Page 62 of Dirty Pucking Tease

"I believe her words were, 'I can't be your dirty little secret anymore.'"

"Ahh." She twisted in her seat to lean on the bar.

"Did she tell you about us?"

"No. She didn't have to. Anyone with eyes can see the way you look at her." She paused momentarily, like she wasn't sure if she should keep talking. "Which is why I'm confused about why you let her leave with someone else."

"Because I'm fucked up." I spun in my seat again. "Did you know he was here every night? He asked her out every night, and I couldn't even step up and be a real boyfriend to her."

"Yeah, I knew, but I never thought she'd take him up on his offer because she was head-over-heels in love with you."

"Yeah, well, I pushed her right into his arms."

"Jax, this is still fixable." My gaze shifted up to hers. "But if you waste time sitting here drinking instead of fighting for her, and she falls for him, it's over." I knew she was right, but I couldn't help but feel like Kaia deserved better than me. She deserved a man who would fight for her, fight for her like he did. She didn't deserve this broken man with commitment issues.

"She's better off without me."

"And are you better off without her?"

I shrugged, but we both knew I wasn't. I had to move on with my life and let her move on with hers. If I wanted to get over Kaia, I needed to get under someone new. I whipped the spinning barstool around, searching the bar for an easy fix. "Kaia's moved on, and I need to do the same." Cam's eyes widened like I'd surprised her. "You should go."

"Yeah, no." She laughed, but there was no humor behind it. "You're trashed, and I'm taking you home. If you want to fuck someone else, you'll have to do it sober when you can think clearly because if you do this, it's game over. Kaia's gone, and there's no going back. So, if you want to fuck everything up, you'll have to do it sober."

"I'm thinking pretty clearly."

"You're not," she said, "because if you were, you'd choose to fight for Kaia instead of finding some random pussy to stick it in."

"That's who I am, Cam."

"It was," she sighed, "but it's not anymore."

She was wrong. This is who I still was. I couldn't commit to the one person I was in love with. I was destined for a life of random pussy to stick it in.

"Tonight, I take you home; tomorrow, if you still feel the same sober, do whatever you want."

"No." I was being irrationally stubborn, but that was what people did when their hearts were broken, especially when they didn't know they had a heart to break.

"Jax, please, don't make me lay you out here because I'm not sure I can carry you by myself." The look on her face and the threat in her tone said she would do it, and tonight, I was drunk enough that she'd have a pretty good chance.

"Fine." Part of me wondered if she thought my sober brain would change its mind. Hell, maybe I was worried it would, or maybe I was worried about how bad it would hurt to see Kaia tomorrow and act like she wasn't someone I loved.

"Jax, you will survive whatever you're feeling, and it will make you stronger. But not fighting for Kaia is something you will regret forever because, in the future, you'll have to sit across from her and her family during family functions and feel that pain all over again every time you see her with him because that's what real love does to you. You never get over that kind of love." She grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. "Fight for her, Jax."

Cam was wise beyond her years, and everything she said made sense. I needed to sleep.

"Just take me home."

42

>

I jolted up, my head slamming into something hard. "Ow." I winced at the bright light surrounding me as my hand rubbed the throbbing in my head. My eyes eased open, and I struggled to focus through my drunken, foggy hangover. My gaze shifted to Cam in the front seat of her car, twisted around to the back seat, staring at me.

"What the fuck, Cam?" My gaze flashed around the car as I searched my memories from the night before. "Why am I in the back seat of your car?"

"Because you passed out there, and you're too big for me to carry," her mouth twisted with annoyance, "and since Owen wasn't available, I left you in my car to sleep it off."

I sank back into the seat and ran my hand down my face. "What time is it?"

---