“Hey, Holden,” Cheryl purrs, running a hand down my arm.
Shrugging her off, I look to the door as it bounces back from the force of Ezra barreling his way in. “Not now,” I tell her. “Not ever again.”
“Fuck you, Holden.”
“You’d like to.” I smirk and head to the end of the bar to see what’s up with Big E.
One look at his long face, I know something is wrong.
He lays a hundred-dollar bill on the counter and says, “Tequila, keep it coming.”
My stomach churns, but I do as he asks. He doesn’t do well with the stuff, but he’s a grown ass man and I’m not his keeper. After he knocks back three shots, I ask him, “What’s going on, man? You lose a big account or something?”
He shakes his head. “You warned me.”
“About what?”
“Conleigh. I proposed, and she found out about Judy. I fucked up, but she’ll forgive me. She has to.”
Fuck. I set this in motion. I’m a lousy prick. A selfish bastard because my first instinct is to go after her, my best friend’s girl and comfort her. I want to take her in my arms, tell her she is better of
f without him, and fuck her senseless. I don’t do those things though. I come around the bar and take up the stool next to Ezra.
“A girl like Conleigh, man…she’s one in a million.”
“What would you know about her? You wouldn’t be able to nail a girl like Conleigh if she was the only woman on earth.”
My blood boils. She should have been mine from the start. “That a challenge?” I take a shot of my own.
“You really think my girl would have you?” He scoffs and tosses two more shots back.
“You being serious right now?” He doesn’t want to challenge me on this. Not right now. Not when I know she’s hurting because he’s a dumbass who can’t keep his dick in his pants.
“Sure, why not. You think you can have her, go for it. I fucked up bad. She will get past this.”
“You’ve had too much to drink. I’m cutting you off.”
“No, I’m serious. She needs to get me back. We need to be even. She needs one night to get this shit out of her system.” He spins a shot glass around the bar top and looks at me with glossy eyes. “You should do it. Go home right now and see if she will fuck you. Then when she feels like she’s gotten revenge out of her system, she’ll be ready to marry me.”
“Do you even hear yourself right now and how fucked up that logic sounds.”
“Look, man, she’s a good girl. I can make this shit right for her and after we’re married, we’ll get a house in the burbs, and I can have Judy in an apartment in this city.”
I wasn’t even considering what he said but this shit royally pisses me off. How can he sit here and say this shit about the woman he claims to love? He doesn’t plan on stopping this shit with Judy. He doesn’t deserve a girl like Conleigh. He wants me to fuck her, but not happening. I’m going to steal her away from him. He might be my friend, and I know it makes me dirty as fuck, but Conleigh deserves to be with a man who respects her. A man who will treat the way she deserves, like a queen. My queen.
“So, you’re saying you want me to walk out of my bar right now and go to the apartment and seduce your girl so she will forgive you for fucking around.”
He points the empty shot glass at me and says, “Bingo.”
“Okay…I’ll do it.” I pour him another shot and then say fuck it, handing him the bottle. “Help yourself, man.”
“You’re a good friend, Holden.”
“Yeah, that’s me.” I shake my head. “Waylon. Make sure he gets a cab and close up tonight.”
“You got it, boss.”
Climbing into my truck, I don’t know what I am doing. He just gave me his blessing to fuck his girl. What’s wrong with him? He can’t love her. If I had a girl like Conleigh I’d want to cut out the eyes of every man who even dared to look at her.