Hot Number (Hot Zone 2)

The way the kid lingered now, apparently he wanted something.

"Two Guinnesses," Damian said to the bartender, ordering Carter's drink of choice tonight. Damian waited for them to be served and turned to the rookie. "Okay, what gives?"

The younger man tipped his head to one side, then raised his glass. "To peace."

His words took Damian off guard. "As I recall, you rejected the same offer a few weeks back "

"A lot's happened in a few weeks. Enough to make me respect my elders."

With Carter's irreverence, the tension eased from Daiman's neck and shoulders. "That's the smart-ass rookie I know."

"Tell me something." Carter wasn't slurring his words but his tone definitely indicated he was drunk and Damian knew me other man wouldn't be talking to him now if he were cold sober.

"What's that?" Damian asked.

"How the hell do you do it?"

Damian raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"Always come out on top, smelling like a rose." Carter nudged his elbow against Damian's. "Come on, share your secrets."

Damian glanced at the other man's glassy eyes and rolled his own. "You really are trashed. How the hell can you think I come out smelling like a rose when my life's for shit right now?"

Carter glanced away. "Well yeah, but you'll come out of it. You always do."

Damian groaned. "If anything it comes down to how you live your life. I may be a selfish SOB at times but I never deliberately intend to screw with anyone else. Maybe it's good karma. Then again, good karma wouldn't have me with a pregnant ex-lover.”

Carter shook his head. "I hear you, man. I haven't exactly been living my life in a way that has much to do with goodwill towards men, if you know what I mean." He took a long pull of his beer.

"You've been a prick," Damian agreed.

"Yeah. And it isn't working for me too well. I'm thinking I've got to figure out your angle, since you seem to be doing something right" He slung an arm over Damian's shoulder in a brotherly gesture Damian didn't trust for a minute.

Damian wrapped his hands around the beer glass. "So what's with the change in attitude? Coach giving you shit?"

Carter raised his head, meeting Damian's gaze. "I'm giving me shit. Actually, a woman's giving me shit. Do you know what it's like to fall for someone who won't give you the time of day?" He let out a sarcastic laugh. "No of course you don't. All woman fall at your feet."

"Tell me something, Carter, because this jealousy of yours is getting old. Would you really want to be in my shoes? Thirty-five, one year left on your contract and a pregnant woman claiming you're having a kid you never wanted or planned?"

The rookie burst out laughing, taking Damian by surprise.

"What the hell's so funny?"

Carter rested an arm on the bar and leaned toward Damian. "Well here's the thing. My woman is your woman and as long as you're in the picture, she won't have anything to do with me. Won't return my calls. So would I want to be in your shoes? Hell yeah." With that astonishing proclamation, he downed the rest of his beer and gestured for yet another.

"I think you've had enough. We're playing tomorrow" Damian reminded him. He sifted through Carter's words in his mind. "My woman's your woman? Micki Jordan?" Even as Damian said her name, he knew that the notion was an impossible one.

Carter's belly laugh caused more than one person at the bar to turn and glance their way. "Don't you see the irony? You don't even want Carole and she's slobbering for whatever you'll give her. I'm willing to take full responsibility for the kid and she's discounted me like I’m dirt."

Nothing the guy said made sense but if Damian had to guess, he figured Carole and Carter had slept together and Carter had fallen hard. Problem was, Damian had hooked them up just a few weeks ago so unfortunately there was no reason for Carter to "take responsibility." "Listen, buddy. You sober up and we'll talk more tomorrow."

"You're dismissing me the same way she did."

Damian rose to his feet. "Do I need to remind you about the facts of life? Even if you slept with Carole, she says she's almost three months pregnant. That makes you an impossible candidate."

"Not if I slept with her for the first time back in April, which I did. To get back at you. I just didn't expect to develop feelings for the woman."

Hot damn, Damian thought, he'd been right all along. Carole had been sleepi