Page 33 of Finding Our Reality

I barely have time to process the little fireball of energy in a tight halter top, leather leggings, and a tiara that says ‘Happy Birthday’. And I definitely don’t have time to react before she jumps up, wrapping her arms around my neck. It throws me off balance so I’m completely unprepared for when she crashes her lips to mine, forcing her tongue into my mouth.

So much for avoiding drama with Lulu sitting right here.

I force my beer bottle into Holt’s side and he quickly grabs it. With gentle force, I pull Brittany off my body, peeling her away like a sticker.

“What the hell, Brittany?”

She jumps up and down and points to the plastic tiara on her brown hair. “It’s my birthday!” A gaggle of girls surrounding her whoop and holler. “The girls asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said another night with you! I remembered you said you liked coming to this bar. I can’t believe you’re actually here. We just took a shot in the dark that you’d be here.” She lowers her voice to an exaggerated whisper and leans close, breathing her vodka breath on me. “You know a lot of college kids don’t like to come here because there’s always cops around.”

I drag my hand across my jaw, scratching my stubble. So much for having a buzz.

I steal a glance at Lulu. Her mouth gapes open in shock. Brittany’s little scene has stolen the vocabulary right from My Lulu’s brain.

Brittany leans forward, grabbing the sides of my hoodie. “Kiss the birthday girl. You know you want to.”

I untangle myself from her again. “Brittany, I think you’ve had too much to drink. How about we get you a water?”

She shoos her friends away and they file to the other end of the bar, shouting drink orders at Cullen. “No water for me. I was sober as a judge when we got together last time.” She winks. “Don’t you wanna try me drunk? I like to experiment when I’m drunk.”

Are you kidding me? Could it get any worse? “Brittany, stop.”

“Don’t be a prude, Crutch. Experimenting is what college is for. Last time was explosive, just think about how good it could be.”

Lulu jumps down from her barstool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so lethal. She scares the piss right out of me. She’s looking at me like I’m the scum of the earth. And I am. I am scum. She shoves her own water glass into Brittany’s hand. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” Brittany takes a sip and makes a sour face. “Water. Yuck. I thought it was something good.”

“You said college? How old are you today?” Lulu asks and I’m slowly dying inside watching this exchange.

Brittany raises her hand high in the air, dancing around on her stilettos. “Twenty-one, bitches!” Hearing her warrior cry, all of the girls scream and jump.

Kill. Me. Now.

Lulu turns, leaning so close to me that her nose nearly touches mine. She growls, “Twenty-one, bitches.” Elbowing past me, she marches across the bar, flinging open the door to the back room, hiding herself away.

Holt laughs uncontrollably. “I guess I did buy a ticket to the shit show after all.”

Chapter 14

CRUTCH

I stare at her for the umpteenth time today. She’s the most gorgeous thing to walk the face of the planet, so it’s fair to assume that I want to stare at her. All the time. But I’m also staring because I’m mad.

Furious. Boiling.

She went home with someone again.

Friday night after my little reunion with Brittany, she wandered the bar and found a guy she deemed worthy of her one-night affection. I sent Brittany away. She and her friends left the bar after thirty minutes. After she hit on both Holt and Cullen. Hell, she even hit on Will.

But that didn’t matter. Lulu still wanted to make me pay. And she did. She kept touching the guy’s arm, whispering in his ear, laughing at things that probably weren’t even funny. And then she left the bar with him. My Lulu snuck away so some stranger could put his lips on her body. So some stranger could be inside of her, in the place that was meant for only me. The place I broke. The place I explored.

Why does she keep giving pieces of herself away? I’ve given away enough for both of us.

She glances up from her work. When she sees the look on my face, her spine stiffens even more. “So, we are meeting him at three today?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

She lifts an eyebrow, but turns a deaf ear to my attitude. “How do you know he’ll be home?”

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