With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men 4)

Cora lifted her eyes. “Oh, are you headed to the bar? We need another round of strawberry daiquiris. Thanks.”

I stared at her a moment, but then I glanced toward the bar…or rather toward the bartenders.

Maybe heading that way wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

I marched to Asher and Ten. Asher grinned at me as he passed a fruity-looking drink to a waitress.

“Hey, Zoey. You look amazing tonight. What can I get you?”

Asher was too nice for my needs, so I bypassed him and planted myself in front of Ten, where he was busy plunking an olive with a toothpick and setting it just so into a martini glass.

Pointing in the direction of my roommate’s table, I said, “Go destroy her.”

Ten glanced up. He blinked at me for a moment before he arched an amused eyebrow. “Wow, Blondie. Do I really look like some kind of trained pet to you, who sits and fetches on command?”

I clenched my teeth. “She’s talking smack about Quinn to all her friends. She told them he’s the one who cheated on her.”

His eyebrows lifted. His gaze veered Cora’s way before it narrowed on where she was surrounded by her skank posse. “Oh, bitch is going down.”

Setting one hand on the bar, he hopped over it and stalked off.

My chest filled with an eager excitement. I knew I should’ve felt bad for siccing Ten on her, but she deserved it. Guilt and joy blurred in my head. Curious to see what he did, I hurried after him.

“…and he refused to go down on me, the selfish prick,” Cora was saying as Ten approached her from behind.

He startled her by snapping his fingers and saying, “Oh, damn. That was my bad, sorry.” She spun around to gape up at him. Setting a hand against his heart as if he genuinely wanted to apologize, he sent Cora a wince. “You see, I told him how bad you stank down there. And the flavor…” He winced and shuddered. “It took me a fucking week to get that nasty aftertaste out of my mouth. It’s my fault if he refused to eat you out.”

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe he’d said that. What was worse, I couldn’t believe he’d actually been with Cora. Wha…when had that happened?

Glancing at her stunned friends, Cora started to shake her head. But the panic was getting to her. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Well, you’re a fucking slut who had to beg me for weeks before I finally let you into my pants.” He shrugged and lifted a hand to let her know he had no excuse for himself. “And everyone knows I usually need no encouragement before fucking a willing woman.”

Tears filled Cora’s eyes. As she pushed up from the table and fled toward the hall that led to the bathrooms, everyone else at the table hurried after her, trying to comfort her.

Wow. Ten definitely knew how to clear a table. Note to self: never get on this guy’s bad side.

He swung toward me and lifted his eyebrows, waiting for my response.

I cleared my throat and patted him on top of the head. “Good boy.”

Ten threw his head back and laughed. “Damn, Blondie. Sometimes you crack me up.” Throwing an arm around my shoulder, he led me up to the bar.

“Get her a Long Island,” he told Asher as he showed me to a barstool.

I didn’t really want a drink, but I didn’t want to say no to Ten either, so I lifted my purse from my lap to get some money. Asher lifted a hand and waved my money away.

“It’s on the house. Anyone who looks out for our Quinn need not pay.”

“Damn straight,” Ten agreed. He hopped back behind the counter and took an order from someone else as Asher set my drink in front of me.

I thanked him but didn’t drink. I was running my fingernail up the condensation dripping down the side when Cora’s voice from behind me made me lift my head and whirl around.

“I suppose I have you to thank for that attack.” She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest.

I wasn’t proud of sending Ten after her, but I wasn’t sorry for it either. “You shouldn’t have said all that about Quinn,” was all I could think to answer.

Noticing her talking to me, Ten started our way, but I put up my hand to stop him, letting him know I could handle this. He paused, but kept watching us.