Page 12 of Alpha Bait

She giggled and steadied herself on my arm.

"Not that drunk."

"Wasted."

"Natalia didn't come."

"What?"

"She's not here. She's hungover from some stupid party she went to yesterday in the Village."

"You've got to be kidding me..." I muttered.

"You want a hookup?" Selena asked, leaning in as if she were asking a very serious question.

I grumbled something insulting under my breath, but Selena didn't catch wind of it.

"Find Ginger. She's easy," Selena whispered, "very easy."

"I'm not looking for easy."

"Right," Selena teased, "you're looking for crazy."

"Shut up," I grumbled.

Selena was right. I had to get Natalia off my mind. And if her easy friend Ginger could help then so be it. Selena raced back to the dance floor and I marched over to her friend Ginger who gyrated in the middle of a circle, drunk out of her mind and dancing like a wind sock at an airport.

Ginger wasn't exactly sexy, but she wasn't ugly either. She'd worn her mouse brown hair cropped above her shoulders her entire life and her pudgy face was littered with freckles from sailing. Summer only added to Ginger's freckles and liquor reddened her face like a cherry tomato.

"Ginger, can we talk?" I asked reluctantly.

Her hazel eyes gleamed, the lights from the yacht reflecting off of them.

"Me?" She asked in disbelief as if she were an ogre that I'd asked to the junior prom.

"Yes. I'll get you a drink."

"Okay, Richard."

She slung her arm in mine and we stumbled over to the bar. Yeah, easy or not, there was no way in hell I'd be sleeping with Ginger tonight, but at least I could take Selena's advice and try to get Natalia off my mind.

Ginger wasn't one of the spoiled rich girls who refused to consume a single calorie. She ordered a thick and creamy White Russian and I stuck to a martini with an extra olive.

"How's work been treating you?"

"Terrible. I quit again and mummy flew me out to London. She says my father is a bad influence on me."

Knowing the Hatchets, her mother was probably right.

"Why did you quit?" I asked, feigning interest in the banality and indolence of Ginger's life.

"Can you believe they had me serving coffee to people all day long?"

"Didn't you work at Starbucks?"

She laughed and smacked me playfully on the arm.

"You're funny Rich. You're really funny."

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