AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The second glass of whiskey didn’t clear up her confusion. She didn’t yet feel a buzz. It took a lot more liquor to affect her, unlike Montrell.
Thinking about her friend let her shoulders relax.
“Not with Antonio tonight?” the blond asked.
Vespa lifted her eyebrow. “Do I look like it?” Annoyance flickered through her mind that their names were linked for this stranger. “If you’re wanting a catfight over him, that’s not my thing, and it would be a mistake. For you.” Her teeth flashed again.
His pierced ears looked a little red. “I guess I should apologize again.”
“You know, it loses sincerity if you do it too much.” She shook her head. “Whatever. I’m not mad or anything.” She shouldn’t have gone back to the same bar. Not just because of this guy, but she could have run into Antonio again.
Which had been the point, she realized, and her hand squeezed around the glass. “So fucking stupid,” she muttered.
“It’s hard to top someone that hot, isn’t it?” He smiled at her as he ordered two of something she’d never hear of; it sounded like a bomb of some type. “I’m Josh, by the way.”
She studied him. “Is this where I’m supposed to introduce myself and compare notes or something? Because I’ve got no complaints. I was looking for a one-time thing, and I got it.” Plus that extra bonus the morning after. And cuddling. Two half full beer mugs arrived and masked her sigh.
Before she could admit that beer wasn’t her thing, two shot glasses joined them. A flick of a lighter, and a moment later fire flickered over the top of the shot.
“That’s fucking cool,” she admitted, grinning at the burning shot.
Josh had a nice laugh. “You’re cute.”
Her grin fell into a scowl. “No, I’m fucking not.”
He laughed again. “I think I see what Antonio liked about you.” He grabbed the shot glass, dropped it into the beer mug to douse the flames, and then chugged all that slop in one go.
Fascinated, she reached toward the second shot, her fingers dancing in the small flame.
“Careful!” he warned. “They’re not supposed to burn too long.”
“What the hell,” she decided, following suit. Whatever they were drinking tasted disgusting and was a lot of fun to chug.
Josh watched her wipe off her mouth with the back of her hand. “Another?” he asked.
She threw back her head in a braying laugh, and the last of her tension seeped away. “Why not? I’ll buy this round.”
He shook his head. “Tonight is my treat. No strings.” His hands folded together on the bar. “We don’t even need to talk about him if you don’t want to. I just wanted to offer some commiseration.”
Vespa eyed him. “Nope. No commiseration needed. I had a good time.”
Josh’s smile was soft. “Yeah. You seem good at that.”
The arrival of the next round cut off more talk. By the fourth, she was actually feeling the effects a little, and her cheeks hurt from laughing so hard with her bar buddy.
Poor, sweet Josh was totally plastered. His grin had turned sloppy, and his warm eyes were now hooded as he swayed on his propped-up hand. “How’d you do it? ‘M still mishing him.” Even his slur was kind of cute.
He had a huge crush on Antonio. Poor guy was nearly sobbing as he apologized again, this time for how jealous he’d been feeling toward her. In the span of about twenty minutes, she knew his life story. He was an open book.
Apparently, Antonio had a type.
She was also pretty sure Josh didn’t want to hook up with her. She didn’t think she had the right equipment.
Feeling tipsy, she figured not hooking up with anyone that night would be for the best. “It wasn’t that I did anything. We were both very clear about what we wanted.” She pushed her ginger ale toward him. “Here. You need fluids that aren’t on fire.”
“There’s was beer,” he argued drunkenly.
“Sure thing, and it was gross, but I meant something without alcohol.” She reached over, ruffling his hair, which wasn’t soft like she expected. It was brittle from whatever product he used. She pointed at the soda. “Now, drink.”
