“Tell you what,” I said. “Keep the bar flowing with whiskey and beer and we’ll see where the night goes.”
I handed her my credit card and she stuck it into her bra.
I looked at Jackson and he was grinning ear to ear, nodding.
I still knew how to have fun.
I just needed to avoid trouble.
In my defense, the guy took the first swing.
That’s what I told myself as I tackled the guy onto a pool table.
He punched my ribs with some speed and force, but I held my own as I slammed the back of his head to the pool table.
Behind me, I heard the sound of Jackson, Cole, and Lincoln handling their business.
All over darts.
And tits.
These guys wanted to play for fun. Then the whiskey said to play for cash. Then more of the whiskey had me wanting to defend the honor of the bartender. Who, by the way, loved to flirt with anyone with a wallet.
Not that I blamed her one bit.
I rolled off the pool table, my hands clutched tight to the guy’s shirt.
I threw him against the wall, shattering a mirror with a beer logo above it.
The glass sprinkled like sharp raindrops.
I swung one punch, and that’s all I needed.
I hit the guy’s jaw and he hit the floor.
My heart said to keep swinging, but my head said to stop.
I had a career. A reputation. A life.
I couldn’t throw it away on some dumb fight.
The guy was wrong though.
He had no business sticking his hand down the bartender’s shirt.
Not once, but twice.
I didn’t go for that grabby bullshit.
I grabbed Cole’s shoulder and nodded. “We have to get out of here.”
“Running again?” Jackson asked. “This is fun.”
The four guys had backed off.
I looked back at the bartender. “Are we good here?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I could have just called the cops. Here’s your credit card back.”
“What about the tattoo show?” Jackson asked.
“Raincheck,” I said.
I grabbed my credit card off the bar then signed the slip, giving the bartender a large tip.
Then we bolted out of the dive bar onto the city sidewalk.
Car horns beeped around us as I started to jog, forcing the guys to catch up.
“What the hell are you doing now?” Jackson asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
I kept jogging for a few blocks, then heard music.
When I stopped, I saw someone standing at what looked like a dark club, the door was open, music pouring out to the street.
I smiled.
I always had a thing for music.
I was always the punk kid with a skateboard and bad music.
“Are we going in?” Jackson asked. “What is this?”
“Nah, I’m good,” I said. “Just catching my breath.”
Inside the club, I saw a stage, lit up with deep purple lights, and someone on stage singing.
It was a woman.
And for a second I thought it was Emily.
I smiled again.
Emily loved to sing. And she had been good at it. She even wrote some songs on her own when we were younger.
Lincoln threw his arm around my neck. “Let’s keep it going. I see another bar up ahead.”
“Let’s go,” Cole said. “I’ll email Piper right now and tell her to cancel my eight o’clock meeting.”
“Piper, huh?” I asked. “That’s dangerous.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Cole said. “You guys are gross.”
“You’ve already thought about it,” I said.
“Liam is fired up tonight,” Jackson said. “I like this side of him.”
“Hey, maybe Miranda should just stay in Boston,” Lincoln said.
“Now that’s an idea!” I yelled and laughed.
Of course… I was only kidding…
I looked at my phone.
I sent a text to Emily when the guys weren’t looking.
Not that it mattered.
I just didn’t want them to see it. And I didn’t want to explain that I was going to be spending a lot of time with Emily planning my wedding to Miranda.
Even when I thought it, it sounded weird.
But at least it was Emily.
She was always fun to hang out with.
In fact, I was kind of looking forward to that more than anything else.
Moving from bar to bar with the guys had its moments, but what I really wanted to do was get home and get to sleep.
“I can’t believe we got into another fight,” Lincoln said to me as we stood outside another nameless bar.
“We need to watch ourselves,” I said. “We’re going to end up in serious trouble.”
“You’re a lawyer,” Lincoln said. “You’ll get us out of it.”
I laughed. “I’m not that kind of lawyer, man.”
“I know. What’s up with your phone? You’re holding it tight like it’s your dick.”
“What’s going on with Liam’s dick?” Cole asked as he came outside.
“Where’s Jackson?” I asked.
“Taking a piss,” Cole said. “He’s talking to Callie. Not a care in the world that everyone can hear his drunk ass telling her all the dirty things he wants to do to her.”
“Good for them,” I said.
“What about you?” Cole asked. “Good for you? Are you and Miranda going to have a little phone sex?”
“Not a chance,” I said.
“That’s cold,” Lincoln said. “You should enjoy the distance a little.”
“Trust me, when all this stuff settles, it’ll be fine,” I said.
Cole grabbed my shoulder. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
Jackson came out of the bar. I was relieved to see him as the conversation ended right there.
It was almost two and I was done for the night.
We all split up. When I got home to the apartment, it was dark and quiet.
I walked to the bedroom and saw where Miranda would have been sleeping if she was home.
I looked at my phone.
The text to Emily was just sitting there.
No reply.
I was drunk.
Confused.
Alone.
I sat down on the couch.
I looked at Emily’s name.
I started to laugh.
Just thinking about all the crazy stuff we used to do together.
I put my head back and shut my eyes.
Hey, at least I knew I was going to have some fun, right?
Chapter Fourteen
Emily
It was family dinner night at Elise’s house. Which just meant I was like a third wheel to her little family. In exchange
