“Man, she wouldn’t let me do jack shit.” He moves around the table.
“Jude, stop it.”
“Alright, I’ll go down the line with their names. Don’t worry about remembering them. The only memorable one is me.” Jagger laughs. I’m taking a line out of his book, except I’m being possessive of Ronnie, and he likes to piss everyone off.
“Johnny, Trent, Crew, Jagger, Luke, Tysen, and Asher.” With each drink she passes, I let her know who’s who.
“It’s nice to meet you. Jude only says good things about you all.” I move Ronnie between my spread thighs, allowing her to lean on me in the process.
“Don’t forget about me.” Lennie comes barreling through, and Asher’s arm reaches out to grab her by the waist.
“Hi, I’m Ronnie. Or Veronica. Whichever you prefer.” She holds her hand out to shake.
“It’s so good to meet you.” Lennie ignores her hand, moves away from Asher, and gives Ronnie a hug. “You can call me Lennie or Lennon. So, same. And the girls really wanted to be here, but everyone is knocked up.” Lennie shrugs her shoulder, then glares at all the guys acting like she didn’t deliver twins not long ago.
“Wow, all of them at the same time?” she asks.
“Well, they’re staggered, so kind of. Anyways, I’m going to add you to our group chat. Then we can plan a girls’ day without these guys.” Lennie pulls away from Ronnie and moves back to Asher, and I do similar, wrapping my arm around Ronnie’s middle myself.
“Sure, that sounds fine to me.” She looks over her shoulder. “Are you okay with that?”
“Fuck yeah. Welcome to the chaos, Foxy.”
“Ignore him. We’re not wild and crazy. Unlike these guys, who are thrill seekers, running into burning buildings and dealing with criminals to name a few.” The guys and I chuckle at Lennie’s antics.
“Shit.” Ronnie stands up, pulling away from me. “Pleaseexcuse me. I fear I’m going to have to do some damage control.” I look at where her gaze is, concerned it’s Joey again, trying to be the go-between.
“Go, go. Take care of business. It’s us here bothering you while you’re working.” Lennie tucks into Asher’s drink. A pleased smile is plastered on the man’s face.
“Are you staying here until I close? Because I can find a way back to your place or mine.” Ronnie spins around, arms looping around my neck, playing with the ends of my hair. Apparently, she’s in no hurry to deal with what I’m assuming is her brother.
“Not going anywhere. Your ride is me. And I don’t care where we lay our head down as long as it’s with you beside me.” Her eyes close, and I dip my head, lips meeting hers. The moment she opens for me, my tongue slides right inside, needing another taste to hold me over until I’ve got her all to myself again. I nip at her lip before soothing it with a kiss and tap her ass in way that lets her know we might be stopping for now, but we’re a long way from being finished. “Go deal with your brother before his head explodes.”
“Fine. I might drown him in the bar sink before the night is through.” She shrugs her shoulders and then moves toward Zane. I’m not sure if she was being funny or serious. Then again, the only brothers I grew up with are in front of me, and we didn’t get the chance to bicker like those two did living under one roof.
“I really like her, Jude, like, a lot. She’s feisty, can run a bar, has the same interests as you, and she didn’t balk at all with the guys in our group,” Lennie tells me everything I already know.
“I like her a lot, too, Lennie. Thanks for bringing her into the fold.” I take a sip of my drink, pull out the bag of candy I stowed in my pocket earlier, and pop some in my mouth.
“Anytime. Call me the welcome wagon. Now, before I text the girls, send me a picture of her. I want to show them how pretty she is and her tattoos. I mean, damn.” I’m beginning to think Lennie has a crush on my woman.
“What makes you think I have a photo of her?” I quirk my eyebrows.
“Jude Ellison, don’t even play. You’ve had one of her since the very beginning. You’re not fooling anyone, mister tech guru.” I shoot her a text, with a picture from this weekend, she gets busy on her phone, we continue talking until the bar starts to slow down, and when the group heads out the door, I move to the bar, keeping Ronnie company until closing time.
15
JUDE
“Istill can’t believe you wouldn’t let me drive your Camaro home.” I’m sitting on the floor in the living room, one leg propped up, using my knee for my arm with the video game controller. Ronnie was full of energy on the way back here. It might have been because I kept her company during work, or because her brother started shit and she made him eat out of the palm of her hand with a few smart comebacks. It also could have been my car. When I dropped her off, we’d hopped in my SUV, and Ronnie didn’t know what I had in my garage.
“You want to drive the Camaro, you can. I’ve got not one single problem with that. I only ask that the first time you do it is when it’s daylight.” She stops a few feet away, freshly showered, barefoot, and it seems as though she’s nabbed another one of my tees. I lick my lips as she flips her head to one side, using a towel to dry her long locks.
“Really?” I told her the same thing in the car. Maybe shedidn’t hear me over the rumble of the engine mixed with the music coming from the speakers.
“Yeah, Foxy. Now, you want a play a little bit or watch a movie?” It takes her a bit to settle down after a night at the bar, and tonight is no different.
“Video game.” She hangs the towel on the back of a chair to dry, then I’m greeted with her standing right in front of me. Instead of sitting on the couch or next to me, she turns around and sits between my thighs. Then she grabs the controller out of my hand, wiggling as close to possible to me. “One player or two?” she asks, logging into my account and working her way around the display without one single problem. Ronnie shouldn’t since we have the same one. Mine might be faster with some of the added shit I did to it, but otherwise, there isn’t a difference.
