Page 126 of Hot Mess
Ashley:Of course we are
I stashed my phone away again, trying not to grin like a crazy person. I forced myself to remain absorbed in what the girls were discussing. Jason Momoa? There was another round of shooters, then another round of drinks. We got noticeably louder, as did the music. Several of the girls took off to dance or whatever.
Carter and his girl eventually wandered away.
Thankfully.
And then, suddenly, the sea of bodies in front of our table seemed to part… and a dazzling unicorn appeared.
He walked straight toward us like he’d already spotted me, though his eyes were scanning the crowd. He was dressed all in black. Sleeveless shirt, tight jeans. Black-and-white checkered Vans. There was some crazy light show going on over the dance floor, and as the lights flickered over him, he looked like he was walking all slow-mo. All he needed was a majestic mane to toss down his back.
“Oh, shit. There’s a bunch of them,” Jolie said. “I can’t even.” Then she slid out her side of the booth andvanished.
Coward.
I could feel Dani smirking next to me. “That’s your new winglady?”
“Can I have you back?”
“We’ll see.” She sipped her vodka soda as Ashley slid straight into the booth beside me. Jolie’s disappearance had left me wide open on my left side. Dani and one of her girlfriends were on my right. Everyone else was gone.
“Hey,” Ashley said to me.
“Hey,” I said back.
His friend slid in next to him, and I noticed Haz and another semi-scary-looking, muscular dude hanging off to the side. Security.
Hotsecurity.
Did it make me shallow that it kinda turned me on that Ashley needed muscly security dudes with him when he went to a bar?
Ashley was wearing a black ball cap with a red anarchy symbol on it, and his friend was wearing a camo one, backwards. From what I’d discerned so far, the ball cap was the universal disguise of the low-profile rock star.
So cute.
And Ashley’s friend was definitely a rock star. Or at least, he sure as hell looked like one.
He wore a white T-shirt, but it wasn’t cotton. More like some kind of performance fabric that created a vacuum seal to his skin. I could see his nipples through it. And many, many sculpted muscles, like all the little ones that only got definition when a guy worked out a lot. He had tattoos all down his arms and up his neck. He took off his cap and smoothed his dark-brown hair back; it was buzzed on the sides, the top slicked back. He had a nose ring, nice, sculpted lips and male-supermodel cheekbones.
Ashley was right. He was glorious.
Ashley introduced him around as Xander. Then he told Xander my name, and Daniella’s. Xander did that contrast/comparison thing that most guys did, his eyes moving from me to my twin sister and back a few times.
Then they parked on Dani.
Ooooh boy. If hewasa rock star, he was so barking up the wrong tree.
“This is Nikki,” I said, pointing out my sister’s friend, and finally Xander looked at her. Nikki gave him the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her face. Dani was super pretty, but she was understated about it. She’d never really had to work for it, so to speak. Nik was less pretty, objectively, but she had the big boobs—in a low-cut black dress—and the glossy red lips and big smile.
And all of it seemed to be doing its job.
“Hey,” Xander said, and offered her his hand. Nikki took hold of it across the table, then leaned in toward him, boobs on display… and they were off. Deep in some conversation/flirtation that no one was getting them out of anytime soon.
“Come here often?” A low, sexy voice slithered into my ear. I glanced at Ashley. He’d shifted closer to me, and I could feel the heat of his body against mine. We weren’t touching, but close.
“I come here sometimes, yes. It’s kind of my favorite bar.”
He’d spun his black cap backward so it didn’t jab me when he leaned in, close to my ear, and said, “You look gorgeous.” Then his gaze slid down the front of my slithery dress. It was silver. Short, with narrow straps, a drapey front and low back that didn’t allow for any kind of bra. Dani had convinced me to wear those stick-on cup things that made it look like you were naked but still had flawless support under the slinky fabric.
