Page 93 of Wingwoman
I smirked a little at that. Clearly, she wasn’t used to walking, let alone balancing a tug-of-war game in heels.Novice. Like a baby gazelle walking on wobbly legs for the first time.
Unfortunately, though I knocked her a little off balance, it wasn’t enough to make her let go of the shirt.
And now her redhead friend was gripping it, too, yanking. “You expect us to believe Josh Gabriel is here with you? Seriously, what are you, like fifty years old?”
“Fifty?!” I screeched. I was used to people thinking I was a little older than my 28 years, simply because I carried myself with a lot more maturity. Butfifty?
She smiled at my reaction. Dammit. I’d given her exactly what she wanted. She wanted to insult me, fluster me, catch me off guard so I’d let go of the shirt.
Catty bitches.
It wasn’t even about the shirt anymore. Even though I knew it wasn’t aninexpensive shirt, I was sure Josh could afford more and probably had a closet full of them.
It was about their entitlement. Like somehowtheydeserved Josh’s shirt. AndIdidn’t.
From the center of the ring, I noticed Josh had finished his ride and had stayed on the bull the whole time. He had his hands in the air victoriously and when he caught my eyes across the room, his head tilted in question.
Thank God. Not that I needed a man to save me, but it would be a lot easier with him here to smooth out this little situation I’d found myself in.
He hopped over the railing and ran through the crowd trying to get back to me.
The third friend grabbed the shirt too. Another blonde who looked eerily similar to Teal Thong Girl.
The three of them were too strong, and I felt the tiniest tear at the seam of the sleeve.
Just as Josh ran up to us, I let go abruptly, smiling as they all three went down in a pile of tangled limbs and platform, glittery heels.
“Are you okay?” he asked me first, not even caring about his shirt or the pile of coeds on the floor at our feet.
“I’m fine. But these fans tried to steal your shirt.”
Teal Thong Girl was the first on her feet, still grasping the shirt in her hands. “We weren’t stealing it! We were going to bring it to you after you finished!”
A hush had fallen over the crowd around us and there was a semi-circle gathered to watch the new, more impressive show.
Dammit. Josh and I really had a theme going every time we were out together.
Practiced in his publicity, Josh smiled and took the shirt from Teal Thong Girl. “That’s mighty kind of you, thank you,” he said, his voice dripping with a thicker Texas drawl than I ever remembered him having.
I clenched my jaw, biting down on my tongue. I hated that he was being nice to them after they were so awful to me.
But then again, I understood. We had talked about this last time. He had a reputation to uphold. And after the other night’s drama, punching out a male stripper, he had to be on his best behavior. Poor Matt couldn’t keep following us around and cleaning up the messes that I kept creating for Josh.
Turning to me, Josh said, “I was having Hope here hold my shirt for me though,” he said, his voice so sweet, it was like molasses dripping from a tree.
Teal Thong Girl gulped, panic filling her wide blue eyes. “She was smelling your shirt!” she blurted out, pointing at me.
Why that little tattletale…
“Was she now?” Triumph echoed in the quiet words of Josh’s voice as he slowly turned his cocky grin toward me.
“I wouldn’t say I wassmellingit,” I defended myself. “I was…”What the hell was I going to say to get out of this?“I was sniffing it.”
Josh’s mouth twitched with what I was growing to recognize as a suppressed grin. “Is there a difference?”
I shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t smell bad as a result of holdingyourshirt.”
This time, he didn’t fight his grin. “Are you saying I smell bad, Ms. Marcoux-Evans?”
