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“Yes,” she drawls. “They’re in my car, and I’ll give them to you…on one condition.”
Oh God. I hate her conditions. They’re always things she knows I wouldn’t do normally so she needs to blackmail me into them. The last time she did this, I ended up being forced to go to a massage place that apparently rubs more than what they’re supposed to, if you know what I mean.
She walked into the back, and I walked out the door to wait in the car.
I will say, though, by the time she was done, she looked very…happy. But I didn’t even consider trying. I may not have much experience, but I don’t doubt Hayes when he says no one else can make me feel the way he does.
It’s him or nothing for me.
“What is it?” I groan.
A devious grin appears on her face. “We go out drinking.”
Okay, it could be worse.
My first thought is to just take her to Hayes and Cam’s bar, but then I quickly realize we’re not allowed to drink there. Plus, if I can manage it, I’d like to keep Nolan as far away from the two of them as possible. For Mali’s sake. They met when Mali came to visit me, and the last thing I want is for them to find out there was never a time where she didn’t know where I was.
And well, going anywhere else isn’t exactly staying safe like Cam told me to.
“How about we just go back to where I’m staying and drink there?” I suggest.
She shakes her head. “Absolutely not. I want to see where you grew up. Tell me about the place. Show me the nightlife.”
“It’s really not all that special...”
“Laiken,” she whines. “I don’t care if it’s not the high-class places I’m used to. I want to see it.”
I’m not sure if she just called me poor, or insinuated that I live in a dump, but I don’t really think there’s a good way to take that. But that’s Nolan. She’s like Mali in the sense of she doesn’t have a filter. Except, Mali chooses not to have one, and Nolan just doesn’t think before she speaks.
Or maybe she doesn’t think at all.
It’s a toss-up, honestly.
“I don’t know, love,” I tell her. “I’d really just like to sit around and drink at home so we can catch up.”
But she’s not taking no for an answer, looping her arm around mine and pulling me toward her car. “Nope. We’ll find a quiet spot at the bar we choose. Trust. But we’re going out. Youneeda night out. I can see the stress all over your face. You’re developing wrinkles.”
And there she goes again.
Seriously, if you want to stay humbled, spend some time around Nolan. Five minutes. That’s all you need.
THIS NEW/OLD LIFEof mine needs some new rules to live by. You know, since I broke all the ones that were given to me before. And right at the top, underlined in red, should be rule number one.
All of Nolan’s Ideas are BAD!
I tried to play it safe. I swear to God, I did. I stuck to drinks I knew had little alcohol in them, and when Nolan wasn’t with me when I went up to the bar, I’d order a coke and tell her there was Jack Daniels in it. But the moment she got the lead singer of the band they had playing to buy us shots, I knew I was fucked.
See, Nolan has never had to worry about anything in life. Her dad pays for everything, down to her speeding tickets. He calls itspoiling his princess, but it’s more like setting her up to fail in life. I think he expects her to find a rich man and marry him so he can take over her care and maintenance. But if he spent more than five minutes around his daughter, he would realize that’s never going to happen.
Nolan is allergic to commitment.
I’m not kidding—she literally broke into hives once when a guy asked her to be exclusive. He was mortified by her reaction, but she cared more about the way her face looked the day before she was leaving for Bora Bora.
So, as she keeps handing me shots and I start to feel the way the alcohol numbs out the pain of being around Hayes again, she throws them back to have fun, but I’m doing it to escape.
THE BAR IS CLOSINGwhen they finally kick us out. I stumble out onto the sidewalk while Nolan follows me out—with her singing puppy dog right behind her. He obviously thinks he’s going to get laid. That’s what any guy would think after they paid a seven-hundred-dollar tab. But he’s about to be sorely disappointed, because I’m not about to let her leave with him.
“Do you guys need a ride home?” he slurs.
