Untitled #1055 by ssaarah
“What’s wrong?” Parker surveyed me over his beer and I gave a
shrug.
“What do you mean?” He rose a brow and took a swig before
looking over where Reese was dancing with what looked to be a group of college
cheerleaders.
“I mean this birthday last year by now I was telling you to stop
dancing on the tables and put your coat back on.” He smirked, and I laughed as
I pushed my hair out of my eyes.
“Maybe 23 is my grown up age.” My oldest brother smiled but he
was looking at me pretty seriously. Parker had always been more of a father to
me than the rest of my brothers, taking our Dad’s spot when he died and always
being there for us even though his business was so successful.
“Come on Tiny, tell me what’s up. It’s not Riley is it? I kicked
his ass once I’ll do it again.” I smiled at my brother and shook my head.
“I dunno, you’re getting pretty old.” I smirked as Parker glared
at me. “Riley and I are taking a break from….each other…romance wise.” I added,
though the fact that he wasn’t even at my party was telling me that maybe we weren’t
friends anymore either.
“Finally dumped him?” I rose a brow at my brother. “Come on
Lila, you were never as into him as he was into you…..I don’t think I’ve ever
seen you into any guy as much as they were into you to be honest….” I thought
about Travis and my stomach clenched, knowing that at least one man had way
less feelings for me than I had for him. But that would mean admitting I had
feelings for him. And I wasn’t going to do that.
“I'm fine Parker. I'm just busy at work and with my art…I'm just
a little more mellow this year.” He opened his mouth but I held up my hand.
“Please go talk to that pretty girl in the left booth so that she stops
pouting.” Parker looked over and her whole face lit up.
“Well if you insist…” he reached over and kissed my cheek. “It’s
your birthday Lila, have fun, drink too much, dance. It’s the one night I won’t
freak out about it.” I laughed as he walked away and I surveyed as my other
brothers, flirted and charmed everyone in the bar, even Will was dancing with
one of my friends from the gallery. Trenton men were irresistible no matter how
old they were.
I glanced outside and did a double take when I saw Travis
walking to the door with a girl hanging all over him. My stomach clenched hard
as I watched her do the classic “I just slept with you and I want you to love
me right away” dance that was so obvious it made me want to throw up. What the
hell?! Why did I care? It wasn’t like I thought I was the only woman he was
sleeping with, he made it perfectly clear we weren’t exclusive, and while he
clearly could pick up slu.tty women everywhere, I had no desire to even dance
with another man. God I hated that.
I watched as the girl reached up to kiss him, wrapping her arms
around him. His hands immediately went to her waist and I gripped my glass
tight before I watched him push her away before his eyes locked right on mine. I
should have looked away, should have ignored this but I couldn’t….I just stared
at him. Before I knew it the girl was coming
back into the bar, tying an apron around her waist. She was pretty, kind of,
nice body and long dark hair but she wasn’t really anything special.
“He was cute.” I teased, playing the girlfriend
to see if I could get anything out of her. She looked up and blushed, biting
her lip.
“That’s an understatement.” She laughed. “And oh my god in bed….” She shook her
head. “There aren’t even words.” She admitted, looking at my drink. “Refill?” I
swallowed down the annoying feelings and nodded before I noticed my phone ringing.
Travis. What kind of game was he playing?!
"What do you want?" I snapped without
a formal greeting.
"Come outside." He ordered quietly but
firm, demanding like he always did. Fu.ck him.
"No."
"I give you ten seconds or I'll get inside
and drag you out myself." I rolled my eyes and set my phone back in my
purse as I sipped my drink, though even though I had already decided not to let
Travis fu.ck with me, I actually believed his threat to come in and despite the
fact that I now officially hated that waitress? It would suck to be her and see
the guy she slept with immediately move on. It wasn’t her fault Travis was who
he was. So I sighed and set my purse on my shoulder before walking out of the
bar and watching Travis as he stopped moving towards it. See? He was not
bluffing.
“Took you long enough.” He growled as though it
was so annoying I didn’t follow orders right away.
“What do you want?” I asked, folding my arms
over my chest and glaring at him.
“Why are you here?” he nodded his head towards
the bar and I blinked back at him.
“To eat and drink.” I replied in the same
monotone. Travis’ own glare softened and he smirked slowly as he took a step
closer.
“Still such a smartas.s….” he trailed off
slowly, his eyes taking me and making me feel….who cared because I wasn’t going
to focus on it.
“Always. Did you need something?”
“You didn’t answer my question.” I widened my
eyes and licked my lips.
“I did answer it. Maybe not good enough for
you, but then say that.”
“Lila.” He warned and I swear I was about five
seconds from exploding on him. He had to be the most infuriating man I had ever
met.
“I'm friends with the new bartender Travis why
does it matter?!” He looked at me as if he was picking apart my answer to see
if it was good enough.
“Okay.” He nodded and I grabbed the cigarette
from his mouth and stomped it out with the toe of my heel. “Do you have a
problem?” he asked, raising a brow as I looked back up at him.
“Yes.” I answered, not explaining because I
didn’t need to.
“Will you come here a lot now?” he asked
casually though I could see he was interested.
“Why do you need to choose a new bar to pick up
sub-par women in the off chance that you’ll have to bear a few moments with
me?” I spat back.
"No." he answered simply, grinning,
just to piss me off.
"No what?" I asked, glaring even
though I knew he’d ignore it.
"Is that your friend?" he asked,
looking behind into the bar. I followed his gaze and say Derrick looking out
with a death glare. I tried not to laugh as I turned back.
"No, that's my brother."
"Uhm." God I hated when he said uhm.
"Scared Travis?" I teased, though I knew
he wasn’t.
"Nothing can scare me." he answered
simply and sighed, feeling annoyed all over again. I looked away wondering why
on earth I was still standing out here with him. "Come on Lil, get in the
car."
"What?!" At first I was shocked, was he seriously
trying to get me to go home with him right now? Asshole. "Hell no."
"Scared of a dejavu?" he challenged,
and even though I was so mad I could hardly stand it I couldn’t help but
flashback to his hands and mouth all over me in his front seat as he took me
hard and deep. It had been so good….so annoyingly good.
"I can't leave my own birthday
party." I said instead, watching as he let my words soak in.
"Is it your birthday?"
That's what I said." His surprise waned as
he grinned slowly, easily, a look that was effortlessly sexy on him and I'm sure
he knew it.
"Are you finally turning 18?" he
teased but I just glared at him, not in the mood for his antics. Before I could
move away he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him, kissing my
cheek so softly it sent a chill through me. "Happy birthday Lil." He
whispered, his body so close to mine distracting but it was way easier to be
mad.
“Did you really think I would get into your
car?!” I asked, still furious.
“You liked my car last time.” I shook my head.
“My god what is wrong with you?!” He blinked as
if he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.
“Right now it’s that you’re yelling at me.” He
smirked, clearly not bothered at all but amused instead.
“Do you honestly think I would go anywhere with
you right now?” I asked. He shrugged.
“You usually don’t mind having me around Lila.”
“Oh, so you want to be friends.” I asked,
tilting my head to the side. “We’re friends now is that it? Because last time
you told me we weren’t.”
“What exactly is it that you’re so upset
about?” he asked, taking a step closer to me and damn it his scent and the
proximity of his body still made me a crazy woman despite how awful he was.
“Nothing Travis.”
“Hey where’d the birthday girl jet off to?”
Reese’s voice rang out and I turned around.
“Just talking to a co-worker.” I said, faking a
smile. “Get back to your party.”
“You sure?” he glared at Travis, who didn’t
seem that affected. Admittedly they were evenly matched, about the same height
and build, Reese being the biggest of my brothers, but Travis was seriously
underestimating how over-protective he was.
“Don’t worry he’ll be leaving in a second. The
party need’s its second best-looking Trenton to make up for the best looking
one not being there.” I winked at him and he laughed, though his eyes were
still on Travis before he went into the bar.
“He doesn’t like me.”
“He doesn’t know you.” I replied. “If he did
he’d hate you.” I added before sighing. “Travis what do you really want from me?”
Travis slipped his hands into his jeans and shrugged.
"Nothing really." He replied. “I
didn't even know you were here, it's not like I'm stalking you."
"But you called me." I paused, crossing
my arms against my chest again. . "And forced me to come here
outside."
"I didn't know it was your birthday."
He said eventually and I felt my eyes roll on their own accord.
"Why do you say it as if it explains
everything? It explains nothing Trav!"
"I had no intention to ruin your birthday
party, trust me." he said seriously and glanced away, something I noticed
he did before he got really angry. Good. We had that in common.
"Then you probably shouldn’t have called
me!"
"You're right." He admitted as he
reached for another cigarette and set it between his lips, stepping away from
me, but still giving me his attention. Ugh his eyes were so gorgeous. "I'm sorry Lila, go back to your party
and have fun. I grabbed his cigarette again and stomped on it.
“Those won’t kill you fast enough so you should
give up on trying.”
“I'm going to ask you one more time Lila. What
is your problem?” he rose a brow at me and I just stared at him shaking his
head.
“I swear you stand there looking at me as if
I'm just another crazy girl, like I have no reason for ever being upset and I'm
probably just PMSing!”
“Are you?” he was so lucky I didn’t hit him.
Honestly the only reason I wasn’t was because the last time I tried to we ended
up naked. That was not happening again.
“No. Do you seriously have no consideration for
other peoples feelings?! What if you had come in to get me? How do you think
that poor girl would have felt. God I hope she doesn’t see me out here with
you.” Travis did a slow double take.
“Are you talking about the waitress?”
“Was there another woman you fu.cked today too
I should have mentioned?” He took a step closer to me and looked down into my
eyes with a curious expression.
“You’re angry for her feelings Lila? Or your
own?”
“Admittedly you could have shot me a text
message or something, but I knew what I was getting into.” Travis just grinned.
“What would that text message say?”
“How about
“Lila, I'm bringing home a girl who looks like she has Chlamydia, so feel free to be repulsed by me
from now on.” I spat back as Travis started laughing.
“I thought you felt bad for her.” He grinned.
“You are the worst. Seriously.”
"I
got that before."
"Yeah
right, but let me guess, it doesn't bother you." I paused to narrow my
glare on him. "Does it even exist something that bothers you Trav?"
"This is bothering me." he answered
flatly.
"Oh
poor Trav." I said in a sweet voice before glaring again. "Deal with
it."
"Hell
no. I did nothing. It's not my fault if we were in the same place at the same
time, just like it's not my fault if it's your birthday and I didn't
know."
"Because you never do anything,
right?" I spat back at him. I was realizing how completely pointless this
conversation was at this point. No one had the ability to piss me off so much.
"I'm thinking about a few things I'd like
to do right now..." He trailed off, now taking his time to look over my
body. I wasn’t a stranger to being checked out, but when Travis did it. It felt
like he was already touching you. I reached out and hit him, hard, making him
groan and look back into my eyes.
"Travis!" I yelled. "Don't you
even think about it!"
"I'm not even free to think now?!"
"You were with that girl when? Less than
one hour ago?" I questioned in a bitter tone as my finger pointed behind
me.
"You're
jealous." Travis said slowly.
“I'm not jealous Travis, I'm offended.” I said seriously,
because did I want to be the girl he dropped off at the bar after fucking? No.
“Offended?”
“That you would even think I would go near you in the same
day that you touched another woman. I like you Travis, god knows why. But I'm
not going to be disrespected.” Travis took a step closer and his eyes got more
serious.
“I respect you more than any other girl.” I swallowed
thickly and tried to ignore the beating of my heart.
“I believe you.” I replied and ignored the impulse to reach
out and run my fingers through his hair, completely going against everything
I’d said today. “I don’t know why but I do.” Travis tilted my head up slightly,
sending a shot of arousal straight through me despite how much I hated him
today.
“I don’t know why either.” I felt like we were there for
hours just looking at each other before I pulled away.
“I need to go back in. Do you want to come?” Travis took a
deep breath, looking like he was considering it but then shaking his head.
"No
Lil." He answered quietly.
"Why?"
I asked in a barely audible voice, sounding small and tired and nothing like
myself. Travis reached for my cheek and brushed his thumb against me and even
though I was still upset, it was so calming.
"We
both know it wouldn't be a good idea." I knew he was right, it would be no
secret that there was something between us, not when our attraction to each
other was so intense. My brothers would probably have a heart attack.
"Okay."
I shrugged nonchalantly and bit down on my lip, wishing it were easier. Wishing
that I didn’t care so much. Wishing that I could feel this way about some guy
who felt those things about me too.
"Still
mad?" he asked, reading my face wrong, "Upset?" he tried again,
looking for the right word but I shook my head again. "I'm sorry if I
ruined your night."
"Stop
saying you're sorry." I snapped back and I saw a flash of anger in his
eyes before he spoke.
"I
mean it."
“Don’t
you think it’s odd?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“What?”
I stepped closer and again had to resist the urge to touch him in some way. I’d
never felt that way about a man. If I wanted to touch him I did and if I didn’t
I didn’t it was never so damn complicated.
“That
you’re sorry for one. How many times does that happen?” Travis grinned.
“Touche.”
His chuckle made my stomach flip and I swallowed before talking again.
“Do
you usually look at girls like you want to eat them up even after you just got
some?” He set his jaw at that.
“What
are you saying Lila?” he asked, his voice turning dangerous automatically but
there was nothing he could do to me, no matter how deep his voice got.
“I'm
saying maybe you should bring home the girl you really want next time and not
settle.” I winked and turned around so I could walk back to the bar, feeling
his eyes on me, but turning at the door. “Oh and Travis?” I waited for a
second, apparently he didn’t have words, either because he thought I was
totally wrong and was stewing about it, or maybe I just left him without words.
“You owe me a birthday present.” I winked and then let the door fall behind me,
wondering what was happening to me, but pushing past it because some things
were more important than gorgeous men who were too complicated for your own
good. Like cake for instance.
