“Yeah, absolutely,” I smile. “I’ve got a few gorgeous places coming on the market next month, so it’s an ideal time to buy.”
I nervously clasp and unclasp my arms over my chest, not wanting to draw attention to my breasts. I can feel the ladies’ eyes burning into me as I talk to Ryder, and I’m dreading the ridiculous outburst when he leaves.
“Great. Pleasure seeing you again, August.” He touches my elbow softly before turning his attention to my friends. “And a pleasure meeting you beautiful ladies.”
Oh God, they’re going to fucking melt. They all coo and smile a return greeting, staring at his tight ass as he walks out of the bakery.
“Don’t!” I say, spinning around and pointing a finger at them.
“I mean, come on!” Quinn says, whistling. “You and Willow really undersold him when you described him at her bachelorette party.”
“I literally told you guys he looked like Thor.”
“Listen, I know you don’t want to hear it, but seriously, August . . . not even a one-night stand or a casual arrangement with that man?” She says that last bit with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.
“No, no!” I emphasize. “First, he was a client, and I don’t sleep with clients, and second—”
“Second, you’re in love with Remi,” Violet says from behind me. I spin around so fast I almost fall out of my chair.
“I am not!” I don’t even believe myself as the words instinctively tumble from my mouth.
“Okay, well, you’re entangled with him then,” she says with air quotes, causing Celeste and Brennan to laugh.
“Okay, well, if you ladies are so in looove with Ryder, then maybe you should ask your husbands for a hall pass or see if they’re into threesomes or something.”
“Pshhh, Sawyer would literally rip him limb from limb if I suggested either of those things,” Quinn says with Brennan and Celeste agreeing.
“That sounds slightly toxic, but moving on . . .” I dig into my sandwich, hoping it will put an end to the conversation. I love my friends, but I’m just not in the mood to talk about things with Remi and me. Mainly because I don’t know what’s going on between us, and also because I don’t want to admit my feelings to them before I tell Remi.
There’s an awkward silence that settles over the table. They can see they’ve struck a nerve with me and that I feel bad. It’s not their fault that they want me to be happy. I get it. I want to be happy too.
“Look,” I finally say, not wanting to ruin anyone’s afternoon and hoping to lighten the mood, “it’s not that I don’t find Ryder—our Grand Lake Thor—ridiculously attractive. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t? It’s just that I think I prefer Loki,” I say with a shy grin.
“You did not get four turkeys! You got three!” Memphis shouts back at Remi as they argue over who got the most strikes tonight.
“You’re both wrong,” Sawyer joins in. “I smoked both your asses.”
I roll my eyes at Quinn and Jade as we return our shoes to the counter.
“Baby, it’s late and we need to get home. The babysitter is going to be pissed,” Quinn says, grabbing Sawyer’s arm and dragging him toward the exit.
“Bye, you two,” I say as Sawyer continues to drunkenly argue over his shoulder.
“We need to get home too,” Jade says to Memphis. “The dogs have probably already chewed through the couch and shit everywhere.”
We grab our things and the four of us walk out to the parking lot where we say goodbye before walking over to where we parked.
“Come on, big guy, I’ll drive you home,” I say to Remi as he throws one arm around my neck.
“I’m not as think as you drunk I am,” he says before laughing.
“What is with you tonight? You drank way more than you normally do. Actually,” I furrow my brow when I think about the last few times we’ve hung out, “you’ve over-indulged the last few times.”
He pulls me forward using the arm that’s around my neck and pushes my back against his truck door. His 6’4” frame towers over me and I can smell the whiskey on his breath as he leans down.
“It’s you.”
“What’s me?” I asked, confused.
“Why I drank so much. It’s ‘cause you’ve got me fucked up in the head.” He doesn’t give me time to respond before he’s covering my mouth with his. I reach out to push him away but I can’t. Instead, I grab his shirt and pull him closer to me as his tongue demands entrance to my mouth.
“God, I wanna fuck you right here,” he says into my mouth as he presses his rigid cock against my belly.
He reaches behind me, pulling the truck door open before picking me up around the waist and tossing me inside. He climbs in with me and crawls up my body. He paws at my breasts over my shirt before he sits back and grabs my arms.
“I want you to ride my cock like this,” he says as he pulls me to straddle him.
Alarms are going off in my head and I know I need to stop this. He’s drunk and the last thing I want is for this to be a mistake tomorrow. Not to mention, this well-lit parking lot is not the place for a hookup.
“Remi, wait,” I say as he reaches his hands beneath my shirt, lifting it to suck on my nipple through my bra. I moan, letting my head loll back. I let my eyes close briefly, but movement out of the corner of my eye causes me to turn my head. I look out the window and see Jade walking across the parking lot. She must have forgotten something inside. Her eyes catch mine before she quickly averts them and ducks inside the bowling alley.
“Remi! Remi, stop!” I say louder this time, and his head snaps back to look at me. “Remi, we have to talk. We can’t keep doing this.” He looks from me to the parking lot as Jade walks back out the door, toward her car.
“I see,” he says before sliding me off his lap a little too aggressively.
“Why do you only want me when you’re drunk?” I ask. I told myself not to have this argument now—not when he’s inebriated—but fuck it. I’m annoyed.
He runs his hands over his face and lets out a sigh. “You fucking serious right now?” he says with a condescending laugh that pisses me off even further.
“Yeah, I’m serious. The last time we hooked up, you showed up drunk, then the other night when I tried to initiate something and you were sober, you told me it was a bad idea—that it would blur lines. And then tonight, here we are again with your drunk ass trying to get some! It feels like you’re just using me.”
My words seem to sober him up, because the look he gives me is cross between hatred and hurt.
“Funny, because it seems like you only wanna fuck me when you’re in the mood—when it’s convenient for you—but when I initiate it, it’s wrong. Tell me how that makes sense, August. Didn’t you say it could be when we’re bored or lonely or whatever? Hmm.”
I don’t say anything. I just close my eyes and shake my head, because this argument is going nowhere and he’s in no state to make any sense.
“You’ll fuck me, but you don’t want anyone to know,” he says. “That’s the real issue here.”