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Chapter Two
Jackson had a love/hate relationship with his job—working 16 hours, hunched over a keyboard, designing something you knew the client was going to trash once they saw it. It wasn’t that Jackson was bad at his job—this client was difficult to work with. And Jackson had worked four long days coming up with the perfect visual pitch only for it to get thrown out the window.Again.
Advertising was a soul-sucking job, but it was one that kept him employed, paid and allowed him to use his talents the right way. This is what he went to college for and he was finally able to do something with what he had learned.
While he could not kill his clients or burn the house down, he could get absolutely drunk. And drag his two colleagues-slash-friends down with him.
They were two pitchers of beer down, but it wasn’t numbing the stress making his shoulders clench and his stomach ache. Trevor and Carson, his two friends from work, were chatting and looking around for women to flirt with, but Jackson’s head was still fixed on the project they’d been working on. It was better than moping about being single, so he considered this an improvement.
“This beer is terrible.” Carson muttered.
“This round’s on you, Jack,” Trevor told him with a hard thump on the back.
“Every round has beenon metonight—next time, you’re buying.” His friends shrugged and Jackson rolled his eyes as he headed towards the bar.
As always, the Hazy Barrel was packed for a Friday night. People were clinging to every inch of the space and Jackson groaned as he moved through people congregating in the middle, trying not to brush up against anyone.
Then he sawher.
Earlier, when he’d opened the door to the men’s room, the last thing he expected to see was a woman on her way to a very disgusting face plant. He’d tried to help her up, she shook him off and laid into him about opening doors weirdly. But Jackson had also been too captivated by her husky voice to produce a smart comeback.
As he stood at one end of the bar, waiting for people to move out of the way so he could place his order, Jackson took a minute to catalog this woman. He’d gotten a brief look at her outside the men’s room at the same time she was sizing him up, but this was an even better view.
She was a few inches shorter than him, with thick dark hair that looked naturally unruly, or maybe unbrushed. The ends of her hair had blonde streaks and her outfit told him she didn’t give a shit about being fashionable—dark jeans clung to her wide hips and thick thighs paired with a vintage Metallica t-shirt she’d tied up on one side, showing off a little bit of her stomach. He also got a glimpse of a tattoo in the space between her shirt and her waistband.
And her eyes. Man, her eyes pierced him. Brown, but darker than his, with a hint of gold. Thinking about it now, Jackson didn’t even realize how close they’d been standing until he registered the gold flecks. Her mouth had been turned down in displeasure, but he could tell her bottom lip was plumper and she had the pinkest and most kissable lips he’d ever seen.
Tearing his eyes away from her, Jackson stepped forward to set the empty pitcher on the bar and ordered three IPAs. While the bartender went to fetch his drinks, his eyes drifted back to the brunette. She was laughing, head thrown back and Jackson swallowed at the beautiful sight. Three bottles of beer were set down in front of him and Jackson handed the money over, dropped the change in the tip jar, grabbed his beers and returned to his friends.
Jackson was nowon wingman duty, something he sucked at majorly. Apparently, his friends chose to ignore that, because they expected him to deliver. Jackson had always been considered anawkward turtle—because he had been a weird looking kid, a lanky and dorky teenager, and his favorite thing to do in school was read comic books and discussStar Wars. Girls didn’t care for scrawny boys who fumbled over their words or didn’t have anystreet cred.
Jackson had stuck out like a sore thumb—because he wore hand-me-downs from his older brother, took the bus and his older siblings left him to fend for himself. When he wasn’t with his only two real friends, he’d spent every free moment at school doing his homework to become the best student. Sure, it helped him graduate at the top of his class and get scholarships to anywhere he wanted to go, but Jackson wanted a different experience in college.
Until his first girlfriend, he didn’t even think he was worth a second look. But she found a way to make him feel attractive. And the awkward turtle turned into a slightly less awkward guy and he made afewmore friends.
Even now, Jackson collected everything to do with the Ninja Turtles and hadStar Warsthings on his desk at work. Hell, he was wearing a Chewbacca t-shirt under his flannel shirt. Jackson was never going to apologize for liking pop culture and being a nerd—these were the things that made his life bearable.
But, to other people, that was boring and unattractive.
Women wanted bulky athletic guys who could bench press all of Jackson’s weight. Jackson didn’t even know whatbench pressmeant. And the most exercise he got was teaching karate on the weekends.
“Okay,” Carson said as he faced Jackson. “What the fuck is going on with you?”
“What do you mean?”
Trevor snorted from his other side. “You’re supposed to be our wingman. So, why aren’t you helping us score?”
Jackson looked around, noticing some of the women glancing their way. And he realized he’d been off in his own world this whole time. “I’m clearly not a good wingman tonight.”
“But your cute, awkward and dorky personality always brings the hot women in.”
Carson put his hand on Jackson’s shoulder, “Haven’t you heard, Trev, women don’t care for cute and awkward anymore.”
“Fuck off.” Jackson said with a laugh, gently shoving Carson aside as he reached for his beer.
“Incoming,” Trevor muttered and they straightened up as two pretty women stepped up to their table. Jackson smiled tightly, watching his friends from the corner of his eyes as their grins broadened
“Hi,” one of the women said as she set her things on their table. “I’m Mia and this is Lily.”
