I just need some more time to think.
* * *
Every Thursday night,the owners of the Salacious Players’ Club meet up at the bar for a little downtime, no business allowed. I always tag along, because…of course I do.
Tonight, I’m sitting between Hunter and Isabel at the table, staring at my beer with too many thoughts in my head. Everyone around me is laughing and smiling, and I hate that I’m not myself.
Across from me, I can feel Garrett’s fiancée, Mia, staring at me in concern. After she and I got over the awkwardness of finding out Garrett used my name to catfish her on her cam girl app, thus making our first encounter a little…tense, we’ve actually become pretty good friends. Mostly because she’s become the resident crazy-idea girl at the club. Which means I’m the first person she comes to when she has an idea she needs brought to life.
Drake, can we put a hot tub in the VIP room?
Drake, can you make one of the rooms look like an outdoor hiking trail?
Drake, can you build me rafters to hang from so I can masturbate in midair?
She’s fucking crazy, but I like her. Except for right now, because she looks like she’s reading my mind, and I don’t like that.
Normally, I’d be at the bar, lingering around any single females who look like they need company, but, of course, I can’t do that tonight. And I can’t tell anyone why.
“Everything all right, Drake?” Garrett asks from across the table. His arm is draped around Mia’s shoulders as she sips on her fruity red drink. “You’re not usually sitting with us for this long.” He smiles as he makes a joke, and I shrug it off with a forced laugh.
But what the fuck do I say? I may or may not be exclusively fucking my best friend and his wife. Although notreallyexclusive because we’re just not talking about it.
Yeah…that response just rolls off the tongue.
“Guess I’m just not in the mood tonight,” I reply, which makes not only him laugh but the others around us. Everyone except for Maggie, who’s too engrossed in her phone to care.
Well, her and the couple sitting next to me, who are starting to look a bit too uncomfortable to join in the fun.
“Drake not in the mood?” Garrett laughs. “I call bullshit. My guess is you’re seeing someone.”
“A little birdie told mesomeonehad a date with Geo last week,” Charlie chimes in from the end of the table. She’s wearing a cheeky smile as she leans on her elbows.
“Oooh,” Mia replies.
Dammit. Now they’re all looking at me.
“It was one date,” I reply.
“Uh-huh…” Garrett adds.
I catch Hunter in my periphery and he’s squeezing his glass so hard in his hand, it looks like he might shatter it.
“You two are being awfully quiet. What do you know?” Garrett asks, and Isabel replies with a shy smile and a shoulder shrug.
“We don’t know anything,” she says, and suddenly, I realize just how awkward all of this is, and everyone can tell. We might as well be wearing giantsomething is upsigns.
Now everyone is staring, but with crooked brows and scrutinizing eyes. There’s a part of me that wants to just blurt out this confession inside me, but I can’t.
Honestly, why are we even keeping this secret? This is literally a group of people who have some of the kinkiest lives. Garrett’s fucking his stepsister. Emerson is in a very serious relationship with his son’s ex-girlfriend. Not one of them would even bat an eye if we told them we’re having dirty threesomes every night. Fuck, they probably assume we’ve been doing that this whole time. So why do I suddenly feel like a dirty secret? When the conversation finally changes and the squinting eyes shift away from me, I glance sideways at Hunter to find him watching me. I clench my jaw before I toss back the rest of my drink.
I suddenly need to be away from here. So I don’t make an announcement as I set down my glass and rise from the table. Isabel watches me, though, with a look that cracks my tough exterior.
“I’m just going to the bathroom,” I say gently as she smiles at me.
Seriously, if anyone was paying attention and saw the way she was just staring at me, the cat would be way the fuck out of that bag. But they’re not and I’m still irritable, so I march with a scowl toward the restroom at the back of the bar.
The entire time I’m fuming…about what, I don’t even know. Silla’s words got into my head. Not to mention, Hunter and I fucked, likereally fucked—twice—three days ago, but we’re just not talking about it. So yeah…I might be a little irritable now.