Page 8 of Just a Little Prick

I chuckled, shrugging. “Some of them are just cool. Art I liked and shit.” I gestured to my right forearm, where a geometric design in black and red surrounded a drawing of a beetle.

“Nice,” she said.

“Benny did that one. He did the art for it and nobody was buying.”

“What about this one?” Lora touched the back of my hand. Another geometric design—a series of triangles, done in black with different line weight, all locked together.

“Geometry is cool. Clean lines, neat shapes.” I looked up at her, studying her for a moment. She shifted uncomfortably. “How about you? I haven’t seen any of yours yet.”

“Oh. Oh!” Lora shrugged. “I, um…”

I grinned. Perfect. “Hidden, huh? Gotta undress you to find them? Maybe some other time, huh?”

Lora blushed, red staining her cheeks. The flush traveled down to her chest.

Goddamn.I was going to have to break my promise to Kenzie. Lora was too good to pass up. If she wanted to take me home, I was going.

She drank more, as did I. By the time we were on our fourth bottles of beer, I’d told her about all of my visible tattoos. She leaned heavily on the table, gazing at my arms with interest as I finished up explaining the tiny wooden spoon on the inside of my right thumb—a tattoo for Kenzie, of course.

“Wow,” she said, grinning. “That’s pretty fucking impressive.”

She shifted, leaning toward me. The way she moved gave me a clean view down her shirt. I felt my cock twitch. I wanted her bad.

“I do my best to impress.”

“Do you?”

There was an edge to her voice that I liked. Was she flirting back?

“I can be real impressive. Anything specific you want to ask about?”

Lora raised an eyebrow and, for just an instant, her gaze flicked downward. My cock stirred again. Who was this girl? She’d seemed kinda shy at first, and now she was trying to—

“Bradley!” Kenzie’s voice was almost singsong, definitely cheerful. I turned my head toward her. She was standing, wobbling just a little. “C’mere, I need something.”

I looked back to Lora and sighed. “Give me a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Lora nodded, sitting up in her chair and busying herself with her phone. I went to Kenzie, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe you need to switch to water now?”

Kenzie shook her head. She turned me around. A table of women sat in the corner of the bar, and Kenzie gestured to them. “I see what you’re doing with Lora, okay? I’m not stupid. So. Why don’t you go talk to one of them instead?”

Mal was with them. She caught my eye and smiled, waving. I nodded once at her, then turned to Kenzie. “I’m just talking to her. That’s all.”

“You have that look.” Kenzie wasn’t going to back down. Shit. “I know you. You want to go home with her. I’m telling you not to. Okay? I think she literally got dumped a few days ago.”

“Nothing wrong with a rebound,” I replied.

“Bradley. No.”

“Okay, okay.” I held my hands up, defeated. “All right. I’m gonna take a walk. Go piss. Keep an eye on her, okay? She’s had a few.”

Kenzie patted my shoulder. “Come back soon. Party’s not the same without you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I smiled, shaking my head as I walked away.

I came back to a very full bar. The Republic was the best bar in Richland, that was for sure. It had a good reputation. But places with good reputations attracted people, and asshole frat boys from West Virginia weren’t the type we got along with. The last thing I wanted was some dumb boys thinking they were tough and picking fights they wouldn’t win.

It might impress Lora to see us in action, but it could just as easily scare her off.

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