Page 20 of One Life to Loathe

“Because here’s a little something you gents probably haven’t realized yet,” Ed said, offering me a wink when he realized I was listening to what was certainly a tall tale. “Older women know better what they’re doing and they’re not afraid to get themselves off.” He tapped the side of his head. “Why do the work when they’ll do it for you?”

I rolled my eyes until they landed on the bartender, who I recognized from the party the night before. He was rolling his eyes too.

“Hey,” I said to him as I hopped on a stool. “You’re Levi, right?”

He looked surprised that I actually knew his name. “I am.”

“I just spent the morning with Daisy,” I offered. “She has a lot of nice things to say about you.”

“I’m sure she has a lot of things to complain about too,” Levi said on a snort.

“Actually, most of the stuff she was telling us today started with ‘my friend Levi and I figured out when we were thirteen.’”

Levi chuckled. “We do have a lot of stories that start like that,” he agreed.

“I’ll have a bourbon and Coke,” I said, my eyes darting to Ed, who had launched into another tale. Chad was rapt on everything he was saying. Dexter, however, was in the midst of picking up his drink. I wasn’t surprised when he moved over a few stools to sit by me.

“Don’t you want to learn how to satisfy a woman?” I teased Dexter as he got comfortable.

“If we didn’t need that old man, I would’ve already cut out his tongue and choked him with it,” Dexter replied.

“Something tells me he’s never used it to please a woman,” I agreed.

Levi cringed as he delivered my drink. “Did you have to put that picture in my head? I’m going to have nightmares now.”

I shrugged. “I’m definitely going to have nightmares.”

Levi rested his elbows on the counter as he regarded me. “How come they sent you and Sam out on a tour and nobody else?”

It bothered me that he knew her name. “Sam?”

“She told me to call her Sam. Is that not her name?”

“It is,” I countered. “I guess I just didn’t realize that you guys were so tight.”

He narrowed his eyes, and I could practically hear the gears grinding between his ears. Then he grinned out of nowhere. “I told myboyfriendCorey all about her last night,” he volunteered, stressing the word boyfriend.

Whatever had clenched inside of me unclenched, and I had the grace to feel like a moron.

“Just talking to her for a few minutes, I knew Daisy was going to get attached to her,” he continued.

“Daisy invited her for pickle martinis tonight,” I admitted. “They’re fast friends.”

“And let me guess, Daisy doesn’t like you all that much,” Levi pressed.

“I don’t think Daisy can decide how she feels about me,” I admitted. “She keeps trying to be mean but it doesn’t stick.”

“That means she doesn’t believe you’re a lost cause,” Levi informed me. “Be grateful for that, because she can be mean if she wants to be.”

That was hardly surprising. “I met your friend Lux, too.”

Levi chuckled. “Is she still pregnant? Tell me she’s not still pregnant.”

“She’s still pregnant … and not happy about it. Daisy stayed to try to help her husband.”

“Yeah, Jesse is a saint right now,” Levi agreed. “I don’t know how he puts up with her. Lux is a handful when she’s not a million years pregnant. She’s taken it to an extreme recently, though.”

“Pregnancy is unnatural if you ask me,” Ed volunteered out of nowhere.

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