“Briana, honey. There was nothing to save here.” I gestured between me and her with my beer bottle. “We’re new. I get that. And I’m okay with you finding someone you like.” I took a swig of my beer, groaning. “Damn that’s good.”
“I agree.” Belle offered up her two cents. “This is the best beer I’ve had in years. And I don’t even like dark beers.”
Briana started to argue, of course, making Trouper who was beside me groan.
“Can’t you take this outside?” Belle asked. “This is really messing with my vibe. I’m at the part where they first meet and are getting that love connection, and you’re screwing it up.”
My lips twitched. “No reason to take it outside. Have a good one, Briana.”
Briana opened her mouth to continue her arguing but someone called her name. A woman dressed to the nines in a short black dress, big hair, and so much makeup that I could tell it was too much all the way across the bar.
“This isn’t over,” Briana promised.
“Them’s fightin’ words,” Belle singsonged as she returned to her book. “Oh, damn. Didn’t see that coming.”
It was at that point that I knew she’d gone back to her book.
For the rest of the night, I watched her.
She sat there, ordered two more beers, had a hamburger and french fries to go with her hot wings, and finished the damn book before she started to call it a night.
Sadly, as she was walking out, I got a call from Lynn that had me stepping out before her and not getting to see her to her car like I’d intended.
I did watch from a distance, though, as she got into a sweet little Pontiac GTO and drove off without a single glance in my direction.
Damn.
Girl was smokin’ and she drove a nice car.
A very lethal combination.
CHAPTER 5
A male bee’s testicles explode during sex, killing him. That means if you see a bee flying around, he’s a virgin. Fucking nerd.
-Text from Laric to Bruno
BRUNO
I had a headache.
It was about five-foot-three, a hundred and twenty pounds, and had hips that I’d once daydreamed about wrapping my hands around.
Now, seeing her anywhere was like an ice pick to the temporal lobe.
“Please can we talk?” Briana begged.
I sighed. “Briana. Seriously. There is nothing to talk about.”
“But…” Briana started, but she was interrupted when Belle, who I hadn’t seen near me until now, came out of the clothes rack to my right and walked right up to me with a package of underwear in her hand.
“I couldn’t remember if you wanted boxer briefs or tighty-whities.” Belle held up a package right in front of my face and got so close to me that she placed herself between me and Briana, who’d just showed up and placed her body in my personal space. “What about these? Too big? Too small?”
I looked at the package of black ‘tighty-whities’ and said, “Those are technically black, so you can’t call them tighty-whities. They’re probably more appropriately called briefs.”
She pulled back and turned the package around, confirming my words.
“You’re right.” She paused. “Damn.”