The Consequence of Loving Colton (Consequence 1)

“Drinking game!” Jason came up behind me. “Cups!”

“Did someone say cups?” Jayne shouted, coming into the bar with a few of the bridesmaids, and finally Milo.

Shoes in hand, Milo, my newfound nemesis, walked into the bar, cringed, then set eyes on me. Her smile grew until she saw Max. She looked beautiful. Her short dress didn’t hide an inch of her legs. I drank my fill and then cursed when I realized I was supposed to be paying her back for all the hell she’d been putting me through. Did payback include licking those thighs? The bartender dropped a shot in front of me. Bottoms up. Something told me I wouldn’t be doing any licking for quite a while. Not if I had any control over it. Pain first, pleasure second.

She mouthed a curse and stomped over to us, crossing her arms over her really, really nice-looking chest, and glared. “Max?”

“Wazzup?” He swayed on the barstool. I held him steady and prayed he wouldn’t reach for her purse and puke in it. “You’re super pretty tonight, Milo, so . . . cold.”

“Cold?” she repeated.

“Yeah, like, you must be freezing since you’re naked!” He laughed at his own joke, then yelled, “She’s naked, she’s naked!”

“Strip poker!” Jason shouted above the music. “Back room!”

“Yay!” Max clapped his hands and slid off the barstool, swaying on his feet as he pulled Milo in for a hug. “You smell like . . . happiness.”

“What’s that smell like, big fella?” She sighed, helping him walk with us toward the back of the bar.

“Sex.”

“What?” She laughed nervously.

“Never. I never did it, Colton. Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. She said no.” His face drew into a tight pout. Holy shit, was he crying? “?‘No, Max!’ She yelled at me, Colton.” He was enunciating my name like a three-year-old. “?‘No, Max, I don’t want the sex like that!’?”

“Max, maybe you should drink some water—” Milo’s gaze searched around the bar.

“No.” He pulled away, collapsing against my chest, then reached for my shirt and gripped like a freaking vise. “And you know what happened?”

I shook my head.

“I say okay Milo, you don’t want to ride the gluteus maximus.”

“He’s drunk,” Milo said in a desperate voice. “And that’s not how you—” She stopped talking.

“How you what?” I leaned in. “What, Milo?”

“How you . . .” She chewed her lower lip.

Max patted my face with his hand. “She’s a virgin,” I think he meant to whisper. Instead he said it so loud that the rest of the people walking to the back room with us paused.

“I want to die,” Milo muttered.

“Naked time!” Max launched himself from my arms and stumbled into the room. Poor guy was going to be puking his insides to his outsides come tomorrow morning.

Milo and I followed the herd into the room. I grabbed her hand and held her back. “So, you’ve never slept with your fiancé.”

“Nope,” she said tightly. “He’s, uh . . . Catholic.”

“Really?” I nodded.

“Very, very, very devout.” She looked down.

“Interesting. Is that why his Jeep has one of those Star of David stickers on it?”

“He’s a Catholic Jew,” she said in a desperate tone.

“Oh . . . I wonder what that’s like . . .” God, she made it so easy.

Jason whistled loudly and pointed at the group of people filing into the room. “Who’s in?”

“Milo is!” Max shouted, jumping into the air, his landing missing the chair by an inch.

“Me too.” I winked. “I love a good game of poker.”

“You gonna keep your pants on this time,” Milo teased, “or are you gonna freeze your balls off like the Christmas of 2010?”

“There’s a difference between choosing to lose and actually losing,” I snapped back.

“You still lost.”

“Milo, it was four in the morning! I had to be at the firehouse at five! I was exhausted!”

She grinned saucily. “Still lost!”

“Girls against boys!” Max danced around the table. Great, so he just got his second wind. “Shots!” I swear his yell shook the walls.

“Oh.” Jayne smirked in our direction. “Milo’s not drinking.”

“She’s pregnant too!” Max yelled.

The noise died.

Jason groaned into his hands while Jayne stiffened and set down her bottled water.

“Jason,” she said in a stern voice, “I thought we weren’t telling anyone yet.”

“Well.” He looked pissed. “They all know now, don’t they?” Uh-oh, drunk Jason was going to make an appearance. “Now everyone knows why the hell I popped the question! God knows I wouldn’t have done if you hadn’t trapped me.”

Oh, shit.

Max’s eyes widened. “So no game?”

“No game,” Jayne said in a stern voice. “Ladies, let’s go.”

With that they walked out, leaving Milo and Max with us and the rest of the guys.

Milo started walking toward the door, but I grabbed her hand before she could make it very far. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

“Home?”