Page 204 of Love Me in the Dark
Or someone, rather.
Baron’s attention had been caught by one of Sugar Babes’ waitresses, a fun-sized blonde with pink-tipped hair. I met Ezra’s eyes across the table and tipped my chin at her with a wry grin. “So, it’s bros before hoes, right, Baron?” Ezra’s gaze found the girl and sharpened, growing intent.
Ah.This must be the one.
“Hmm?” His beer sloshed over the rim of the glass as he turned back to us with a start.
“Dicks before chicks. Let’s make a pact.”
“What kind of pact?”
He was still sober enough that the question emerged with all suspicion. I didn’t blame him. I was far chattier than usual. Alcohol always loosened me up a little.
I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.
“Relax. I’m not suggesting that we don’t fuck when the need arises. I’m just saying we keep our eyes on the goal this year. Avoid the R word.”
“And the R word is?” Ezra asked, leaning forward in his chair.
I huffed a laugh. Ezra was probably the most intelligent of the three of us, but his genius lay more in math and statistics than linguistics. “Relationships, dude.”
“Ah, yes.” Baron nodded. “Okay, that’s cool. I can do that. If I had to give up fucking, that would be a total no-go, but relationships? Sure.”
“Ez?” I swung my gaze to him. “You in?”
He shrugged, still staring at the waitress. “I mean, I’m definitely going to be fucking. But that’s kind of been my life for the past three years anyway. Don’t see why anything needs to change now.”
“So, what are we gonna do if Chandler sends us a roommate?” Baron asked.
I squinted. “That has nothing to do with this. Unless he wants in, of course, and then he’s welcome.”
“We could always be dicks?” Ezra offered. “Try to make his life so miserable he just leaves?”
Baron raised an eyebrow. “The idea has merit…”
“I’m always a dick,” I said.
“This is true,” Ezra said. “You carry on as usual.”
My gaze drifted back to the pink-haired pixie. She leaned over a nearby table, collecting empties and replacing them with new bottles of brew. One of the guys sitting at the table leaned back in his chair to blatantly check her ass out, stretching his hand out to slide it as close to her skin in its tiny plaid skirt as he could get without actually touching her.
Asshole.
Something about his smug, entitled leer and his greedy hand hovering near the girl’s pretty stretch of barely visible cheek and thigh made me want to smash his face in. In my lap, my fist clenched on air.
“You cool?”
I looked over at Ezra’s question, relaxing my hand. His eyes were too knowing.
Get it together, Gale.
“I’m fine.” I was done with fighting with my fists. I used my words now. Raised in the foster care system, I’d been a scrapper until I met Baron, and his family took me in. It had taken a while until I’d relaxed enough to trust I could be done with that and settled into pursuing academics and sports.
I shook my head and stood, tossing a few bills onto the table. I wasn’t going to blow it now with a fight over some chick I didn’t even know.
“I’m gonna head back, guys.” They protested, and I raised a hand, stopping them. “Nah, I have a paper to write. Stay, enjoy yourselves. I’ll see you later.”
With a wave, I headed out.
