Page 16 of Just a Little Prick

“You left with her right before the fight,” Logan called. He was standing, cleaning his station before any clients arrived. “And neither of you came back.”

“Yeah, ’cause he was pounding her into the mattress.” Ryker sounded jealous. “I was hoping to get her home myself.”

“You’re all reading it wrong.” I shook my head. “This is stupid.”

“Okay, then who’d you go home with?” Zoe asked, putting one hand on her hip.

I huffed. “Some girl. I dunno. She was outside the bar with her friends. I got Lora in a car to go home and started talking with this chick. She was hot.”

“Some random hot girl outside the bar.” Benny looked skeptical, but he shrugged.

I shook my head, turning away from the counter to go to my station. “Lora’s off-limits. Kenzie said so. I’m not going to piss off my little sister.”

Ryker looked up, eyebrows raised. “Since when have you let Kenzie tell you what to do?”

“Dude, she would kick my ass. I know it, you know it. We all know it. She wants us to be friends with Lora, not sleep with her.” I shook my head. “You need to back off.”

“Fine, fine.” Ryker waved one hand. “But if you get to her first, without the rest of us getting a fair shot, it’s on.”

I shot him a challenging look. “You want to take this outside?”

“Mad you missed the fight last night?”

“No. Wish I could’ve kicked some ass, but it’s fine.”

“Eh, well, you missed a good one.” He shrugged. “Garrett got a few good punches in. I’m proud of him.”

Garrett looked up, grinning. He was bruised, one blue eye swollen partway shut.

I gave him a nod. “Good job, buddy.”

With that, I turned my attention to my station. My first appointment would be here soon, and I had to get my head clear. I had to quit thinking about Lora. But every time I closed my eyes, I could see her naked and bouncing on me, her head thrown back in pleasure. It made my dick stir to remember. I wanted her again, bad.

I had to get her off my mind.

* * * * *

The conversation turned back to the bar fight around lunchtime. I was finishing a client, listening to the other guys chat about how good they’d done, how they’d fucked up the college boys and gotten them chased out of The Republic for the weekend. We were still welcome. Of course we were—we were the regulars, and we were good to the staff. It was a harmonious relationship.

My mind was on Lora, though. I felt bad for letting her get harassed by the college guys. She was new to town, and I imagined she was looking for people to hang out with. I didn’t want to see her run off because of one good scrap.

I was brought back to the conversation when I heard her name. Ryker was leaned over the half-wall, talking to Benny. I tuned in halfway through something Benny was saying. “...Lora isn’t gonna last longer than it has with anyone else.” His voice was lowered.

“Yeah, but, you know. Maybe. She’s cute. And friendly. And funny, when she’s drunk. It could be a decent match.”

“Look,” I interrupted. I put my gun down, finished, and turned to grab the roll of clear bandage. I cut a piece to size for the client. Up front, the door chime rang. “You seriously need to quit. There’s nothing going on between me and Lora. I just helped her get out of the bar.”

“Hey, Bradley!” Zoe called. “Lora’s here!”

Of course.

Ryker laughed, turning away. I covered the client’s new tattoo and handed him the sheet of care instructions. “Here you go, man. Zoe will check you out at the counter.”

I rose and headed to the front.

Lora had taken her hair down from its bun and left her apron at the bakery. She smiled, holding one hand up in a little wave. The other hand held a bag from Bakeology.

Logan whistled. I looked at him over my shoulder, but he just grinned.

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