Page 244 of Hot Mess
Dream girl…
“Happy almost-birthday…” I gasped as she rode me, because I didn’t know what the fuck else to say.
She laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ash
The next night, I met Danica and her friends at the Back Door.
When she told me she was planning to celebrate her birthday here, I was definitely surprised. But I’d called ahead to Snake to make sure her group could get in, and had a few tables saved for them.
Seemed like the least a rock star could do in such circumstances.
Danica had told me to bring some friends with me, if I wanted to. I brought Haz, of course, and I brought Summer—who brought a small entourage, because she rarely went anywhere without one. We headed through the packed crowd toward the back of the bar, where I knew Danica would be.
It was Friday night, and for a while now the Back Door had been doing this Top 40/dance night thing on Fridays that probably wasn’t going over so well with the hardcore regulars. Apparently, it was going over incredibly well with the assorted hipsters and college kids who’d filled the place, though, and all the drunk chicks on the dance floor. The place was packed like I’d never really seen it outside a Dirty show.
I spotted Danica and her sister and a bunch of other girls crowded around some tables in the back. They even had a bunch of silver balloons floating over the tables. There was no such thing as a VIP area at the Back Door, so it wasn’t like they had a velvet rope around them, but I’d noticed Snake had a few more bouncers on than usual, with two of them flanking the girls’ tables.
Wondered if Danica realized she was now a VIP.
Snake greeted me, and I paused to talk to him a bit while Summer talked to his dad, Bear, who owned the place with him. Bear looked just like his name sounded, and though he was happily married, he was definitely sweet on Summer. She knew it, and she always took the time to be sweet as pie to the man.
When I shook hands with Snake’s head bouncer, I slipped him some cash. I liked to tip Snake because he always treated us so well, and because I wanted to support the bar and everything they did for local bands—like mine, back when we were getting our start. But Snake would never directly take my money. Rarely even let me pay for my own drinks. And that shit just had a way of coming back around.
I’d probably personally chain myself to the door in protest if they were ever gonna bulldoze this place to put up condos.
By the time I reached Danica’s group, I’d lost Summer and her girls somewhere along the way. I noticed there were a few guys with Danica’s friends, assorted boyfriends, maybe, but no one getting cozy with my girl. I scoped that out as I approached, right before I wrapped myself around her from behind.
She spun around in my arms.
“Ash!” she gushed, her cheeks all flushed from drinking. Then she laid one on me.
She tasted amazing. Like sweet cider and sweet Danica.
After I gave her a lingering birthday kiss, I leaned back to get a good look at her. Her long hair all down and wavy around her face. Short, tight dress in a peachy-pink color that clung to her curves. It had a low scoop neck in front, and the swell of her tits looked totally lickable.
I would’ve licked them right now, honestly, if half her friends weren’t already staring.
“You look fucking gorgeous.”
“No,youlooking fucking gorgeous,” she said, poking me in the chest, a big, goofy grin on her face. Which was when I realized how drunk she was.
Birthday drunk.
“Introduce us to your friends,” I said, since they were staring anyway. At Haz and me both.
Danica introduced us around a bit, but then got sidetracked when we got to her best friend. I knew this girl had to be Taylor, because Danica stopped dead and dramatically turned to me. “Oh. My. God. You haven’t met my best friend yet.” Then she grabbed the girl’s arm and hauled her closer. “This is my best friend in the whole world. The whole, whole world. So you guys better like each other. Or I’m gonna be really sad.”
“Nice to meet you,” Taylor said, offering her hand. She gave me a steady look that said she’d consider liking me, for sure, so long as I didn’t fuck over her best friend.
Fair enough.
I shook her hand. Pretty girl. She had shoulder length dirty-blonde hair and a round face with puffy lips. She looked me straight in the eye but didn’t smile too much. Good handshake, too. Nice curves in her black dress, had a tat on her wrist. Definitely knew a few guys who might be interested.
Have to be careful about that, though. No way was I letting one of my dickhead friends screw around with Danica’s bestie and fuck things up for me.
