I watched them dance and saw two desperate women, nothing like Emily at all. She would never do something like this.
“Does Emily party?” I asked Ryan.
“It’s not her scene,” Ryan said. “She works too hard.”
“She should get out and let loose,” I said.
Ryan snorted. “Yeah, right. And have guys ogle her like this?”
I laughed. “We’re ogling them and they’re probably someone’s sisters too.”
Ryan shrugged. “But not my sister, so not my problem.” He laughed and picked up a beer he’d been drinking. I sipped my whiskey.
“How’s your place coming along?” Ryan asked. “Emily’s good, right?”
“She’s great,” I said. In every aspect, but I wasn’t going to add anything about that. Not yet.
“I just wish she would see her talent and realize what she’s capable of,” Ryan said. “She is so humble that she sells herself short sometimes.”
“I noticed that,” I said.
“Which is why she has to be so damn careful whom she dates. She always ends up with the assholes because she’s too nice.”
“Maybe she needs someone worth it then,” I said. She was nice; Ryan was right.
“Right?” Ryan agreed. “Not someone like us though.”
I laughed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Come on, man. There’s no fucking way I would ever let my sister near anyone like you and me. She’s better than that.”
“So, you think I wouldn’t be good enough for your sister?” I asked. I was offended at how Ryan had said it.
“Are you kidding me?” Ryan said with a laugh. “I know where you’ve been. I know how you run your show. You like to hit-and-run, and that’s all good. I mean, I do it too. But no fucking way Emily gets something like that.”
“I’m not always like that,” I said darkly. My good mood had gone. I was pissed off now.
“No, you’re not. But damn, your ex fucked you up ugly, man. And Emily ... Hell, she’s too good for the likes of someone like you. She’s too good for this world, period.”
I wanted to punch Ryan in the face for saying that. What the fuck did he know about who I was with women? Yeah, sure, so he knew my modus operandi. He knew I didn’t date the girls I slept with. But it wasn’t like I slept with everyone all the time. It was just now and then.
And I wasn’t going to date someone who didn’t want anything but sex and money. That wasn’t fair.
“Bringing Brooke into this was a low blow,” I growled at Ryan, grabbing his shirt.
“Hey, easy,” Ryan said, holding up his hands. “You were the dick who asked. I mean, it’s just fucking hypothetical anyway.”
I wanted to tell him it wasn’t. It was real. This was about Emily, and Iwasgood enough for her.
But Ryan was in a weird mood with the alcohol he’d put in his system. When he got like this he itched for a fight, and if I broke it to him that I wanted Emily, I would be the one to lose teeth tonight.
“You’re right,” I said, letting Ryan go. “Sorry. It’s been a shit week at work.”
“I know how that goes, bro,” Ryan said and clapped me on the back. He turned to the bar and ordered more tequila. “Which is why we drink on a Wednesday. So, the rest of the week can be semi bearable too.”
The tequila arrived and I eyed it. I didn’t want to get shitfaced tonight. But I was pissed off with Ryan after what he’d said. And I was in trouble if Ryan didn’t think I was good enough to date his sister.
His words had an edge to them because he was drunk, but that didn’t mean he didn’t think it when he was sober. Alcohol only lowered our inhibitions; it didn’t change our minds and our morals.