She walks out of the room while I hold the door to let her walk out, her hips swinging to the side, my hand itching to leave my palm print on her. We get into the car that Cooper arranged for us. Sliding in next to her, she places her little purse on her lap. “Oh, Matthew”—she leans in—“I’m not wearing panties.”
I don’t say anything because the driver floors it, having me jolt back while she laughs at my face.
We get there and see that the press is there. “Fuck.” I shake my head. “I’ll get out and lead the way. Hold onto me.”
She nods her head while I get out and hold out a hand for her and lead her inside while the reporters call my name. I smile and wave at them, walking into the club that’s lit up and the music is pumping.
“Matthew!” Mom shouts, waving me over.
I look over my shoulder and see Mom waving. I grab Karrie’s hand to guide us through the crowd to my mom and Cooper. I zig-zag through, letting go of Karrie’s hand when we are almost at my mom, so I can grab her and hug her. “Hey, Mom, Coop,” I greet both of them with a hug and a kiss for Mom.
“Where is Karrie?” my mom asks, so I turn around, assuming she is right behind me, but I can’t see her till I spot her a couple of feet back talking to a guy with more grease in his hair than Danny Zuko. He’s kissing her fucking hand and laughing with her. I knew that dress would fucking kill me.
I walk up to them, not even smiling. Instead, I grab her hand that’s at her side, pulling her away from him.
Right before I get to Mom and Cooper, she pulls me to a stop. “Seriously, you need to stop that. He was just saying hello.”
I walk over to her smiling, pushing the hair off her shoulder to lean in and whisper in her ear, “If you continue, I’m going to take you into the bathroom and fuck you so hard, this whole club will hear.” Then I lean down and kiss her. I’m so fed up of fucking hiding everything. I don’t give a shit who snaps a picture. I’m done. I finally let her go. “You get me?” I finish while she nods at me.
“Well, that settles that.” I hear Cooper say under his breath as he sips the beer he is holding.
When we finally make our way to them, Mom is the first one to greet her. “Karrie, you look beautiful.”
Cooper gives her a once-over and smiles at me. “Good luck, son.”
I glare at him. I look back at Austin, who is Cooper’s friend from college or even before that. They played hockey together. I’ve met him a few times over the years. He was always solo.
“Austin, this is my girlfriend, Karrie.” I pull her to my side, wrapping my hand around her waist.
“I’m not his girlfriend. I’m his chaperone.” She holds out a hand to Austin and then to Lauren, who I was informed is Austin’s girlfriend. Austin and Cooper both bust out laughing at me, and I’m now glaring at her.
“I’ll show you a chaperone.” I stare at her, and she glares back at me.
“Good luck finding me,” she quips. “I don’t have to be with you until next week.” She tries to pry my fingers off her hip.
With that, I laugh at her and grab a beer off the tray from the waiter who is walking past us. “Try to run. I dare you,” I challenge her. “Remember the last time you tried that.” I take a pull of my beer.
Her cheeks turn a shade of pink while her eyes turn a dark shade of blue.
“Lauren, do you dance?” my mom asks when Rihanna’s “This is What You Came For” comes on.
She nods her head and then downs the rest of the champagne, handing the empty glass to Austin.
“I love to dance,” she says while the guys, including me, all groan.
“Let’s go get a booth.” I turn to Karrie. “The dance floor looks cramped.”
“I’m going to dance. Who is coming with?” she says, heading for the dance floor, not even acknowledging my comment.
Mom follows her, and Lauren follows Mom.
“You pissed her off, and now,” Cooper says, looking at me then at Karrie and the girls starting to dance in the middle of the dance floor, “we all suffer.” He slaps me on the shoulder, laughing while he walks up the stairs so we can keep an eye on the women.
What the women don’t realize is they are attracting attention—a lot of attention. Cooper is in the middle of Austin, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed practically to slits. And me, I stand next to him, growling every ten seconds, and I wouldn’t be surprised if steam starts pouring out of my ears. The only one calm about all this is John, Austin’s business partner, who is leaning against the railing, looking at us. “Suckers.”