Page 8 of Betting on Blaze


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“You’ll give me a ride?” he asked.

“Yeah, but don’t read too much into it. Remember, I have a guy waiting at my place for me, and he won’t like it if I’m too late,” she reminded.

“Right,” he breathed. The last thing he wanted to do was think about some random dude sitting at her place, waiting for her to come home—in fact, he downright hated thinking about it.

Blair

Blair wasn’t sure what she was more pissed about—the fact that Joker was gossiping about seeing her and her brother at the bar, or that Blaze could believe that she was living with some random guy after their breakup. Honestly, she was still trying to get over her broken heart, and the thought of taking him back to his place did crazy things to her libido. But when Blaze stuck his nose into her business, accusing her of being a careless bitch, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that the man who was living with her was her older brother. No, letting him believe the worst of her was easier, as was being angry with him.

All she had to do was finish up behind the bar, wipe it down, and then she’d be able to drive Blaze home and be rid of him. Then, she could go home and have a stiff drink, a hot shower, and crawl into her bed—alone. Because despite what Blaze believed, she was all alone and didn’t plan to change that fact for some time.

“You ready?” she asked. He was still sitting at the bar, watching her every move. If she wasn’t so pissed off at him, she’d find the whole thing hot. She always liked the way that he looked at her—like she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen. He used to tell her that too, and God, she missed that. She missed having someone around to talk to and someone who would always have her back. But she gave that all up when she told him that he was just a way for her to kill time and that she didn’t want to move in with him. She wanted to but doing so would take away the independence she was fighting so hard to keep.

“Sure,” he said. “I still think that I could get an Uber.”

“It’s after one in the morning. There’s no way that an Uber driver would come out here to the boondocks after midnight. You either get your ass in my car or stay here until you sober up. What’s it going to be?” she asked.

He gave her his lopsided smile that usually melted her panties and she couldn’t help her sigh. “I like it when you’re feisty. It’s hot.”

“It’s not hot,” she said. “I’m angry, not hot,” she insisted. “Let’s go.” He was smart enough to follow her out of the bar, practically plowing her down when she stopped to lock the front door. The guys usually waited around for her to head out, making sure that she got to her car safely, but tonight, they left that job up to Blaze. What he’d be able to do to protect her while drunk, was a mystery. But Ryker and Joker insisted that Blaze could take care of helping her lock up and get to her car. Honestly, she thought that they were leaving them alone together in hopes of the two of them working things out—not that it would help. She and Blaze weren’t going to work things out because that was not what she wanted. At least, that was what she told herself on a loop, hoping that it would eventually be true.

She unlocked her car and he jumped into the passenger seat. Blaze lived about twenty minutes from the bar and she had a feeling it was going to be the longest twenty minutes of her damn life. Maybe she’d get lucky, and he’d pass out on the drive. She could listen to the radio and figure out a way to drop Blaze off without having to help him into his townhouse. Then, she’d drive the fifteen minutes back to her place and try to get some sleep before her brother woke her up at the butt crack of dawn, telling her that he was hungry and needed to eat to take his pills. The guy was honestly a human trashcan with the amount of food that he could put away. The only way she was affording her grocery bill, while he stayed with her, was because he was helping to pay for food. In fact, Dell insisted on helping her pay her rent and utilities while he stayed with her, and Blair liked the extra money.

“Thanks for the ride,” he breathed as he laid back.

“Not a problem,” she said. “You want to tell me why you ended up drunk at the bar tonight?” she asked. Blair almost wanted to laugh at how she sounded like a nagging girlfriend. Even when they were dating, she didn’t nag him. In fact, she would have ended up drinking with him instead of lecturing him.

“Sure, if you want to tell me why you broke up with me,” he said. Blaze wasn’t going to play fair, but she could handle that.

“We’ve already been over all of that,” she insisted. “Things just didn’t work out.” She told him that she wasn’t into him the way that he was her. She thought that hurting his feelings might have him back down, but instead, he ended up asking her a million questions.

“Bullshit,” he growled.

“Can we not do this right now?” she asked. “I mean, I am giving you a ride home out of the goodness of my heart.”

“It’s your heart that I want to discuss, so now’s a perfect time to talk about this,” he said.

“I don’t know why you’d even want to bother,” she said. “I mean, will you actually remember this conversation in the morning?" She was sure that he wouldn’t. Maybe placating him now might earn her some peace later, and if he didn’t remember their conversation, what did it matter to her?

“I’ll remember. I sobered up a bit while I waited for you to clean the bar. Besides, we have another eighteen minutes to kill and I’d love to get this all out in the open. I’m tired of having to stalk you to get to see you. I miss you, Blair.”

“I’ve been at the bar. You’ve seen me practically every damn day. How can you miss me?” she asked. She knew exactly how. She missed him too, every single day. Seeing him at the bar every night made her only miss him more, but there was no way that she’d tell him that.

“Saying stuff like that to me isn’t helping things,” she said.

“How about we just lay it all out on the table?” he asked. “I miss you, Blair. I’m still in love with you and I haven’t changed my mind about wanting you to move into my place. Was it that you didn’t want to move from your apartment? I’d sell my townhome and move in with you if that’s what you want.”

“That’s not what I want, Blaze,” she insisted.

“Then, why did you let some guy move into your apartment with you? Are you in love with him?” he asked.

“Eww-no,” she spat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. “You’re living with him but your response to me asking if you’re in love with him is, ‘Eww, no?’ You don’t find that a bit strange?” he asked.

“It’s not strange at all,” she said. “In fact, it’s exactly how I should respond when you ask if I’m in love with my older brother.”

“Wait—the guy that Joker saw you at the bar with is your brother? Your brother is living with you?” he asked.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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