Page 98 of Nobody's Girl

Cait was the wildcard. Both Jess and Kel knew that. “I’ll make sure to keep an eye on her,” Kel told Jess. “And you try to do that too. If we have to wrestle her out the back door, then we will. None of us will go down.”

“I’m with you, sis,” Jess said, then eyed Cait. “Keep your wits about you, Cait. This will spread through town like wildfire if any of us gives into these rats. And you’re not over the scandal of getting caught with Richard Dupree, kissing in the back of the school bus when you were in middle school.”

“Shut up!” Cait shouted. “Is there a thing I do that doesn’t get written into the Ashby history books? Come on. I’m not going to give into Phoenix. Even though I want to. I want to so badly. But I too have Flannigan pride coursing through my blood that’s as red as any of yours is!”

“Good!” Kel said. “Then let’s get to pretending the same way these lotharios are.”

The three followed Marty out of the office and waited to let him get back to the bar, where they saw their men talking and laughing as if they were so smart and funny and about to pull one over on them all.

Their blood began to boil as they watched the men clink their refilled beer mugs that Marty had filled for them. A toast was made, but they couldn’t hear the words they’d said. It was obvious it was about bedding them and how easy it was going to be to get into their pants.

Even Cait began to get pissed instead of horny for the hot guy who wanted to use her then dump her off like a bag of trash. She’d teach Phoenix Nelson what it meant to want someone so bad and then get blown out of the water when it didn’t happen.

Jess watched the golden curls bounce around Griffin’s wide shoulders. Shoulders she knew she’d love to run her hands over, then hang onto his huge biceps as he pummeled her into a mattress. But he’d get none of that sweet action now that he was found out to be a gambling monster who liked to use women for his sinister habit.

It was Kel who was feeling the worst pain. It was she who had been left fragile when her fiancé of two years suddenly changed his mind and moved away to New York where he married a tall runway model only a couple of months after breaking up with her and taking her one karat diamond engagement ring away from her.

Kelli Flannigan stood there watching Ethan Southern, the one man she’d given the smidgeon of a chance to in the last year, as he laughed it up with his cohorts. His olive-green eyes had danced when he spoke to her, making her think he was being truthful.

He’d gone so far as to ask her about love and kids for the love of Heaven. How could he have done such a cruel thing? How could he have said they’d have beautiful children?

Kel was about to kiss a man for the first time since her devastating breakup with Robert Finnegan. More than a year had passed since her lips had felt another’s. Could she handle it? Could she stop herself from giving in to the man she thought her body would fit like a glove?

With a deep sigh, she admitted to her sisters, “Joking aside, girls. If you see me looking at that man with stars in my eyes, grab me up and take me away from him. He could be my one weakness. He’s so completely what I’ve always wanted in a man. He’s a real man. Or so I thought he was, anyway. Just don’t let me fall for him and his pile of shit. Please. I don’t think I could take losing him if I ever fell all the way in.”

“Not to worry, sis,” Jess said, then put her arm around her oldest sister, knowing all too well the mentally fragile state she was in. After her fiancé dumped her unexpectedly, Jess had held Kellie that first week each night as Kel cried herself to sleep.

The three had each other’s backs, and the men had no idea what was in store for them.

“Let the games begin,” Kel said, then the three put on smiles and made their way to their men.

Chapter 7

The lights were dimmed as the women who now knew the men who’d been hitting on them had more going on than any of them had previously thought. Kel led the way as the three went to their men. She slid her arm around Ethan’s shoulders as she came up behind him as he sat at the bar with his two friends.

He turned to find her face close to his. “Welcome back, Kel. I’ve missed ya.”

“Have you now?” she asked in a husky whisper. “We can’t have that. How about you and I retreat to a table in the back?” She nudged his shoulder with her chin. “I’d like to get to know more about you, Ethan Southern.”

He felt a surge of heat move through him, ending with a solid thump in his jeans. “We can do that, my love.”

Kel fought the urge to slap the crap out of him as he used such a sweet term of endearment. With what he wanted, it was a crime to use such niceties with her. She took his hand and led him away from the bar and his no-good friends. Her sisters would take care of those rogues.

Cait wrapped her arms around Phoenix as she approached him from behind. He groaned a bit with her soft touch. Her lips pressed against his neck just below his left ear. “Wanna go hide in a corner booth and talk?”

He didn’t want to talk anymore. But he said, “Sure.” As he stood up, he placed his hand on the small of her back, steering her to one of the darker corners of the pub.

Jess was young and inexperienced at such blatant sexual approaches. She had to rely on being cute when she got to Griffin. She moved up next to him and placed her clasped hands on the bar in front of her. “I guess that just leaves the two of us to figure out how to spend our time while our friends make out.”

Griff cleared his throat as he looked the tall, dark blonde young lady up and down. “I think I can entertain you, Jess.” He got off the barstool and took her hand in his, leading her off to another remote area of the pub where no one would see them.

Jess was nervous. She’d never done such a thing as lead a man to think they’d get more than what they’d be getting. But she was furious that she had been chosen to be a part of the men’s sordid bet. Trying to hold her temper was a thing she found hard to do. But she’d figure out how to do it. She wanted Griff to hurt when she disappeared on him. The same way he had planned on screwing her then disappearing.

The ladies all had their men right where they wanted them. And the men thought they had their women where they wanted them. Completely unaware that they were the ones being played, the guys made jackasses of themselves as they dug themselves further into the murky depths of their deceptions.