaw hanging down. Then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, did you say, never? You’ve never fucked?”
I swallowed as I realized what I’d revealed. I looked down, feeling embarrassed. “No.”
His hand covered mine. “Don’t feel embarrassed. Are you waiting for marriage or something?”
“I’m not waiting. I just haven’t had the right opportunity.”
He scoffed as he sat back again. “I know that’s bullshit.”
I stared at him. “Why would you say that?”
“I’d fuck you in a minute. Most of the men in this bar would too. You’ve had opportunities.”
I looked at him and then around the bar wondering what men he meant. I hadn’t felt like I’d had any opportunities. Then again, the few men that might have wanted me didn’t do anything for me. I hadn’t wanted them.
“Don’t you think you’ll like it?” he asked.
“I suspect I would,” I said. The situation was a bit surreal. Was I really talking to him about my virginity?
He leaned forward with a glint in his eyes. “Do you touch yourself?”
Shocked, I could only gape.
“No shame in it. I do it all the time.” He made a wanking gesture. “But the real thing is
