Confidence.
Steven never doubted himself. Never thought for a second that he wasn’t good enough for The Bitch. He refused to be intimidated. He always exuded that quiet self-assurance that women are attracted to. Because he knew that no one could ever love my sister the way he did. So when Alexandra left for college years before Steven could join her, did he worry? Hell no. He wasn’t afraid to let her go. Because he knew with absolute certainty that one day she would come back. To him.
Obviously Billy Dickhead Warren wasn’t so sure.
Two hours later, Kate and I are certifiably drunk. See us there? Staring at the stage, sipping our beers with those glazed looks on our faces. You can learn a lot about a person when they’re drunk, and I have learned a boatload about Kate. When she drinks-she’s a talker.
Think she’s a screamer too? Never mind; that part comes later.
Kate’s hometown is Greenville, Ohio. Mom still lives there, running the western-themed diner her family owns. It sounds like a real middle-America type of place. The kind where the locals eat breakfast before work and teenagers congregate after a football game. Kate waitressed there during her high school years. She didn’t mention a dad, though, and I didn’t ask. And despite being Valedictorian, Kate used to be quite the wild child. That explains why she holds her liquor so well. Apparently, she and the shithead spent their youth breaking into roller-skating rinks after hours, shoplifting, and singing in a band together.
Oh yeah, that’s what the donkey dick still does for a living. He’s a musician. You know what that means, right?
Yep-unemployed.
Why is Kate still with this loser? That’s the million-dollar question, kids. I’m not a snob. I don’t care if you pump gas or run the register at Mickey-fucking-D’s. If you’re a man, you work-you don’t leech off your girlfriend.
“Karaoke sucks,” I grunt as the blond transvestite at the microphone finishes the song “I Will Survive.”
Kate tilts her head to the side. “She’s…he’s…not so bad.”
“I think my ears are bleeding.” I motion to the other comatose faces around the bar. “And they’re dying a slow death.”
Kate sips her beer. “It’s just the wrong song for this kind of place. The right one would wake them up.”
“You’re nuts.”
She slurs just a little, “Betcha’ I could do it.”
“No way. Not unless you plan on doing a singing striptease.”
And that, boys and girls, is a show I would give my left nut to see.
She takes my cell phone off the table and wags her finger at me. “No pictures. Can’t have any evidence.” Then she gets up and walks on stage. Hear the groans of pain from my bar-mates as the music begins?
But then she starts to sing:
I don’t stand a chance
When you look at me that way
I’ll do anything you want me to
Anything for you
And I’ll shout it for the whole world to know
Oh, honey, that’s what you do to me
And I don’t mind at all
Good freaking God.
Her voice is deep, and perfect, and arousing. Like a phone-sex worker at one of those nine-hundred numbers. It floats around the room and washes over me like…like verbal foreplay. My body reacts instantly to the sound. I’m as hard as a fucking rock.
You know I’m not a girl who cares to see
Or gives a damn what anyone thinks of me
I go down hard, I stand my ground
But whenever you come around
I’m helpless
Baby, I don’t stand a chance
Every time you look at me that way
It brings me to my knees
She starts swaying her hips in time to the music, and I imagine how perfect she would look on her knees. I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’s mesmerizing…hypnotic.
And I’m changing, never thought I’d be like this
But you showed me a better way
I’ll do anything for your kiss
In all my days I’ve never seen
A man who means everything to me
I can leave everything else in the dust
But it’s you I just can’t give up
She has the full attention of every man in the place. But her eyes…those stunning onyx eyes…are looking right at me.
And it makes me feel like a god.
I’ve never let anyone get this close to me before
Distance keeps me safe and keeps me sane
But now you’ve got my heart twisted with yours
Better than it’s ever been, there’s a lot to lose
But even so much more to win
Oh, baby…
She tosses her hair back, and I picture her doing just that as she rides me with long and hard strokes. Jesus. I’ve gotten lap dances from some of the best strippers in the city, and I’ve never come in my pants-not once. But that’s exactly what I’m going to do if this song doesn’t end real fucking soon.
I feel so helpless
When you look at me that way
I’ll do anything for you
Only for you
The bar erupts into hoots and whistles and clapping hands as Kate walks off the stage. Sounds like a frigging rodeo. She smiles giddily as she walks toward me. I stand up, and she stops just inches away.
She looks up at me and raises one brow. “Told you I could wake them up.”
I softly say, “That was…you…are amazing.”
I want to kiss her. More than I want to fucking breathe. Images of last night flash in my mind. Of how goddamn good she felt in my arms. I need to kiss her. The smile slowly slides off her face, and I know she needs it too. I push a strand of her hair back behind her ear and lean in…
And the shrill scream of her cell phone comes between us.
Kate blinks like she’s waking up from a trance and picks up her phone. “H-Hello?” She flinches and pulls the phone from her ear to gain some distance from the shouting voice on the other end. “No…Billy, I didn’t forget. I just had a difficult evening. No…yes…I’m at a bar called Howie’s. It’s on…” She stares at her phone a moment, and I’m guessing the dipshit just hung up on her. Her eyes are completely sober now.
“I have to go outside. Billy’s coming to pick me up.”
Won’t this be a treat? I get to meet a walking, talking asshole. It’ll be like Freak Night at the carnival.
While we wait outside on the sidewalk, Kate turns to me. “What are we going to say to your father?”
And there’s the question I’ve avoided asking myself all night. The old man’s a stand-up guy-chivalrous. Traditional. I’d like to think he’d be proud of my defending Kate’s honor. But he’s also a businessman. And the truth is, I could have defended Kate and still signed Anderson. It’s what I should have done. It’s what I would have done had it been anyone but her on the negotiating table.
“I’ll handle my father.”
“What? No. No, we’re a team, remember? We both lost this client.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.