I see fury engulfing Jordie and before he goes and kills his brother—which I’d totally understand—I place my body in front of his.
“I’d love to see you strangle him. I’d even give you a hand.”
“Of course you would. You’ve been denying yourself a piece of all this for so long, Mel.” Kaiden aims an air kiss at me.Saint Peter, give me patience.
I hear Sam’s snort, he’s enjoying this far too much.
“But I choose having a drink with my friends to life in prison,” I finish.
Jordie crosses his arms, still glaring at his brother, but not in an I-will-murder-you way anymore.
I take two slow, hip-swaying steps toward Kaiden, and pulling a twenty from my purse, I push it on his chest. “Fifteen minutes. And keep dreaming about my hands on you.”
“Really?” Daniel looks at me, exasperation comes out from him in waves.
“Will do.” Kaiden grins and I cannot stop myself from responding in the same way. I want to smash his infuriatingly smug face into whatever surface is available most of the time, but what irritates me more is how impossible it is not to fall for his craziness.
Still. “Idiot.”
“Dwarf.” He smirks.
Jordie throws something Kaiden’s way as soon as I move back. It falls on the floor. Looks like a wrinkled twenty-dollar bill. “Thirty minutes. And you owe me for Trevor.”
“I’m the reason why you and Asher are together. So let’s call it even.” Kaiden bends to retrieve the money.
“No, you are not!” Jordie flips him off and holding the front door open, he silently tells us to get moving.
“I can’t believe you all keep doing these stupid bets on me and Pete.” Daniel shakes his head, heading toward the door.
“We can have one on Kaiden if you want. How long do you think it will take for one of his hook-ups to cut his balls off?” I turn my expression into a thoughtful one.
Everybody is in. Even Kaiden.Insane fucker.
AM&PMis as nice as I remembered. I love the laid-back atmosphere, smooth music, and vintage elements.
It also reminds me of the night when Russel dragged me out and kissed me senseless. I still can’t remember kissing him when he took care of me. As bold and sassy as I am, I’d never go and kiss a straight guy on the lips. Those painkillers must have been very strong.
I browse around. A few people are dancing and it looks like all the tables are taken. The crowd is a mix of average guys and noticeably queer fellas. I had no idea we were so many in Newnan. But the town is not a small one, and it’s very close to Miami, so it makes sense. Or maybe there’s something in the water.
We stop in front of the bar. Sam and Daniel are trying to gain the bartender’s attention.
“Does Kaiden seems weird to you lately?” Jordie suddenly asks me. His tone is light but laced with seriousness.
“Define weird…related to him.”
“I don’t know. More restless than usual. Lost in his head at times. Sally says that he goes to her bar but doesn’t hit on anybody.”
Sally is an old friend of Kaiden’s. She lives two floors up from his apartment. They have an odd relationship. Butoddis his normal.
I hum, trying to remember something uncommon in all his crazy behavior. But I’ve been too busy salivating after Russel lately. “I don’t recall anything out of character.”
“Cole has been away lately. Maybe that’s the reason.”
“Really?” Russel didn’t say anything about it. Not that he was supposed to. But Cole is his boss and we chat about our jobs. He told me all about financial audits and bank statements—if I wasn’t hypnotized by his plump mouth and hoarse voice I’d have fallen asleep. So why didn’t he tell me about Cole? Is that the reason why he finishes work late? I thought he was just a workaholic.
“Some family problem. Don’t really know. Asher just hinted at it.” Jordie shrugs and then smiles at Daniel handing him a beer. He points at some pictures on the walls and then both go to check them out, leaving me with Sam. He passes me my rum and Coke and then takes a sip of his beer while staring at me from the edge of the glass.
“What?”
