Yep.
That was what he said to me.
Not a second later, he was striding out of the room. A second after that, I heard the door slamming shut as he left me.
Too stunned to really think clearly, I slid off the table, feeling an unexpected ache between my thighs that reminded me that, yes, that had just happened.
I’d handed over my long-held virginity to a man who took it and said he would ‘see me around’ before walking away.
A sob caught in my throat as I fetched my panties and pants, slipping them back on, then doing the same with my bra and shirt.
I walked on numb legs toward the door he’d exited.
And I was proud of myself for keeping it together until I was in my locked bedroom.
Collapsing onto the bed, I curled onto my side, pulled my knees in tight, and cried.
Hard.
Catch you around, baby.
No.
No, he would not.
I never wanted to see him again, actually.
CHAPTER FIVE
Judge
I had no idea.
No fucking idea.
Not until I walked back to the bar, walking right into the bathroom to deal with the condom, and saw the blood.
I mean, yeah, she’d been tight as fuck, but I figured I just thought that because it had been so long since I’d been with a woman.
I didn’t fuck virgins.
As a rule.
There was a two-fold reason for that.
One, it was a big deal for a woman.
Two, I never wanted to be a big deal to any woman.
“Shit,” I hissed, cleaning myself up, washing my hands, then making my way back out to the table where some of the guys were still sitting. “Hey, can I borrow your phone for five?” I asked Crow, who handed it over. “I’ll be right back.”
“Doesn’t look like a man who just got laid,” I heard Sway say as I made my way back to the door.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn the bartender was giving me a hard look, but I was too distracted to worry about that.
I didn’t know much about taking some chick’s cherry, but I did know that she probably deserved more than a brush off afterward.
I wasn’t the kind of man who stuck around after sex. And it never occurred to me to feel bad about it before. Because, well, chicks knew what they were getting into with me.
And it was quick and mutually satisfying. Then over.
There was no denying it was guilt that was tearing up my stomach as I re-picked the damn lock to the old deli, and let myself back in.
I mean, it wasn’t my best work, first of all. An experienced woman would have forgiven that since I did make sure to get her off first.
What can I say?
It had been a long fucking four years. There was no way it was going to be an all-night fuckathon.
The thing is, I hadn’t exactly been careful.
I didn’t know much about what it was like for a woman to lose her v-card, but I was pretty sure it didn’t feel good.
And I’d been rough.
I had to at least go back and check on her, make sure she was alright.
I turned on the flashlight on Crow’s phone as I moved into the old kitchen of the deli.
To find her gone.
“Shit,” I hissed again.
The light flashed across the prep table, catching a little smear of blood that made my stomach twist again.
I hadn’t even caught the woman’s name.
One thing I did know, though, was that she worked at The Bog.
And I was damn sure going to run into her again. Whether that was a good thing or not.
The knot in my stomach said maybe it would be both.
On that thought, I made my way back out of the old deli, and went back to the bar.
I pounded my first three rounds, wanting to take the sharp edge off my thoughts so they stopped cutting me up.
I won’t lie. Even as the chicks started hanging around the table—experienced, easier—my gaze kept going toward the bar, half-expecting her to come in from the back room and finish her shift.
But she never showed up.
Somewhere around my fifth round, Sway threw an arm around a woman and declared we were taking the party back to the clubhouse.
I wasn’t even going to pretend to understand why it was disappointment—instead of excitement—that flooded my system.
“Yep, I’m coming,” I called as Sway made his way toward the doors with four women flanking his sides.
On a sigh, I finished my drink before going to stand.
We were all hoofing it back to the clubhouse, so I figured there was no rush to catch up.
“You!” a voice hissed as soon as I walked out of the front doors.
I was just about to turn toward the sound when a hand slammed into my chest, shoving me back against the wall.
As soon as she had me there, a pointy-tipped nail stabbed into the center of my chest, digging in enough to sting.