“Jesus,” she huffs and sighs in defeat. “Gracie’s.”
Troy steps in front of me. “Let’s go.” He points toward the door. “Abby, text me then or let me know when you need more blow.”
She nods and directs her attention toward me, with the closest thing to a smile she can muster. “Don’t bother with her, Ander. I saw you eye-fucking her and it’s a waste of time. She’s a cunty prude; she won’t fuck with you unless you plan on marrying her and we all know you don’t even date.”
My blood boils with every last word that comes out of her nasty-ass mouth. She doesn’t know this chick and neither do I, but I have every intention of changing that. I don’t even know her name, but by the time I’m done with her, she won’t even remember it herself. I don’t date, I sure as hell won’t marry, but I do know how to make a girl’s pussy quake.
It takes everything in me not to lose my shit on Abby, but I keep my cool. I head out the door and Troy follows close behind, giving her a quick goodbye. He knows his sister’s a bitch, but she’s also one of his biggest customers. He sells her a shit load of coke that she takes to the strip club and makes him decent money. He doesn’t know she’s there strippin’ and fucking, but that’s between them.
We walk in silence until we’re standing outside the building and facing toward the parking lot. He glances over at me, asking what I wanna do without needing any words.
“Gracie’s,” I say with affirmation. He chuckles, knowing what I’m after. Or more accurately, who I’m after.
When I looked at this girl, I could see it, I could feel it from across the room. She’s mine for the taking and I’m going to take everything she can give. I’m going to ruin her for everyone else but me.
I have a handful of girls I can call anytime I want my dick sucked. Yet, here I am, thinking of the quiet, dark-haired girl that came out of nowhere.
Fuck, I want her.
Every goddamn part of her.
And I never want anyone.
6
HADLEY
The door opens swiftly and the bell above rings as I walk into Gracie’s. Almost all of the booths are occupied by customers and not many seats are left at the counter. It’s usually busy at this time for the dinner rush and depending on the day, it stays busy all night from all the drunk college kids.
I walk through the back door and into the break room to put my stuff in my locker. I grab an apron out of the locker and tie it around my waist. “Hey girl, hey!” Sloane says, bounding into the room.
I turn around, smiling at her, happy to see a face other than the one in my mind. “It looks busy as shit tonight. Do you know where Matt wants me?”
“Hmmm,” she says, tapping her chin. “Pretty sure he wants you underneath him.”
I give her the finger and roll my eyes. “Seriously, where am I at tonight?”
“You’re stuck behind the counter with your best friend tonight!” she exclaims and throws her arm around my shoulders, leading me out of the break room.
Jokingly, I let my shoulders sag and hang my head. “Man, what a fucking bummer tonight is gonna be.”
I look up at her and we both start laughing. She has no idea how badly I was hoping to be stuck with her for the night. I need a good pick-me-up tonight and preferably not in the form of a drug or a drink.
She directs the two of us through the door and behind the counter of the diner. “Don’t worry about tonight. I gotchu, boo boo.”
Sloane doesn’t miss that I’m distracted and she doesn’t hesitate to call me out on it. Thankfully, she waits until some of the customers clear out.
“What’s up with you?” she asks, getting a drink for herself.
I look up at her from the register indifferently. “What do you mean? Nothing’s up.”
She isn’t buying it. “I call bullshit.” She puts her hands on her hips and stares at me like I’m her kid who’s in trouble. “Spill it.”
I take a deep breath, exaggerating my exhale into a heavy sigh. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
A slow smile takes over her face as she shakes her head back and forth. “No fucking way.”
We both knew that answer.
“Fine,” I start but pause first, choosing my words carefully. “These two guys showed up at my dorm with my roommate and the one was hot and arrogant and that’s about it.”
“Wait... so were they like having a threesome or what? What happened with the two of you?” Leave it to Sloane to jump to conclusions.
“Number one: I have no idea nor do I care to know. And number two: absolutely nothing happened.” I shrug. “He was kind of an asshole, which threw me off I think.”
“Yeah, but you like assholes,” she counters.
I grab a wet washrag and toss it at her to wipe down the counter.
“Says who?” I demand.
Sloane shrugs with a crooked grin. “Just a guess.”
Shaking my head, I move to where the drinks are and grab a few lemons and start slicing them. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t need anyone right now, let alone someone that’s gonna get in my head.”
“Looks like he’s already in your head,” she mumbles, but loud enough for me to hear just as the bell rings again. I look up, smiling, and it immediately falls as the door softly closes.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I groan and drop to the floor like an idiot.
“What the hell are you doing down there?” Sloane asks and then glances at the two guys at the door. “Oh,” she says, her mouth slightly agape. “Which one?”
I pinch my eyes closed and run my hands over my face, still crouching on the floor. “The taller one. Blue eyes, brown hair.”
“Oh, I see him, Hadley,” she snickers. “That’s Ander Capelli. I’ve seen him around campus before.”
“Remember me?” His voice radiates throughout my whole body, stealing all the air from my lungs. I jerk my head up and he’s leaning over the counter, peering down at me with those blue eyes I want to hate so badly. A playful grin forms on his mouth.
How could I forget him?
I stare up frozen and give a small nod.
His expression changes and his lips curl downward into a frown and his eyebrows pinch together. “What are you doing down there?”
“Uhh—” I stammer. I never stammer. “I was just, uh, I, um…” I glance around. “I dropped a lemon.” I finally get the words out. I start searching with my eyes and hands and find no lemon.
“Right,” he says, with his eyes lighting up with amusement. “Whenever you get a chance, I’ll take a Coke.” He winks and disappears from the edge of the counter.
I look over at Sloane, begging her with my eyes to come save me. “Sorry, girl.” She shrugs. “You gotta take this one up with the universe. I can’t interfere.” She turns on her heel and sets off to help other customers that have come in.
Taking a deep breath and mentally cursing her up and down, I finally get myself together and try to stand up, looking totally unaffected. I can feel his eyes on me as soon as I’m standing. Brushing off my pants, I grab him a Coke and set it in front of him. His eyes should be scanning the menu; instead they scan my face. Unsure of what he’s looking for, I remain stoic and go with my usual dialogue.