Page 60 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

“But you can lick me for free,” Blondie, the middle of the three, told Jack.

He gave her a dispassionate once-over, no doubt gauging how drunk she was and if he needed to cut her off. “This is a solicitation-free bar. You want to pick up a john, go somewhere else.”

I could almost smell her last brain cell frying as she looked up at him with her brows scrunched together. “A what?”

“A john,” I repeated for him as I took the open spot beside the trio.

Blondie’s frown deepened, and I had to remind myself that this girl and her friends were not my enemies. Even if she did remind me a little of Berkeley.

“He’s calling you a whore,” I explained, not sure how I would or even could dumb it down any more than that if she didn’t understand.

“OMG!” her friend to the right exclaimed. “You totally are, Phoebe.”

“She is,” agreed the friend to Blondie’s—Phoebe’s—left. “She sucked one of the pool shark’s dicks last weekend. That’s why she bitched and moaned all night about wanting to come here again. But he’s not here yet. I don’t blame you, though, Phoebe. I would definitely shoot my shot with tall, wide, and delicious here.”

I knew she wasn’t talking about Elias. I fucking knew it. If Blondie had hooked up with anyone, it was Chance or even Reid. My gut told me that, and I trusted my gut. Just like I trusted that Elias wouldn’t have let any of these three near his dick.

But that didn’t stop the jealousy starting to chafe at the inside of my mind. First Berkeley. Now Blondie and her friends.

Don’t show your crazy.

While the trio continued to gush and made plans to give “Mr. Pool Shark” a taste of each of them, I kept up the chant in my head.

“That will be so much fun!” Blondie squealed. “If he comes in tonight, we’re def gonna go home with him.”

“There he is now!” the friend to her right announced, pointing toward the door.

I kept my gaze on Jack, determined not to look. If Elias was there, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. Everyone in the bar would know just how twisted I was when the three ended up with broken necks on the floor.

Ignoring the call for beers from another patron, Jack picked up a glass, adding in some vodka and diet soda before placing it in front of me without having to be asked.

“You going to be good?” he asked, leaning close to me.

I didn’t know if I liked Jack seeing the darkness I was trying to hide. Part of me wished I’d fallen for him, obsessed over each and every little detail about his day-to-day. How often he smiled. Frowned. Breathed. It wouldn’t have been so difficult with Jack. Because Jack wouldn’t have freaked out over my crazy if I were ever stupid enough to let him see all the broken parts of myself.

But Jack wasn’t who my sick mind had focused on. He didn’t make my heart happy. Or ache. Either would have been okay. I felt nothing except the urge to have him hug me and tell me I wasn’t a complete idiot for trusting that Elias hadn’t been the one to let Blondie get on her knees for him.

It had to have been Chance.

That still didn’t explain Berkeley and their daily chats at the office. Or that fucking text Friday night. He hadn’t responded, though. That counted.

Christ, I wanted it to count.

Even as I took a thirsty swallow of my vodka and diet soda, I felt Elias’s gaze on me from behind. It caused a delicious shiver to race up my spine, every nerve ending in my body on high alert. I clenched my fingers around the glass, restraining myself from searching him out.

If he was as desperate to see me as I was him, he would come to me. I had to be calm, unaffected. At least on the surface. Inside, I was a quaking mess, silently begging Daddy for just a single, joyous moment of his attention.

Blocking out everything else around me, I focused only on Jack. “I heard your girl got her jaw undone yesterday. How is she feeling?”

He scanned my face with his green eyes for another moment before seeming to shrug off whatever he was thinking. “She spoke more when she couldn’t fully open her mouth,” he said, unable to hide his concern.

Worry for his little fairy, a girl I liked and considered a friend, flooded through me, and I offered without hesitation, “I could stop by and check on her before I head home.”

“Delaney told me she was going to take Nishia out for dinner. Hopefully that cheers her up.”

“Who is that?” Blondie practically purring caught my attention again. “Oh, yum!”

Curious, I turned so I was half facing the door and found Max Reid holding the door open for his lovely little treasure and Nishia. Both women were holding hands like they’d been lifelong besties, which was fucking adorable.

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