Page 53 of Forgive You

“I wasn’t asking.” She pats my chest condescendingly, then slips out of my space and out the room.

The air grows colder the second she’s gone, and my lungs start functioning again.

I stand there for a hot minute, both stunned and grinning from ear-to-ear.

She’s back.

“Great job today, Ford,” Julie says above the music in the club.

Setting her Manhattan back on the table, she licks her pink lips with a level of seduction that’s so natural…it’s fucking killing me.

She leans into the red leather of the booth we’re all crowding in, Ford on my right, Jordan on my left and Julie across the table from Ford.

Her brown embers twinkle at Ford underneath the strobe lights, my heart tapping between irritation and admiration. One minute, my chest wants to expand just looking at her, and the other, it feels rock hard, watching her shoot sweet glances at Ford and Jordan for no fucking reason.

That’s a lie. I have reasons.

Three, to be exact. One, she threw out her black blazer the second we secured ourselves a table in the back. Two, her white crop top shows that sexy stomach I’ve been dying to lick all day.Three, it brings out the swell of her breasts, highlighting that perfect cleavage I want to bury my nose in.

It’s fucking sadistic.She’s sadistic.

I shift on the bench, thankful there’s a table top covering the bulge in my jeans, because I need a lot more liquor in my veins before I can take comments from these two dicks about it.

“Do I get brownie points?” Ford’s eyebrows wiggle up and down from above his beer, some of the condensation on the glass dripping onto his gray t-shirt.

My shoulders turn to steel.

“No, you don’t,” I snap, hoping looks can kill.

The only thing that can make this night feel even more like I’m standing in the middle of a bonfire, burning and aching, is Ford acting like he actually stands a chance with Julie.

Three sets of eyes glance at me with three different expressions.Tone it down, you’re so jealous, and you’re so busted.

You figure out which one is which, but they all annoy me like a mosquito that keeps buzzing in my ear. Loud. Whining.

“He’s right, though.” Julie nods, briefly meeting my gaze with…something sweet? “We pay you enough zeros to deliver.”

My eyebrows meet in the middle, my chest doing that swelling thing again. Hold on, she’s agreeing with me?

“Oh, wait, really?” A crooked grin forms on Ford’s dark lips, and he mirrors Julie’s stance, then flips his finger between the two of us. “This shit is thawing between the two of you? You ganging up on me?”

She lets out a snort mixed with a chuckle that heats up my insides, and it’s goddamn adorable. “Has anyone ever told you, you’re a tad dramatic?”

“Never,” Ford says, at the same time I reply with, “All the time,” followed by Jordan’s, “Every day.”

“Shit,” he drawls, gripping his heart.

“You areallganging up on me. I thought we were bonding.” He rests his bulky forearms on the table, tilting his puppy eyes to Julie while Jordan’s chuckle flies in my ear.

“Your head doesn’t need to grow any more.” I give him my two cents.

“At least it’s prettier than yours. Don’t you think, Jules?”

“Jules?” I huff, fisting my hand around the beer in front of me, taking a gulp to swallow my annoyance away. “You’re calling her Jules now?”

It’s ridiculous how much he can tick me off just by talking to the blonde who’s sitting way too close and not close enough at the same time. With Hunter and Jensen living on the East Coast, my time is mostly spent with Jordan and Ford. Usually, I have no issues being his wingman. I might enjoy it a little less when he’s doing shit that I, as his agent, need to clean up the next day, but other than that, I’d say I’m a solid wingman.

This is different, though. This is my life he’s fucking with. Now it feels like he’s after something that’s mine.

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