Page 54 of Happy Hour

“Well yeah, I asked, didn’t I?”

He let out a nervous chuckled. Jameson was a lot of things but nervous or shy was never one of them. “Were you lying when you said it’d been a year?”

“No, I wasn’t lying.” He assured me. “It’s actually been longer than a year. The last time was in Vegas last March, well over a year ago.”

“So you...”

“You’re not actually going to make me say it, are you?”

I looked at him confused, completely lost as to what he was referring to. I don’t think I’d been this confused since I saw my first penis. Imagine my surprise when I found out it had balls attached to it and was covered in hair.

Jameson sighed loudly rolling his eyes dramatically, annoyed by my confusion. He glanced over at my puzzled expression closing his eyes as though he didn’t want to say it. “Jesus Christ, there’s uh...other...you know...ways to satisfy the urge.” He hinted and Ifinallyunderstood what he was insinuating.

Self-lovin.

What did I do then?

Giggled.

Not only because it was funny to me that Jameson Riley would have to resort to “self lovin” but also because I found the idea of Jameson and his “self lovin” incredibly hot and all I could do was giggle.

“You’re such a shit head!” Jameson barked pushing against my shaking shoulders.

“Do you remember,” I paused drawing a much-needed breath. “when Jimi used to refer to it as bleeding your pressure valve?” More giggling escaped me.

“I’m not really amused by this.” He shot back watching my breakdown in disbelief.

Once I stopped laughing, the car hummed in silence for a few moments before I broke it. “Why do you...I mean, you...uh...have women all over you.”

Surely, he’s had opportunities. Look at him, who wouldn’t want him?

“I...don’t know,” he shifted in his seat again. His shoulders seemed tense, that vulnerability rolling from him in waves. “I guess I got to a point where I just got tired of it. They only wanted one thing from me or they were in it just for the pit lizard fame. They didn’t want me, they wanted the lifestyle. And anyone that did want something more than a one-time thing, I couldn’t offer it to them.” His eyes shifted from the road towards me briefly. “This isn’t theideallifestyle for a relationship, Sway. I’m on the road at least forty weeks out of the year, sometimes longer. How can I ask someone to make that type of commitment?”

I got the feeling he was implying a lot more in this conversation than he was letting on. Like the fact that he couldn’t offer me what I want. He was telling me he couldn’t offer me more than what was going on right now.

“Did you apologize to Emma?” I asked wanting to change the subject away from this. I reached for my gum in the bottom of my bag.

“Yeah, we talked.”

“Do you understandwhyshe didn’t want to tell you?”

Jameson sighed. “I get it. Spencer and I can be scary.”

“Spencer can be scary.” I clarified shoving the stick of gum in my mouth and then offering him a piece. “Youon the other hand, you’re like...the incredible hulk.”

“Am not,” he replied defensively taking the gum.

I gave him an unconvincing look. “Really, what did you do to her first boyfriend when you caught them making out?”

“Pft,” he snorted. “That fucking brat deserved it.”

“Or what about the time you found out she lost her virginity to Ryder?”

“Hey,” he barked back at me. “I’m still friends with Ryder.”

“Probably because he’s afraid you’ll kill him. He’s keeping his enemies close.”

Jameson was in complete denial of his anger problem; the boy could snap in matter of seconds and be acompletelydifferent person. He had multiple personalities as I called it and they didn’t always get along.

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