“I don’t understand you. Why would you want to waste your time with me because it’s clear that you plan on adding yourself to Miss Black Halter Top’s list of suspects for her next pregnancy scare? Is collecting your debt really that important to you?”
Miss Black Halter Top? Oh, she was talking about my brother’s girlfriend, Gabbi. I opened my mouth to explain, but didn’t get the opportunity because the two deliriously happy couples returned to our table from the dance floor.
Jessie looked at Payton and then gave me what I recognized as a warning. “What’s going on here?”
“Absolutely nothing is going on here,” Payton quickly answered as she watched my eyes for a reaction. She lifted her drink and gave her straw another big suck and I noticed she was over half finished with it. She was definitely drinking to forget something or somebody and I wanted to know which.
Jessie leaned over to say something to his girlfriend and I took the opportunity to straighten Payton out about Gabbi. “Funny, I sort of thought something was going on here and I don’t mean with my brother’s girlfriend, the girl wearing the black halter top.”
I watched her eyes and waited for her reaction, but again we were interrupted when Dane Wickam walked up and sat at our table. “Hey, Hawke, I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the race. Nice job blowing the doors off of my Porsche. Congratulations.”
I didn’t recall ever being congratulated by an opponent before. “Thanks, Wickam, but you had me for a minute.”
I turned back to Payton and watched her look in every direction, except for mine, causing her long blonde hair to dance across her shoulders and upper back. I wanted to reach out to touch it just to see if it was as soft as it looked and wondered if she would be surprised if I did.
“Dane, I feel like dancing,” Payton said as she reached for his hand with one of hers and used the other to bring her drink to her glossy lips so she could finish it off.
“Break Your Heart” by Taio Cruz and Ludacris was playing and I was glad because I didn’t want Dane holding her close during a slow song. I watched them walk toward the dance floor and Jessie leaned toward me with a warning. “Don’t look at her like that. She’s not your kind of girl.”
Who was this guy? He couldn’t be the Jessie Boone I knew. “Not my kind of girl, Boone? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Payton doesn’t do one night stands like the chicks you’re used to. She’s a different kind of caliber.”
“Who says I’m looking for a one night stand?”
Jessie laughed at me. “We’ve been friends for a long time and I know you, Hawke. You’re always looking for a piece but she’s not gonna be it.”
Things were becoming more and more suspicious of Jessie being the one Payton was trying to forget with the liquor. “Why are you being so protective of her?”
“Payton has been Claire’s best friend forever.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Now, she has become one of my best friends and I protect her from guys like you. She’s nursing a wound and she doesn’t need a Playah like you to add fuel to the fire.”
I watched her dancing with Dane. “I can see that she’s different. I knew it the second she got out of her fancy car and strutted toward me in the middle of the road where she plowed into my car.” I turned back to Jessie. “I want to ask her out on a real date. What’s it gonna take for you to be okay with that since you seem to be her acting bodyguard?”
He shook his head in disapproval. “There’s nothin’ that would make me be okay with that.”
The arrogant bastard acted as though he was so much different from me. Before this Claire chick came along, I distinctly remember that he was just like me. “Come on, Boone. I promise I won’t try anything with her.”
He shook his head again. “No way. I don’t trust you with her.”
He was being such a pain in the ass. “She’s a big girl and you’re not her daddy. She can make up her own mind about going out with me.”
He sat back and crossed his arms. “I’ve already warned her about you so she’ll never agree.”
Hearing that he had c**k blocked me wasn’t news. “Yeah, I gathered that from the way she questions my every move.”
He looked pleased with himself. “Good. That means she listened to me.”
I didn’t need his permission. “I don’t care what you think or what you told her. I’m asking her out.”
“She’s had two Long Islands in under an hour. She doesn’t handle liquor well and she’s going to be trashed any minute so I’m giving you the courtesy of a warning. You and I are friends, but we won’t be for long if you take advantage of her. You got it?”
I held my palms up innocently. “I’ve got it, man. I give you my word that I won’t take advantage of her. I will not try to get into her panties tonight.” Tonight was the only promise I would make regarding that.
I looked up and saw Claire sitting down at our table. “You’ll have me to answer to if you do. Then, I’ll turn you over to this one and I promise she’ll make it very painful for you.”
I heard a slow song beginning to play and I killed the rest of my beer before I was on my feet stalking toward Payton and Dane. “I’m cutting in.”
Dane shrugged and looked at Payton for her permission, letting me know they were definitely only friends.
She’ll rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Sure. Why not?”
Dane let go of Payton and I stepped closer to take her in my arms. She looped her arms loosely around my neck as I placed my hands on her hips and we began to sway to the beat of the music. She peered up into my eyes and with one look I could tell the alcohol was beginning to hit her pretty hard because she had that drunken glaze coming over her eyes.
She leaned back a little so she could focus on my face better. “You know what? You’re twice as hot when I’m seeing double.”
I’d be thrilled to hear that if she wasn’t trashed or if I hadn’t promised Jessie I wouldn’t get into her panties tonight. “Drinks kicking in, huh?”
“I believe they are and it’s ‘bout time. I have things I need to forget.”
Jessie said that she was nursing a wound and I wondered what idiot could have been stupid enough to hurt this beautiful girl.
She tightened her grip around my neck a little more and hung on tighter although I suspected it was more for support than flirtation. “I love this song.”