Page 32 of On the Double

I rolled my eyes. This was getting out of control way too fast. “Liking the way she looks is not the same as wanting to sleep with her.”

“I beg to differ,” Lock sighed.

“You always differ. I can appreciate her figure without sleeping with her.”

“Why?”

“Because appreciating her form does not lead to unwanted attachments.”

“Then you’d better look again,” Scottie said, nodding to her table.

I made the mistake of looking over at her. She was making eyes at me as she drank her margarita. Her breasts were pushed up as she rested her chest against her crossed arms. Her finger played with the straw in her drink and her toe bounced lightly until her shoe slipped to the ground.

I swallowed hard, watching as she took a long sip, then turned toward me, stepping down from the stool. Her creamy skin stretched as her toe just barely touched the dirty bar floor. I was on my feet before I could make sense of what I was doing, bending down to put her shoe on her foot. I didn’t need to look up into her eyes to see the vital mistake I had just made.

I was down on my knees in front of this woman, slipping a shoe on her foot. What a fucking mistake. My eyes slowly drifted up to hers, and I could see the far-off look on her face. She was already imagining I was her Prince Charming.

“Fucking hell.”

With a grunt, I got to my feet and stormed out of the bar, not stopping until I reached my truck. I was peeling out of the parking lot when I finally looked in the rearview mirror and saw the guys laughing at me from the doorway.

I was never going to live this down.

I wrappedthe towel around my neck as I stepped out of the shower and headed to my locker. Training had kicked my ass today, but I was pushing myself harder because of the lack of jobs. I didn’t want to get out of shape during the downtime. Yanking my locker open, I heard the laughter before I fully took in the state of the contents inside.

Blue glitter flew out at my face as a music box started playing music from that Disney movie. I closed my eyes, spitting the offending paper from my mouth. Inside, a single silver high-heeled shoe sat on the shelf with an invitation to a ball. Sighing, I yanked the crap from my locker and tossed it in the garbage, but it seemed like the glitter was everywhere. I was going to have to take another shower, but I definitely wasn’t doing that here.

Slamming the door, I glared at Brock and Scottie. “Yeah, that was really fucking funny.”

They laughed even harder, leaning on each other for support as tears streamed down their faces. I didn’t mind being the butt of a joke. It was a natural progression of life, but this time, it really grated on me because of who they were teasing me over.

“Man, you should have seen your face,” Scottie laughed.

“Yeah, almost as funny as when I look at you when you’re about to vomit,” I retorted.

He immediately stopped laughing. “Hey, that’s not funny. It’s an affliction.”

“Yeah, for the rest of us, too,” I retorted. “Remember, we have to deal with the smell.”

“It is pretty bad,” Brock nodded, then snorted with laughter.

“Yeah, almost as bad as watching you comb your hair twenty times a day,” Scottie snapped.

“Ooh, good one. Make fun of my hair. You wound me,” he said, holding his hand over his heart. “You forget that I don’t care.”

“This is about him,” Scottie thrust a finger at me. “We’re making fun of him.”

“Right,” Brock nodded, turning back to me with a grin. “So, are you gonna see her today?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Uh…because you’re in love with her?” Scottie said, a mixture of confusion and laughter on his face. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Only to you because you see love everywhere you go.”

I quickly got dressed, ignoring the glitter that clung to my body. I would shower when I got home and probably throw out these clothes. I didn’t see another way to get rid of it.

“What do you have against love?” Brock asked. “Seriously, I just don’t get it.”

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