Page 184 of Charlie

I snort. "Bethany, all three of them are going home with me. Go find someone else to stab in the back."

"I didn't?—"

"Shoo." Cam waves her away like the nuisance she is.

Lach and Cam crowd around me, pushing me and Jack into the pool table, hard bodies plastered to mine. Lach tips my chin toward him, caressing my cheek. "I can't wait to fucking destroy you tonight."

Bethany makes a loud sound of disgust, stamping her foot. "Charlie, you're?—"

I stick my arm out from between their bodies, flipping her the bird until she stalks away.

"Can I be you when I grow up?" Cam asks, chuckling as he presses his lips to mine. "That was amazing to watch, little witch."

"I couldn't have done it without the three of you backing me up. Hopefully that's the end of it. Now what's this about a wager?" Jack repeats his terms, his cock hardening with every word out of his mouth. "And if I win, I get to do whatever I want?"

"You won't win."

I don't win.

At the end of my turn, we're down to one ball left on the table. Jack makes quick work of it, picking me up and striding out of the bar before I can process what happened.

"In a hurry for something?" I ask, clinging to his neck.

"I have a black rope dying to bite into your ankles, mo chridhe. I'm going to spread you open and make you come so hard you forget how to breathe." He sets me on my feet by the car, bending over me to fit his lips against mine.

"See! I told you!" I break away from Jack to see Bethany dragging Rob toward us, her fingers digging into his arm.

"Get your hands off my wife!" Rob looks... awful.

Cam and Lach move to block him, their hands in their pockets.

"What are you," Rob asks, "her fucking bodyguards?"

I squeeze Jack's arm as I step out from behind him, squaring my shoulders.

"What do you want, Rob?"

"Stop messing around and come home."

"Home?" I swallow a laugh, wondering how he could be so goddamn clueless.

"She's coming home with us," Jack says, standing at his full height, towering over us, a Celtic god ready to fuck someone up.

"This isn't a fucking joke," Rob says, snapping his fingers at me like a dog. "Come on, Charlie, let's go."

Lach steps forward, his finger pressing to Rob's chest. "The only joke here is you, little man. You lost the best thing that ever happened to you."

"I'm not talking to you, asshole. Let me talk to my wife." He tries to skirt around Lach, but Cam blocks him, rage simmering in his eyes. "Are you going to let them treat me like this?" Rob asks me, his eyes bulging.

The guys hover around me protectively as a crowd starts forming around us.

Rob looks between us, realization dawning. "Bethany was telling the truth, wasn't she? You're fucking all three of them. You goddamn slut. How could you do this to me?" He stops pacing directly in front of Cam, hands flexing. "I'm going to tell everyone, Charlie. You and your stretched-out cunt will never be able to step foot in this town again."

Cam moves so fast that I don't see the punch, only Rob crumpling to the ground and Cam shaking out the pain in his hand. "Get in the car. We're getting as far away from this godforsaken place as possible."

100

My heart thunders in my chest as we speed past my hometown, streetlights illuminating random snippets of a place I'd be happy never to see again.

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