Page 52 of Secondhand Smoke
Barrett shot him a glare, and the other two cackled, plopping down onto the too-soft, stained sofas they had back there. Barrett tried not to imagine what they were stained with. “Thank you, Paulie.” Barrett gritted his teeth.
“Then I guess you’re free to explore your options,” Toni said. He had that mischievous twinkle in his eye that he got whenever he was making a point. “Dennis, go invite some guests back here. We couldalluse the company.”
Dennis’s hands hit the arm of the sofa as he stood, not one to ruin the joke. “Be right back.”
In the next five minutes, enough alcohol to bring down an army was brought in, followed by seven or eight women.
Despite the occasional hook-up that he never spoke to again, Barrett never got much female attention. None of them did.
They weren’t exactly the type of guys that girls liked to brag to their friends about. Yet now, they each had at least one girl by them. Even Paulie, who had arguably the least sex appeal of the group, had two girls hanging onto his every word.
Barrett grabbed an already opened bottle of Coors and chugged it down as one of the girls—a chatty brunette touching his arm—went on about how he had the most incredible voice she’d ever heard.
He thanked her and grinned, and winked and flirted—less out of interest and more because Toni was watching him over that redhead to see if he’d slip up.
Barrett had to look interested because he was a man, and if he was going to claim no interest in Janelle, he had to pretend to be into this woman.
After a while, she begged Barrett to come sit with her by her friends. With a smirk and a wink, he said no, and she left. He was on his third bottle by now, and he thought he’d be able to catch his breath, but as soon as she was gone, she was replaced by another woman.
This woman was different, though. She wasn’t as chatty or wide-eyed as the other girl. Her catlike eyes met his as she stalked to him with a feline-like prowl and posted herself onto the arm of his chair. Her lips were blood red, which stood out against her teased-high black hair.
“You’re very popular, aren’t you?” Her voice was as sensual as everything else about her. She was poised to kill.
Barrett raised a brow. He was a man, and she was a gorgeous woman.
“I wouldn’t say that.” He adjusted in his seat, his eyes stuck to hers. He felt Toni’s gaze watching him like a hawk.
“Oh, I would.” Her hand rested just above his wrist, pausing his drink that had been on the way to his lips. “You might not’ve been able to hear what those girls in the crowd were saying about you, but I could.Verypopular. They’d all kill to be sitting where I am right now.” Her head tilted down, and she leaned in closer until he could feel her breath against his jawbone. “Who knows where else I’ll be sitting tonight?”
Barrett expected to feel some sort of twinge. A burst of heat in his core. A jump in his crotch.
He had a beautiful woman practically draped over him, whispering promises of a very sweaty and fulfilling night into his ear.
And he felt . . . nothing. Not a single thing. No jumbled thoughts, no heating in his face, not even a goddamn butterfly.
All he could think was that he preferred natural blondes, and he liked blue eyes, and that no matter how much he stared at this woman, she didn’t compare to Nell.
Barrett shifted until the woman was forced back, and then stood up with his bottle in hand.
Her feline eyes widened in surprise.
He smiled apologetically at her. “Sorry, you’re great. I’ve just got my mind somewhere else.”
He left the dressing room, doubting any of his friends would notice his absence.
He walked through the bar of drunken people, managing to sneak past a few lingering girls at the tables without them noticing, until he was outside and able to take a breath of fresh air. He tilted his head back and exhaled into the night.
He took another long sip of his drink and leaned back against the building.
His company was a few random groups and couples smoking around the area, leaning against cars, but none paid him any mind.
The bar doors opened, and he recognized Toni’s curly hair out of the corner of his eyes. He tracked his footsteps from the door to him across the gravel lot, not bothering to meet his eye.
He already knew what he was going to say.
“You said you didn’t like her anymore.”
“Yeah, well . . .” Well what? He couldn’t bring himself to say it.
