Page 120 of The Single Dads Club
I nodded, reluctantly. Kenzie’s and Tyson’s faces were both filled with surprise at my revelation. “What? It’s not like I’m proud of it. Believe me, I don’t want to be this way anymore.”
MacKenzie took my hand. “Babe, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. But if you do want to lose your virginity—it’s not that difficult to do.”
I grabbed my beer away from Ty and took a fortifying sip. “I’m not like you though, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I just don’t think I’m a one-night-stand kind of girl.”
“Well, don’t come crying to me when you find yourself old and living alone with a bunch of cats.”
I took another pull from my bottle, not about to tell her I’d been thinking about getting a cat lately.
“Leave her alone, Kenzie,” Tyson said, removing the beer from my grasp yet again. He leaned over to me. “If you want me to help you, just let me know.”
MacKenzie swatted Tyson’s hand away. “Absolutely not Ty. I get to help pick out a guy for Alexa. Sort of like a birthday present. To be used however she wishes” She smiled, mischievously.
I rolled my eyes, blowing off their suggestions. I had absolutely no intentionsof pickingout a random guy to lose my virginity to on my twenty-first birthday. And I sure as hell wasn’t sleeping with Tyson.Gah!Could you imagine? He’s like a brother to me.
“Oh my God! Alexa, look.” MacKenzie shrieked and pointed across the bar. “Isn’t that the guy from the website?”
Chapter 3
Cade
I sat at the bar nursing a beer, lost in my thoughts.
“You want a nipple on that bottle, man? Stop being a little bitch and drink up,” Ian said, knocking back his own beer in a few swallows.
I shot him a warning look. “Don’t fuck with me tonight, I’m not in the mood.” I’d been hell-bent on getting drunk tonight, needing a few hours’ peace from the worry that constantly followed me around, but somehow I was failing even at that. “Lily’s latest surgery bill came.”
“Sorry, man.” Ian tipped his beer, clinking the bottle against mine. “Let me know what I can do to help.”
I nodded. I’d never ask him for help, and we both knew it, but still, just that he offered meant a lot. Ian and I had been friends since the eighth grade when I moved to the area to live with my grandparents. He knew all about my sister Lily, and the condition that left her poor little spine and legs tangled and twisted. After my parents’ three-strikes-you’re-out meth bust that landed them both in prison when she was three, and my grandparents each passing within a year after that, I’d gotten sole custody of her and became the care-giver to a four-year-old.
She was six now and a sassy little thing that didn’t know the meaning of the word disabled. It was one of the many things I loved about her. But her care wasn’t cheap, which left me constantly worrying about money and how I’d be able to provide the support she needed and deserved.
Ian, a lifelong martial-arts enthusiast, had introduced me to cage fighting a couple of years ago. It was a perfect fit. The opportunity to earn fast money and take out my pent-up aggression all at once. But it wasn’t enough to cover the bills. And then my latest dumbass venture came along. Rick had approached both Ian and I about starring in his adult movie productions, but I was the only one hard up enough for cash to consider it. Or the only one dumb enough, take your pick. Ian knew I was working for Rick, but didn’t want any of the details, so of course I hadn’t mentioned my late-night visit to the ER. Plus I was pretty sure if I did, he’d hold it over my head for years to come and I wanted nothing more than to forget all about last night. After getting the bill for Lily’s latest surgery, I realized it wasn’t just a well-paying job I needed, I needed a job that came with health insurance, too. But if I could stick it out and film even a couple of movies, I’d have more than enough to pay the current bill and then I could focus on cleaning up my act and getting a real job, for Lily’s sake.
Realizing I was lost in my thoughts again, Ian cleared his throat. “Stop stressing, bro, it’ll work out. We haven’t been out in God knows how long, and since you have a babysitter for Lil tonight, we need to make good use of this time and you need to let off some steam.”
“Yeah? And how do we do that?” To be honest hitting the gym for a late workout session, followed by a hot shower and crashing into bed sounded like a perfectly good use of my time. I didn’t even think I was capable of catching a buzz at the moment. I was too high-strung, too stressed out.
“For starters, we need to make getting some pussy priority number one.”
I shook my head, not about to explain to him that I’d be getting plenty of that on set later this week. I’d let Rick schedule another shoot for me. And with that bill hanging over my head, I sure as shit needed to perform this time.
Ian tipped his head toward a booth across the room. “And I think you’re in luck, bro. Those girls over there are staring at you.”
I turned from the bar, drawing my beer up to my lips as I scanned the room. With a jolt of surprise, I spotted the pretty little nurse from the other night, seated in a booth with a couple of friends and her eyes were locked on me.
What the hell?
The other woman at the table waved me over.
“Do you know them?” he asked.
“Yeah. Sorta.” I threw a few bills on the counter and told Ian I’d be back in a bit. I strolled over to where they sat, my attention locked firmly on Alexa’s.
“Hey there,” Alexa’s friend greeted when I reached their booth, “Saw your website. That shit was hot.”
My eyes flew back to Alexa’s. She’d told her friends about what I did? And what… Googled me? “Alexa?”
