Page 10 of Teach Me Your Ways

I blinked. “What?”

“Because you’ve been running through my mind all night.”

Oh God. We were doing this.

“Wow,” I said flatly. “Right out the gate with that one, huh? That pickup line is older than you.”

Another guy slid in beside me. “If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together.”

I stared. “I’d put ‘F’ and ‘U’ together.”

They laughed like I’d just told the best joke at a frat party. One of them, the tall one with a neck that was doing way too much work for the size of his head, pointed at my beer. “Can I buy you another one?”

“I’m good.”

He tried again. “You got a name?”

“I do.”

“Angel,” the first one said.

“Angel?” I repeated.

“You look like a fallen angel.”

“Do you know what a fallen angel is?” I asked him dryly.

“That’s like, a sexy angel, right?” he said, his confidence wavering slightly.

“No.” I took a slow sip of my beer. “A fallen angel is a demon. Cast out of heaven for rebellion. Lucifer was a fallen angel.”

The three of them exchanged glances. I could practically see the gears grinding in their heads, trying to figure out if I’d just called myself a devil or if they’d accidentally called me one.

“So you’re saying you’re a rebel?” the one beside me tried.

“I’m saying you should probably stick to your god-awful, boring, cliche lines instead of theological pickup lines.”

The tall one laughed nervously. “Come on, don’t be like that. We’re just trying to be friendly.”

“Friendly would be leaving me alone to drink my beer in peace.”

I didn’t want to move tables. I didn’t want to escalate anything. I just wanted them to go back to whatever keg they’d crawled out of and let me think in peace.

“Look,” I said, keeping my voice cool. “I’m flattered. Truly. But you’re wasting your time. I’m finishing this beer and heading home.”

“Are you married?” I noticed the pencil neck check out my tits. Why did guys do that?

“Nope, but my kid probably wishes I was,” I replied calmly.

“You have a kid? Want another one?” The punk sitting across from me was trying so hard to be sexy.

“No,” I said sharply. “I want to be left alone. Go away. Kids like you could never satisfy someone like me.”

“Oh, come on,” the first guy said. “You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”

My mouth opened, ready to deliver the kind of dressing-down that would make his ancestors feel ashamed, but I didn’t get the chance.

Someone grabbed him by the collar and yanked the kid right out of the chair. If he hadn’t been talking two seconds ago, I would have believed he was nothing but a rag doll.

“What the fuck?” Pencil Neck asked but made no move to help his buddy.

I really couldn’t pay much attention to the squawking frat boys. My gaze was focused on the brick wall of a man manhandling the kid that called me a bitch. A very large, very angry man. It was the guy that had been at the bar and he was even hotter up close.

Hot damn.