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The inside of this place is insane and way bigger than it looks from the outside. The music reverberates in my chest as we walk along the perimeter of the main floor. There’s a large dance floor in the middle, and a bar spans the entire back wall. It has to be a hundred feet long. On either side of the room are raised VIP sections, clearly meant for those patrons who want to be seen. Another two VIP levels hang high above. The club lights glisten off the crystal chandelier in the middle of the dance floor, sending colored lights cascading down the walls.
I’m hopeful the bouncer will escort us up to the second or third level, so we won’t be on display all night, but he leads us to a VIP section in the middle of the main floor, positioned slightly over the dance floor.
I lean in to Brady. “Can’t we get a spot up there?” I point at the balconies above us.
“How are we supposed to talk to the ladies if we’re two or three stories above them?” He winks.
I guess Brady’s reputation isn’t false. He’s no stranger to one-night stands. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I was, so there’s no judgment from me. But after being in proximity with Shayna all week, I don’t want some random woman in my bed. I want her.
Right now, she’s the only woman I think about, but thinking about her makes me remember I’m the world’s biggest asshole. If only I could have the opportunity to convey to her how sorry I am. I need her to forgive me and understand that what we had had nothing to do with the bet. What happened between us has always hung over my head and this has to be some sign that it’s time to make amends.
A bottle waitress, dressed appropriately for her job with all her assets hanging out for guys to ogle, saunters over to take our order. She pretends she doesn’t know us, which is ridiculous because either the bouncer or the manager informed her exactly who we are. But acting as though she doesn’t know us must be her thing and I’m not one to broadcast myself. Ten minutes later, she returns with the bottles we requested.
After she’s poured our drinks, we sit on the couches. I’m seated beside Brady while Miles and Chase are on the couch across from us, looking bored as fuck.
For Miles, I get it. Nightclubs have never been his scene. He’s always in for a good time, but he’s not looking for a party girl who will either out him on social or try to hook her claws in him. One day he’ll settle down with some agreeable woman who likes going to the theater and playing Scrabble on a Saturday night.
Chase is just a grumpy fuck. He’s scowling at the dance floor as if every individual out there has personally offended him. The bar scene is more his thing. At some point tonight, we’ll lose track of him either because he took a woman home or he went to his usual bar that’s just down the street from here.
Brady looks as though he’s just arrived at heaven and it’s as great as he’s heard it is. He’s leaning back on the couch, the arm opposite me spread wide while he eye-fucks some of the women who are dancing provocatively in an attempt to get us to notice them. They clearly know who we are.
I lean over so Brady will hear me over the music. “So, you’re single, right?”
He barely glances in my direction, not taking his eyes off the women. “What gave it away?” He chuckles.
I laugh.
He sips his drink. “I’m not into anything serious. Being a dad is stressful as fuck, so a good lay and a few drinks with the boys tonight sounds good.”
“I heard you were a single dad. That’s a big load with an NFL career, too?”
An athlete as high profile as Brady Banks doesn’t have a lot of privacy. Although I don’t know details, I do know he’s a single dad. Which probably gets him even more ladies.
He grabs his phone from the glass table in front of us, showing me his screensaver. Smiling at me is a sandy-haired boy with hazel eyes. Almost an exact replica of Brady.
“This is Theo. He’s five, and the most important thing in my life.”
“He’s cute.” I sip my drink. “The mom?”
He shakes his head and returns his phone to the table. “One-night stand. But Hannah is great. We tried to make it work at first, but we’re better off as friends.”
I nod slowly. I can’t imagine being responsible for another human being. “Does she live in San Francisco?”
He blows out a breath and nods. “When I got picked up by the Kingsmen, she didn’t balk at all about picking up her life and moving to San Francisco. We always try to do what’s best for Theo, and we need to live in the same city for him.”
My eyes widen. “Wow. That’s decent of her.”
He nods while taking another sip of his drink. “She always puts Theo first. Plus, she just took a job as a travel nurse, so it doesn’t matter as much where her home base is. Still, she could’ve easily told me to go fuck myself when I asked if she’d consider moving to California with me. I admire any woman who puts her kid ahead of herself.”
It feels like there’s something more behind his statement than he’s letting on, but I don’t pry. “If she’s a travel nurse, does that mean she’s away from home a lot?”
He shakes his head. “She mostly takes assignments when I’m in the off-season, and the ones she takes while I’m in season are usually short ones—like a few days or so. But now that I’m back in my hometown, I have my dad, my stepmom, and my siblings to help out when necessary.”
“Sounds like the Kingsmen was the perfect fit.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “Pretty much.”
Brady flashes me a mischievous smile, then looks back at all the women on the dance floor. He must see something that interests him because he stands, slides his phone in his pants, and walks over to the railing.
