Page 95 of Heartbreaker

So, we’ve been spending a lot of time working on her album, fucking like jackrabbits, and hanging with Frankie, Briar, and whatever mix of the guys are around.

Tonight that’s all of them.

Aspen had an early shift and the Vipers aren’t playing tonight, so they’re both here, Aspen cuddled up next to Banks in our booth, sipping on a glass of Sprite and looking far better than I’ve seen her in the last couple of months. Maybe the medicine is helping.

She wrinkles her nose and sets down her glass, rubbing at her belly.

Or maybe not.

Atlas slipped out of the noisy bar to take a call in the manager’s office. He seems stressed and on edge tonight, as though he’s managing more than his normal workload, and as a result, the rest of us have been tiptoeing around him.

Well, the rest of us being the guys.

The girls continue to be themselves, not worried about the brooding bastard in the least.

Banks, Dash, and I, on the other hand, recognize his mood and are walking on eggshells.

Funny, it’s usually me that they’re worried about.

Funnynotfunny, I guess, considering the pit in my stomach and the concern gnawing at my gut.

Is this what I’ve put my family through?

My temple throbs, and I rub at the ache, focusing back on this moment and shoving down all of the fucked up shit. I’m getting my head together, figuring out a way to be better. I’m a long fucking way away from perfect, but…

Jade.

I’m different with her.

Maybe I can be a good enough man for her yet.

“Do you want me to get you another?” I ask her, taking the drained glass and setting it on the table next to the abandoned Sprite.

She shakes her head and leans more heavily against me. “No, thanks though, honey. I’ll stick with water for a bit.”

“You got it.”

Her sigh is contented, and I tune out as she, Briar, and Aspen start talking about the shade of lipstick she’s wearing, some fancy product from some celebrity’s new makeup line. Apparently, it stays on all day.

I plan on testing that later.

Because that shade of red on her lips conjures all sorts of fantasies—stretched wide as I fuck her mouth, parting as she sucks me deep, smeared on my skin as?—

My dick twitches again, and I grit my teeth.

This is about family, not fucking.

I exhale silently, see that Dash has gotten bored with the conversation about lipstick and made his way to the bar. He’s talking with a woman, his smile wide and his laugh loud, though it doesn’t seem as though she’s giving him the time of day as he tries to chat her up.

Something the girls have noticed too.

Jade winces as he’s obviously turned down, even from a distance.

Briar is rolling with laughter at the sight of her brother striking out, and Aspen is nudging at Banks’s side, teasing him, “What is it with all of The Gamebreakers striking out in the bar you guys own?”

“For one thing,” Banks says, brushing back her hair and studying her face like he’s trying to memorize every facet of it, “it’s not abar.”

“No, it isn’t,” Dash says, scowling as he drops down into the booth next to me, his long legs sprawled out in front of him.

---