Page 10 of Play Hard
“Fuck yeah, we will,” Del said and emptied the glass of whiskey he’d been nursing for the last half hour. “You and I will probably need to put our heads together to go over a back-up plan. Logistics will need to be reconsidered for all the activities we’re planning. Because downsizing isn’t an option.” Those last words were accompanied by a scowl that he seemed to wear more often lately. Something was going on with him, but at Lance’s directive we’d all agreed to wait until he was ready to tell us what it was. Unless, that something ended up being a situation they needed to help him handle.
Last year, Del and Mal Penning, former member of the town council and Del’s old rival, had gone toe-to-toe and that shit hadn’t ended well. Which was why I’d been the one talking to the council members on behalf of the bar now.
“I’m about to head out,” Del said. “Rylan should be finishing up at the shop, and I want to be home when she gets there.”
“Damn, man, y’all been together for almost six months now, the honeymoon phase should be over,” Rock said. “Tell ‘em, Ethan.”
Ethan shook his head. “Nah, I can’t co-sign that shit. Portia and I are still honeymooning. Well, that is when Dale’s not cockblocking with his spoiled ass.”
Dale was the annoying ankle-biting dog Ethan had used to win his way back into Portia’s good graces after he’d fucked around and let her walk out of his life again. He and Portia had gotten married on New Year’s Day and were still blissfully happy. I liked seeing my brothers happy. They deserved that shit. Me, on the other hand…well, I was just thankful to still be breathing.
“And with that said,” Ethan continued after Rock shook his head, “I’ll walk out with you.”
“You two lucky bastards better be back here bright and early tomorrow to open up. We’ve got two parties on the books,” Lance said.
“I’m in charge of the books, fool.” Del got off his stool and came up behind Lance to put him in a loose headlock. “I know exactly what we have going on tomorrow.”
“Get off of me, punk.” Lance chuckled and easily pulled out of Del’s grip.
Except for their deep sepia complexions, height, and toned builds, the pair looked nothing alike. But their twin bond was undeniable. I envied it on more than one occasion, hating that I’d been an only child who now had no living relatives that I knew of, to joke around or bond with. All I had was these guys right here, and lucky for me, they were enough.
They would have to be since the space I’d once upon a time reserved for another type of love had been closed off long ago. Seeing Serra again hadn’t changed that.
A loud crash came from the kitchen and Jeret cursed before going to see what it was. Del and Ethan headed out the side door to the parking lot where their trucks were, and Lance, Rock and I remained at the bar. Since Ethan was gone, Rock was taking drink orders. That left me to help upstairs in the area we called the Skybox Lounge which featured a cigar bar.
As a part of my strategy to diversify our customer base by offering multiple entertainment options, after only a modicum of bitchin’ from Del and Ethan mostly, I’d created a schedule that had started to pay off. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights were reserved for NFL games and hosting all the Fantasy Leagues in the area. NBA games were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. College football and basketball, NASCAR, Formula One, and the like on Saturdays. Wednesdays and Fridays usedto have a gap, but last Thanksgiving we’d implemented karaoke on Fridays and that was doing really well. Lance had unofficially taken Wednesday nights to get up on stage and play his guitar until multiple women were about to toss their panties at him. But I didn’t care what his Cassanova ass said, we weren’t paying him extra for that shit.
“Hey, you find out what’s bugging him yet?” I asked Lance when Rock had moved down the bar to take orders from the group of women who’d just come in.
He stretched one long arm down the bar top until his finger hooked on the bowl of honey-roasted peanuts and pulled it closer to him. “Nah. You know Del can hold shit for eternity if that’s what he wants to do.”
I nodded and glanced toward two of our servers, who had taken orders and were heading this way to deliver them to Jeret and his staff in the kitchen. Maxie, Joy and Kasey were working tonight with Shandy and the new girl, Kiko, upstairs. I had some reports I needed to review in the back but since I’d come out here to chop it up with the guys real quick, I’d probably end up staying out here to lend a hand wherever it was needed.
“He shouldn’t though,” I said. “He knows we’re here and we’ve got his back. He can tell us whatever it is.”
“True. True.” Lance bobbed his head to the beat of whatever song a gorgeous woman, who looked like she should be on a WNBA team, was preparing to sing. “Unless it’s about Rylan. I swear I don’t wanna hear any more about how great it feels to be in love. Him and Ethan can keep that shit.”
I chuckled because that had been a running conversation for those of us who remained single. “You right about that,” I said.
“Hey, Lance,” the woman said as she slid onto the stool Del had vacated moments before. “Hiiii, Noah. You got something special for me tonight?”
My gaze rested on Traneeka Ruckland, an implant to Providence by way of the rich dude who’d brought one of those big new houses by the lake and hired her to be the nanny for his triplets. For the life of me I couldn’t understand why somebody would buy a family vacation home, then when they got here to use it, hired somebody else to take care of their kids. People who didn’t want kids shouldn’t have them. I’d been a believer in that rule for a long ass time, and everyday some other dumbass proved how right I was to do so.
‘Something special’ was polite for dick, and my answer tonight was the same as it had been for the past three weeks since she first landed in town and started offering that shit to me. Hell fuckin’ no! I didn’t want to label her as community ass since I’d yet to hear about anybody else sleeping with her, but I knew it when I saw it. Traneeka was definitely for the streets, and I’d been over that lifestyle for a long time. “Five-dollar cocktails for the ladies until ten,” I told her with the friendliest smile I could muster.
She frowned. “I bet you gave honey with the nice tits more than that after your hot and heavy run yesterday.”
Not too many things left me speechless, but in this moment, it was probably best that I didn’t say the first thing that popped into my mind. Lance, on the other hand, didn’t have that type of discipline.
“A honey with nice tits, huh? You holdin’ out on the info, Noah?” Lance’s grin said he knew this wasn’t the question he needed to be asking me, especially not in mixed company. He was wagging his brows as I gave him a slow but unmistakable middle finger.
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Traneeka said. “I’ll tell you all about her.” She gave Lance her full attention and he returned the favor by pulling his gaze up fromhertits that were about to spill over the too tight red V-neck she was wearing with blackleggings. “She’s probably about five six or seven, not too much taller than me, but head-to-shoulder with your stingy friend over there.”
Now I was stingy. I shook my head because that’s fine, I could be stingy to her. And any other woman who so blatantly offered her pussy to men she barely knew.
“A pretty redbone with jet black hair, long legs, and like I said great tits. Are they hers on does she have the receipt?” Traneeka asked, tossing a sly smile my way.
I shrugged. “You should ask her the next time you see her,” I replied. A question to which I was certain Serra would have a slick ass response. At least the Serra I’d known back in college would have. That Serra didn’t take shit from anybody, and while she could get jealous, she would also stake her claim in a heartbeat. There’d been a few parties where she’d done so, and I swear my chest and head had never felt so inflated as pride blossomed inside of me.
