Ivy grinned teasingly. “Oh, I signed you up for Tinder for your birthday.” She giggled, and if I didn’t love Ivy so much, I probably would have been pissed. “But,” she started, “no worries, I’ll cancel it! I see that you have your dating life all figured out.”
I looked over at Fallon just in time to see her face turn another adorable shade of red. Her eyes were the size of the sun. She started to stutter, “No…um, it’s not…”
Ivy looked confused and a little flustered while Dawson silently laughed beside me. “Let’s go get them drinks,” he said, pecking Ivy on the mouth.
She smiled warmly, and then I looked over at Fallon. “What do you want to drink?”
Fallon’s eyes were still wide, the bar lights shining on top of her cheekbones. “Something strong.”
I laughed and turned around on my heels, trailing after Dawson.
As soon as we were out of earshot, Dawson said, “Okay, so who the hell is that, and where did you meet her? She’s definitely not from around here.”
I chuckled. “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” he urged, signaling for Guy, the bartender.
“She came into the shop to get her belly button pierced and…”
How the fuck could I explain this without sounding like Fallon already had my balls wrapped around her pretty little finger? Because she did. I was totally captivated by her, and I had literally just met her. This had never happened before. I’d never been so engrossed with someone after just meeting them. It must just be some strong attraction. Yes, that was it.
“And?” he said, wafting his hand out for me to continue.
“And I don’t know. I just wasn’t quite ready to let her go yet.” I turned and asked Guy for some shots. Fallon said she wanted something strong, and strong was what she’d get.
Dawson clucked his tongue, glancing over at me.
“What?” I questioned, ignoring the way he was analyzing me.
“Nothing.” He turned his head back to the bar, ready to pay Guy. “It’s just strange. She came in for a piercing, and you swept her off her feet, and she came here with you? Willingly? Something’s not adding up.”
“Why isn’t that adding up? I asked her out for drinks, and she said yeah. I know that’s probably foreign to you because, before Ivy, you had zero fucking game…”
He glared at me. “I didn’t need game; women just flocked to me.”
A loud laugh escaped my mouth. “You’re full of shit. You’ve only ever had one girl in your life.”
He shot back, snatching up his beer. “That’s bullshit. I dated Breanna.”
“And you were in love with Ivy the entire time, bro. Face it. You have no game.”
His mouth went into a straight line. “When you’re in love one day, you’ll understand that no one else really matters. Oh, except you’ll never fall in love because… what was it you were saying a few months ago after guzzling down several bottles of Fireball?” Dawson cupped his ear, angling his head toward me. “Oh, yeah... that’s it. You said, ‘I’m never falling in love. I’ll bury myself in pussy and call myself Hugh Heffner.’”
I started to laugh. “Did I really say that?”
Dawson gave me a look, and I laughed even harder. “Damn, I’m kind of upset I don’t remember that.”
“Come on, let’s go take these over to them.”
I nodded, putting my attention back over to Fallon and Ivy. Fallon’s head was thrown back, laughing at something Ivy had said. Ivy laughed along with her, and then Becca had started to walk over. I watched Fallon pull into herself, and she suddenly appeared apprehensive. Her gaze fell to her cl
othes, then back to Becca, and over to Ivy. Her shoulders slumped while she bit her bottom lip. It was perplexing. For someone as gracefully beautiful yet sexy at the same time as her, Fallon should be someone that had the confidence of a goddamn supermodel, yet she was timid.
I studied her a bit longer, allowing my thoughts to go haywire. I was certain that someone had once told her she wasn’t good enough, that she was damaged goods. And for some godly reason, that pissed me off more than I could even admit.
???
Just as the shots began to set in, things started to get interesting. My thoughts were focused on Fallon and nothing else. The way she laughed, the way she smiled, the way her hand would playfully slap my arm when I’d make a joke. My eyes followed the way she’d throw her head back to take a shot and then she’d take a nearby napkin to wipe her mouth. It was kind of cute.