Page 91 of The Bad Girl List

“What?”

“I said your next drink is on me,” he says. “Can I talk you into singing a song with me?”

“I need at least one drink in me before I sing anything,” I say. “I’ve never done karaoke before. I’m pretty sure alcohol is required, right?”

His grin is broad. “Hell, yeah, it’s required. You’ve really never done karaoke?”

“I have a horrible voice,” I say.

“You kind of do.” Annika grins to show she’s teasing, grabbing her Mojito from Minnie.

“Kevin.” Thomas bumps up against me, hard enough to push me a few steps to the side.

“Hey.” I frown at him as Cosmopolitan slops all over my hand, but Thomas is too busy talking to Kevin to notice.

“Dude,” Thomas says, “remember our trip to Tijuana with Trevor?”

“Fuck, yeah, dude,” Kevin says. “That was epic. I’ve never gotten that sick in my life. And that fucking dog!”

“What dog?” I ask. “Are you talking about Tequila?”

“Yep,” Kevin says. “Trevor rescued a half-dead dog from the side of road in Tijuana on our trip. I thought all our asses were going to get thrown into prison for trying to smuggle her over the border.”

“Minnie, round of tequila shots,” Thomas calls, never taking his eyes from Kevin. There’s something brittle in his expression. “Kevin and I need to relive our road trip to Mexico.”

“No tequila,” Kevin says. “That stuff is poison–”

“Don’t be a pussy,” Thomas says. “I’ll pay for your Uber. Dom, you having shots with us?”

“You buy it, I’ll drink it,” I say.

Thomas gives Kevin a look, as though daring him to miss out on the fun.

“Fine, okay,” Kevin says. “I’ll drink shots with you guys. Dom, you owe me a song for this.”

* * *

Two hours later, I belt out the last few lines of Love Shack on the karaoke stage. Kevin sings beside me, leaning into the microphone. He’s been buzzing around me like a fly all night.

At the bar, Thomas and Annika raise a toast to us before throwing back shots. Minnie has been keeping the drinks flowing for us.

This is my third song of the night. Thomas just might be the one person on the planet who sings worse than I do, but that didn’t stop him. He and Annika kept telling me that as long as I drank enough, I wouldn’t be embarrassed. Turns out, she was right.

When the song ends, Kevin puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. I can smell the tequila on his breath when he says, “Anyone ever tell you that you’re fucking gorgeous?”

I’m not drunk enough to be okay with him hanging on me. I extricate myself from his arm. “Fun song,” I say. “I’m getting another drink.”

If I was in a different mindset, Kevin would be a shoo-in for number ten on the Bad Girl List. He’s not a bad guy, per se. But I’m still recovering from last night’s disastrous date with Trevor. I’m not in the mood to swap spit, phone numbers, bodily fluids, or anything else with a guy tonight.

“Minnie, get us another round,” Thomas calls as I rejoin him and Annika at the bar–with Kevin on my heels.

“No more tequila for me, man,” Kevin says. “I’m going to switch to wine.”

“Screw that.” Thomas holds out a shot glass to him. “These gorgeous ladies need us to show them a good time. Are you really going to back out now?”

If I was sober, I might suspect that Thomas is trying to make Kevin sick so I won’t go home with him. But that’s stupid. Thomas doesn’t care who I go home with. He hasn’t said one word about Trevor the whole time we’ve been hanging out.

“Who’s up for a body shot?” Annika asks.

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