Authors: Adriana Law
Dead Man's Bluff (13 page)
At
that exact moment a heavy guy in black leather fell into their table and it
rocked as he righted himself “Excuse me, ladies!” His bushy mustache lifted and
he was off again, none too steady on his feet.
Megan
frowned. “I can see that… very limited. We’re being stared at, seriously stared
at.”
“I
know. Isn’t it great?” Emma shouted over the music. A woman with colorful tattooed
sleeves planted two cold bottles on the table and scooped up the cash Em
flashed at her. Em pressed the rim of the bottle to her lips. Her blonde hair
was curled in perfect loose curls cascading down over her slender shoulders.
She was wearing a little gold tank top that was basically nothing more than
string crisscrossed serving as the back and a black mini skirt with stilettos. She
was stunning, they’d be lucky if they made it out of there without being
fondled or worse. Em went on, apparently very comfortable in whatever
surrounding she was placed in. “Don’t be mistaken. You get the occasional hottie
in here,” She continued to shout.
Megan
glanced around. She was having a hard time believing it, but she hadn’t come to
meet guys. She could still get drunk. She could still dance. She could still
forget for one night. And what better place to do it, every face was a stranger
and most likely someone she’d never see again. She guzzled down her first beer,
and then motioned at the woman for another one.
Em
leaned in. “Did you see his face when he saw you in that dress?”
“Whose
face?”
“Don’t
play stupid. I thought for sure he was about to say you couldn’t go out of the
house looking like that. I bet he shows up here tonight. Bet you twenty bucks
he won’t be able to take not knowing.” Em fanned the bill in her face.
Bet?
Ugh! “I don’t make bets, Em,” she replied starting to move a little to the
music, loosening up. Tonight Drew Mackenzie did not exist. Her gaze traveled
the semi-dark room. “Whoa, wait a minute…isn’t that Griffin?” ♠
Emma’s
blue eyes narrowed on one of the booths across the room. Angry pissed off bees attacked
her inside and suddenly the room felt extremely stuffy and hot. Megan bowed her
head and whispered as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear, like they could
with all the noise. “He’s with a girl. I didn’t know he dated anyone.”
Em
tried her best to act unaffected taking a huge swallow from a fresh bottle. “Of
course he dates. He’s a guy.”
“But…I’ve
never seen him with a girl,” Meg continued, peeking back occasionally at his
table.
Griffins
head turned their way as if he could sense them watching him. Was it too late
for her to make a run for the restroom? Shit. He was standing up, coming over
to their table. Emma gripped her bottle tighter and took another long swallow.
Breathe. Breathe naturally. She fanned her cheeks in an attempt to cool herself
off.
“Hey.
What are you two doing here?” Griffin asked with a lazy grin, twisting the
silver ring on his thumb.
She
could feel his gaze on her and did her best to act normal. “Who’s the slut?”
That was normal. She would ask that. They were best friends after all. He knew
her shit and she knew his. Hell, she knew he was faking the whole mute thing
long before anyone else. She was the only one who understood why. So naturally,
she’d want to know, had a right to know, if her best friend was about to screw
up big-time.
He
chuckled, glancing back at the slut in question, giving her a small wave.
“Aww,
how sweet, you’re already keeping tabs on your hoe. Did you have to get
permission to come over here to talk to us?”
“Cool
it, Em. Your nasty bitch side is coming out. How are you, Megan? You don’t seem
too comfortable.”
“I’m
not,” Megan answered, although nobody was really listening.
He
swiped the beer from Emma’s hand right as she was about to take a swallow. He
wiggled his brows and helped himself to her beer taking a pull. “It’s Sophia.”
“Sophia
James?” Em spit the name, needing to grab hold of the edge of the table to keep
from smacking him upside the head. She’d been kidding about the slut remark,
but in She’s case…well, she was a slut. “Why her? You can do better.”
He
handed her back her beer, raised his shoulders and stuck his hands in his
pockets. Problem was, the move made him look absolutely adorable transforming
her anger to lust. He said, “I like her. She’s nice.”
“Why?”
she couldn’t stop saying the word. “Why?”
“Nice”
was that his version of “she puts out.”
“I
better get back.” He tugged at the fabric of his gray Henley like it was sweaty
and clinging to his chest, which, it actually was clinging to his chest, a
chest she’d seen bare countless times. He leaned into Megan pressing those
gorgeous lips of his to her ear and then he flashed Emma a wicked smile and
winked. “See you later, Em.”
As
he was walking off she muttered, “Sophia James.” She glanced at Megan to find
her studying her with interest. “What did he whisper in your ear?”
“He
said to keep an eye on you because you have a tendency to get sloppy ass drunk.”
Emma
rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“I’m
shocked. This entire time I thought you had a thing for Drew,” she pointed an
accusing finger, “but you’re in love with Griffin.”
Em
huffed. “He drives me utterly insane.”
“I
know the feeling,” Megan simply said. They both smiled and grew quiet, watching
the activity in the bar, both of them knowing they’d just shared a girl bonding
moment.
When
a girls pride is wounded, she dances and sings annoyingly loud. And they did.
They danced and sang way off key until they were smelly and sticky with sweat. Is
sweat attractive on a female, no, but the dancing was a lot of fun, so they
didn’t care. After the song was over, Emma collapsed down in her chair, lifted
her hair off her neck, fanning herself with a hand. “Meg, I think one of us
needs to stop drinking. At least one of us needs to be able to walk out of
here.”
“I
agree.” Megan said, holding up a Lager.
Emma
had lost count. “How many beers have you drunk? Or is it drank? Shit. I don’t
know and guess what...”she held up her hands, scrunching her shoulders. “…I
don’t care!”
Megan
settled her beer noisily on the table top and grinned like a she-devil, all of
her attention focused on the door. “Don’t worry.”
“Do
I look worried?” Emma chuckled.
“Have
another beer,” Megan said. “Our way home just walked through the door.”
“I
told you he’d show up!” Emma’s slapped her hand down on the table, and swung
her head towards the door, her jaw going slack. “Who the hell is that?”
“That
my dear, is Christopher, you remember…the guy who wanted to buy the ranch?”
Em’s
gaze narrowed on the guy in question. “No way, I’ve never met him before. If I
had, I’d remember. He is eye candy.” Her gaze narrowed even further. “Ugh, he
kind of resembles Drew? Wait, are you sure it’s not Drew?”
“You’re
drunk,” Meg returned already sliding out of her chair, waving the guy over.
“No.
I’m serious.”
“And
so am I.”
“Okay,
I am feeling a little woozy,” Emma babbled. But damn the guy was
interesting
.
She watched as the strangers’ smoldering gaze searched out their table. He had
dark features like Drew, sexy unruly hair, but he was younger and not quite as
tall. Hmm, he could be a fun little distraction. He was wearing tailored black
dress pants and stylish V-neck charcoal-grey sweater appearing way too uptight
for her usual taste, but like she was telling Drew earlier, when all else
fails…jealously works every time. She glanced over at Griffins booth. He and Sophia
were sharing a seat in the booth, and had their heads leaned together. Aww, how
sweet. Griffin was laughing at something she said. Ugh. Hoe. Yeah, a little
jealousy could do him good. Let him have a taste of what it felt like. ♠
Christopher didn’t consider himself a vengeful
person, not really. But watching everything his mother endured over the years,
because of the Mackenzie name caused a hatred inside him he couldn’t ignore.
He’d never went to see a shrink, but if he had, they probably would have forced
him to sharing his ‘feelings’ about ‘feeling’ abandoned and not ever good
enough. They’d ask him how it had made him feel to watch his mother wither away
from Aids and the drugs she’d been addicted to for most of his life, or what he
could remember of it. They’d tell him the reason he blocked out most of his
memories was because the pain was too great and it was a natural survival mechanism
built in every human being as a means of surviving. Well, he’d not been
privileged enough to have money to go dump all his shit on a shrink, he had a
different way of coping. Was it the sanest, most mature way to go about it? No.
But he probably wasn’t the sanest, most mature person.
His plan was simple.
First, he’d made sure to drive a wedge between
Mackenzie and his spoiled son. Megan being that wedge. Next, he would steal
what his brother wanted most. Again, Megan. He spotted her instantly in the
back of the bar with some stereo-typical blonde. Megan stood up; side stepped
in her stilettos having to take hold of the chair to steady herself. He smiled.
Damn, this was going to be easier than he thought. His plan was fool proof. It
happened in the movies all the time: a girl who’d had way too much to drink
waking up in bed with the wrong guy. Opps! Maybe sex happened, maybe it didn’t,
but once the damage was done it couldn’t be reversed. Drew didn’t strike him as
the kind to forgive and forget easily.
Chris cringed at the thought of hurting an innocent
girl. He liked Megan, but she was also his vehicle to getting what he wanted
most, what he needed most. But when does life ever go according to the plan?
Everything he’d envisioned happening so clearly just hours earlier, didn’t
happen at all. Instead, his night took an unexpected turn for the worst
starting the moment he entered the stuffy bar to the moment he ended up in the
wrong bed.
“Chris, what are you doing in town?” Megan asked,
giving him a weak hug. He could feel her sway, but she recovered and he returned
her to her seat.
Why was he in town? He couldn’t say he was originally
from, Boonville Arkansas and his druggie/alcoholic mother rented a small dump
not more than fifteen minutes from the ranch. Oh hell. What was he supposed to
say? He’d had the perfect answer all planned out, but he could feel the blonde
watching him, seizing him up, and it momentarily had him flustered and without
words. “I…uh...I thought about stopping by the ranch to see how things are
going.”
“Really? The ranch is up for sale… for real this
time.”
“What do you mean…for real?” At least he had a few
working brain cells left.
Megan waved it off taking a sip of her beer. “I’ll
explain later. Are you still interested?”
He shifted his gaze to the blonde for a second, then
back to Megan. Was that sweat he felt forming across his brows. “Yes. I’m still
interested.” He had to shout over the music. “It’s really hot in here, don’t
you think? I need a cold beer.”
The blonde glanced over at the waitress having
trouble keeping up. “Leslie looks busy. I’ll go get you one from the bar,” she offered,
her fingers lightly grazing his arm. His heated gaze dipped down at where she’d
touched him and he caught the scent of vanilla. He mumbled a curse as she
skimmed by him, way too much of her perky breast rubbing up against him.
“You’ve never met Emma have you?” Megan asked. He
shook his head feeling his face growing warm. “Christopher this Emma. Emma this
is Christopher. Now you’ve officially been introduced.”
“Please, just Chris,” he was saying as Emma smiled
and backed her way into the crowd not letting him out of her sight until she disappeared
in the direction of the bar.
As soon as she was gone, and his heartbeat finally
slowed he stole a chair from a nearby table setting it beside Megan. He sat
down, shoving the sleeves of his sweater up to his elbows in an attempt to cool
off. Settling his arms on the table top, he studied the object of his interest.
Megan was beautiful girl. She’d changed since the last time he’d seen her. He
noticed that right off. Her hair was still a rich mahogany color with
highlights that reminded him melting gold, but she wore it shorter now, chin
length. It suited the shape or her face. But it was her green eyes and luscious
Georgia-peach colored lips that stood out the most. He might enjoy this more
than he thought. He offered her his sexiest smile, part two of his plan well
underway. “How have you been? It’s been a while.”
