Page 13 of Good at Being Bad (Rock Canyon, Idaho 8)

Part of Ellie just wanted to accidentally knock him off his stool, but that would draw too much attention and make her look crazy. He wasn’t actually saying this to her, but she could have sworn his voice got louder as she came up.

If that was the case, the least she could do was ruin his night.

Touching his arm casually, she waited for him to look her way. Before he could say anything, she widened her eyes and cried, “Mike!”

Mike jumped and rubbed his ear, as if her squeal had hurt him.

Good.

“I have been calling you for weeks! Did you ever get that thing on your, you know, checked out? I know you said its normal, but I looked it up online and it looks just like this picture of genital warts.”

Mike opened his mouth, looking as if he was ready to blast her, but blondie interrupted them. “Um, you know, I have to get back to my friends.”

Blondie took off as fast as her ballet flats could carry her. Drew, who was sitting two stools over, hunched over, guffawing. She grinned as him, until she caught Mike’s murderous expression.

“Hey, I was just saving her from disappointment.”

“You think that’s funny? Do you how fast shit like that spreads around here? What in the hell is the matter with you?”

“What is the matter with you?” Ellie couldn’t keep quiet. She ignored the Looky Lous watching them. “Why are you slut-shaming women? Are you trying to make up for something by putting us down?”

Her glance shot down to his crotch, so there would be no mistaking her meaning and was satisfied when his face flushed.

“I’m not slut-shaming anyone; I was privately voicing my opinion.” Mike shook his head, and Ellie noticed that the music had died and everyone was now tuned into their debate. So much for not causing a scene.

“You’re the one eavesdropping,” he said.

“Oh, don’t act innocent. Your voice got louder the moment I walked up.”

“Despite what you may think of me, I wasn’t talking about you or any other woman in this bar. And I didn’t deserve to be humiliated.” Mike stood up and placed several bills on the bar. “Thanks for making me regret coming out tonight. Here I was just trying to keep a low profile and have a little fun, but you managed to rain your drama all over me. Since you probably cost me the few clients I had left, you might as well swing by and get your computer in the morning. I don’t need your money.” He pushed past her, his words sinking into her stomach and weighing it down.

She’d attacked his reputation and made a scene in front of potential clients.

The crowd started murmuring and she glanced toward Drew, who wasn’t laughing anymore.

As he walked by, he paused. “A word of advice. I don’t know what is going on with you and Mike, but he’s well liked and admired around here. Don’t you think there is a reason for that?”

Maybe it was because he’s an incredible actor?

Drew walked away and Ellie caught Dale’s gaze from his position by the door, but he looked as pissed off as everyone else in the room.

You know it’s bad when even people who like you are mad at you.

Chapter Five

Mike dropped Drew off at Gemma’s house thirty minutes later, and was relieved when Drew didn’t try to lighten the mood. He was so thoroughly pissed off, and he wanted to hit something.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t hit Ellie or Drew, so he would just have to use his punching bag.

Mike walked through the door of his home alone, an all-too-common occurrence lately. He had started to think Stacy Wittier was interested tonight when she’d been talking his ear off about what was going on at Idaho Fish and Game where she worked. She was cute as hell, smart, and sweet, and he had been looking forward to exploring the prospect of them together.

Then Ellie had dropped that STD bomb, triggering Stacy to run off before he could say a word. But that wasn’t even as bad as being called a slut-shaming sexist in the middle of Buck’s.

His jaw clenched as he remembered her standing at the bar with her little chin jutted out, accusing him of targeting her. He hadn’t even known she was there at first and he certainly hadn’t been trying to insult her…again. He’d been using one of the techniques in Drew’s book; compliment a woman on her individuality. Stacy was a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of girl—cute, but not into girly things like makeup and dressing sexy. And it had worked, at least, until Ellie had butted in.

The only thing she had going for her right now was that Gracie seemed to like her. It made him wonder if there was something good about her he’d missed.

Mike dropped his shirt on the floor as he prepared to take a shower, his mind flashing back to the way her eyes had sparked as she’d yelled at him, her hair swinging with every angry gesture. If he hadn’t been so pissed, he might have been distracted. Instead, he’d fought back and it had drained him, making him wish he could just crawl into bed and sleep off this day. But there was no way he was going to bed with the smell of stale smoke and beer all over him, no matter how tired he was.

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