“I’m going home. Fat Louise, go get the wheelchairs; it’ll help Stud and Calder load the brothers into the van.”
Crazy Bitch went to help, leaving her alone with Sex Piston.
“I’m going home. Tell Dalton he can stay at the club; or put him up at your house.”
“Why? I thought he’s staying with you.”
“No anymore. I’m done with him. Didn’t Fat Louise tell you what started the fight? I caught him about to kiss Ginger. When I kicked her ass, she took off running to complain to Stud and Rooster.”
“You’re done with him just because he was about to kiss Ginger? Bear fucked around on you all the time, and you never threw him out.”
“It’s different this time.”
“How?”
“Because I like him, a lot, and I didn’t Bear.”
“That makes no sense.” Sex Piston gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “He could have a hundred sluts like Ginger and wouldn’t have to fly four fucking hours…” Her friend’s eyes narrowed on her. “Did you fuck him when he showed?”
“Kind of,” T.A. admitted.
“What the fuck does ‘kind of’ mean? You did or you didn’t.”
“We fooled around, okay? But technically, we didn’t fuck.”
“Blow jobs count.”
“No, they don’t,” T.A countered. “Technically. What does it matter anyway? It still doesn’t change the fact he would have kissed Ginger if he hadn’t seen me. He even said he was going to.”
Sex Piston rolled her eyes at her. “I don’t think he would have, but even if he did, I could understand why.”
T.A. folded her arms over her chest. “Then tell me, because I sure can’t,” she snapped.
“He told me that when he was at Ma’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, he wasn’t ready to move past Oceane. You must have showed Dalton he was. That must be hard for a man like him to admit.”
Her mind went back to the silent car ride to the club. In fact, he hadn’t said two words to her after they had gotten out of the shower.
“Okay, I’ll wait for him.”
“Woman, get your ass out of here and go home.”
T.A. looked at her in confusion. “But you just said—”
“Did you hear ‘don’t make him pay for thinking about kissing Ginger’ coming out of my mouth? Make the bastard pay, at least enough until you get past the technical part and get to the good stuff. Once you do, you’ll have him like that.” Sex Piston snapped her fingers in front of her face.
“You think so?”
“I know so. There is one place you can beat Oceane, and you need to get him there.”
“You mean the bedroom?”
Sex Piston gave her a caustic expression as if she were explaining two plus two to a small child.
“Fuck no. That high-class piece of tail wouldn’t fuck anywhere but the bed. Give him something he’s never had before.”
T.A. stared back at her skeptically. “Like what?”
Her friend reached out, wiping away a large snowflake that had landed on her cheek with gentle fingertips.
“You. Show him you. That’s all he needs. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whispered.
“Then I would be finding out before it’s too late.”
“What if it is?”
“T.A., I’ve known you long enough to know one thing: when you love someone, you’d sacrifice anything for them. Anything. I think for the first time in your life, you should put yourself first.”
“I’ll try,” T.A. agreed, knowing deep down that she didn’t know if she could. “Do me a favor. If I swipe his car and leave, can you make sure he ends up back at my place tonight?”
“Bitch, you know me better than to ask me that question. Haven’t I always had your back?”
26
Waking up to a grumbling stomach, T.A. dragged her aching body out of bed. Promising herself that it was the last time she drank tequila as she shuffled to the bathroom.
“Fuck, what are you doing here?” Bracing herself on the wall, she sullenly looked at Dalton as he sat comfortably on the couch flipping through a magazine.
The bastard didn’t look toward her. “Go use the bathroom. We’ll talk when you come out.”
If her bladder weren’t ready to explode, she would have stayed there to argue with him. Deciding it would be easier to argue with Dalton with an empty bladder, she continued into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
After relieving her abused bladder, she washed her face and brushed her teeth, trying to put off going back and throwing his sexy ass out.
“Why does he get to be so damn, sexy?” she mumbled to herself in the mirror. “Be strong, T.A. Be strong. You can do this.”
Brushing her hair, she fluffed it before deciding she looked good enough to face him. She wanted the bastard to know what he had lost the chance of having.
Perking herself up, she opened the door. Walking more gracefully, she went into the kitchen, where she poured herself a glass of juice and drank it before refilling the glass with the ice-cold tangy goodness and putting the container back in the fridge.