My skin flushed hot and sweat beads formed on my hairline. I hadn’t seen him this close in over a year. He looked different. More mature, filled out. Stubble peppered his chiseled jaw. The thick, defined muscles that once held me against him, providing a false sense of comfort before being ripped away, were bigger than the last time I saw him. I wanted to forget about him, but my body certainly remembered every inch of that taut, olive skin.
“What can I get you guys to drink?” I wiped my hands on my shorts, trying to make them somewhat functional when I wrote down their order.
“Ashtyn? It’s so good to see you again!” I reluctantly shifted my gaze to Bronx as he jumped out of the booth at lightning speed to enclose me in a hug. My body tensed at the contact before I slowly reciprocated the embrace.
“Hey B, how have you been?”
He pulled away slightly. “Fucking fantastic now! I didn’t know you worked here.”
“I’ve been here for the summer. It pays the bills, I guess.” I half-smiled as the thought of high tailing it out the door raced through my mind.
“I bet it does,” West said under his breath.
I whipped my head in his direction. Instead of a sly smirk, he sported what resembled a scowl.If anyone has a right to scowl, it’s me, buddy.
“If you’re implying that I do a good job and look hot while doing it, then yes, you’re right,” I smiled. So much for not giving a reaction.
“Working back there probably helps quite a bit, huh?” He pointed to the curtain that led to the back rooms.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t work back there. I work here. Did you want something to drink or not?” I tapped my foot, partly to be a brat but also because I needed tomove. I felt uncomfortable and exposed in my Aces-mandated attire. My shorts were so short that my ass cheeks peeked out the bottom, so I opted to wear a pair of fishnets with them. The low-cut cropped tank top was transparent and put my bra on public display. I pulled it up slightly to cover my cleavage which, of course, drew eyes to my cleavage. Stupid.
West sat still as a statue, and I shifted in my beat-up combat boots. Bronx smiled and Cade and Axel looked from West and back to me, trying to figure out if he was going to keep this going.
“We knew the waitresses here had a reputation, but you take that to a whole new level,” West said as his eyes trailed down my face and landed on my boobs. I had filled out a bit since the last time he saw me naked almost two years ago.
I crossed my arms over my chest and his eyes snapped back to mine. My body flushed at the thought of him seeing me naked.Focus, Ashtyn.
Cade chimed in before I could respond. “We like the outfits. West is just going through a dry spell so he’s a little prickly. Who knows, maybe that’ll change tonight. I’m Cade, by the way. I don’t think we’ve officially met.” He grinned like the sight would make my panties burst into flames. Newsflash, asshole, panties are still properly intact.
I rolled my eyes at his blatant flirtation. “We’ve gone to school together since 9thgrade. We’ve had classes together, and did a project together in biology during sophomore year. But you’d have to pull your head out of your ass to be able to notice anyone else, let alone retain a name or face.”
His eyes lifted in surprise that I didn’t fall onto the floor and worship him at his overpriced shoes. “I don’t know about a face, but I would’ve remembered those tits.” His eyes raked my body once more. “And that mouth.”
If the situation were different, I would’ve smiled back at Cade and told him to meet me on my break. I would’ve let him push me into the back of his expensive sports car–he most certainly had one–and let him have his way with me. I would’ve fucked him into oblivion, let him rail me into an earth-shattering orgasm, shook his hand, and gone back to work. But that was not happening for a few reasons. He was West’s best friend, and I believed in guilt by association. I wasn’t opposed to fucking a hot guy who also happened to be a douchebag (see Exhibit A, West Moretti), but I wasn’t going to let them trade notes about me after the fact.
The other reason I wouldn’t be going near Cade was the fact that my best friend, Gabby Keyes, had been madly in love with him since freshman year. The infatuation was always done from afar because Gabby was a recluse like me, but still, I would never betray her like that.
West broke into our conversation. “Her tits weren’t this big the last time I saw them, and her mouth is much more appealing when it’s filled with my cock.”
I couldn’t hide the gasp that escaped me. What nerve he had talking to me like that. After I went out of my way to avoid him for almosttwo years, the dickweed thought he could speak to me that way.
It wasn’t friendly banter anymore. It wasn’t flirtatious or teasing. He was pissed. He looked at me like I was the cause of the downward shift of his evening. Like I was the one making sexual come-ons to the freaking waitress. As if I were placed here for no reason other than to be stared at and harassed.
I slammed my notepad shut and narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m glad you have the memory from that night because that’s all you’ll ever get from me. And good luck with your dry spell. My condolences to the braindead bimbo you convince to fuck you. I hope she has a vibrator because she’s going to need it.”
I turned to Bronx, whose eyes were wide, and his mouth open slightly. “It was good to see you again, B.” I ignored the other assholes and spun around, heading for the bar.
West smirked, knowing damn well he was the cause of me running away.Hiding, as Gabby would say. I told her I was done hiding, yet here I am, running in the opposite direction of my neighbor. What the fuck was wrong with me? It was like I was sixteen again, letting West turn my brain into a slushy mess. I couldn’t focus on anything but his beautiful features. His silky dark brown hair that was long on top and shorter on the sides. Chocolatey eyes that were enchanting while simultaneously filled with danger and darkness. And then his eyebrow piercing. I swear that thing could make me wet in a goddamn desert.
Fucking asshole.
I was the one who should be pissed off at him, not the other way around. He was the one who took my virginity and left. Made me trust him and bounced. He was the bad guy in our story.
He could see right through me. Still. He had power over me and I hated it. I wasn’t the weak girl he once knew a little too intimately, so why couldn't I keep myself together around him? I wasn’t a person who reacted to every little thing. I spent my life calming myself internally because no one on the outside ever gave a shit. It was easier for me to let things roll off my shoulders, but that mask went out the window when West was around.
It must have been from the surprise of the situation. Yeah, that was it. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone from school at Aces. Not only was it in the middle of nowhere, but it was also a shithole. That’s why I applied to be a server here. I didn’t want to run into people I knew. I didn’t want to explain why I was working in a bar that also acted as a not-so-secret sex club behind the curtains.
I did my best to avoid the Moretti family. Well…as best as I could considering they’re my next-door neighbors.