Page 7 of Pretend I’m Yours
“Oh yeah? What happened? Some hot chick fall on top of you?” Brad asked, clearly not wanting to show how interested he was in taking Pete’s bait.
“I would have been pissed if one had,” Pete said defensively. “But if you could see what’s going on the dance floor tonight, you’d come in your pants.”
“Doubt it,” I muttered. I knew I hadn’t said it loud enough for anyone to hear me, but the mention of women made all the boys turn back to me. They were all under the impression that I was unable to find a girl after my divorce, not realizing – or perhaps refusing to realize – that I hadn’t been looking.
“You care to go check out the menu?” Brad asked with a devious smile. “We’ve all been taking bets on how long it’d take you to get a girl to go home with you.”
“We did factor in that it’s rather sketch that you’re living in a hotel room. I mean, the poor girl might think you’re some sort of serial killer or something,” Pete laughed.
“Nah, I’m not really into that right now,” I said as I waved off the suggestion. “I don’t have time or desire to deal with women.”
“Every man has desire,” Trey said with a look of horror on his face. “Don’t tell me you let your ex take your balls when she left?”
I shot him a look and once again had to fight to keep myself under control. I had a lot more angst against the world than even I had realized until I was out with people who knew me. It might have been quite some time since the last time we’d hung out, but it was still difficult for me to deal with their jabs and remarks.
“Of course not. But do you really think I want to deal with a woman when I still have to find a job and a place to live? I don’t think so!” I said. “All they’re after is money anyway, and I don’t have it to give right now.”
“Ha! Listen to you play it off as the responsible, poor boy!” Brad said. “Sounds to me like you need a woman now more than ever. Not only can you take your frustration out on her – er, should I say, in her – but if you get yourself a rich girl that’ll solve your money and living situation problems, too!”
“There are times I really wonder how you made it this far without ending up in jail,” I said as I shook my head. “What sort of woman is going to go for you when you have an attitude like that?”
“When you have looks like these,” he said as he put his hands on either side of his coat collar, “It doesn’t matter what comes out of your mouth.”
“You’re insane,” I shook my head, but Matt and Trey both took his side.
“Really though, I think it’d do you some good to find some rich girl and not have to worry about anything right now. You know she’s not going to ask anything of you that you don’t want to give her,” Trey said with a grin. “So why not give it a shot?”
“Because I don’t want to deal with drama, and the rich ones have more drama than the poor!” I snapped.
“Not really anything that you need to get involved in,” Brad chimed in. “I mean, think about it. You find yourself some poor rich widow or something and boom! She’ll take care of you if you take care of her. Many of them are just lonely enough to want someone to come home to, and the rest of the time they spend shopping and spending the cash they don’t know what to do with.”
“And think about what would happen if you get your hands on some of that cash,” Matt said. “If you play your cards right, you might get someone who will set you up with a pretty sweet place and you can leave the situation better off than when you went in.”
“I don’t know,” I said. I wanted to give them a firm answer, but the more points they made in favor of me finding a rich woman just to play with, the better it sounded. They did make some pretty valid arguments for what they wanted, that was for sure.
“Come on! You heard what Pete said!” Trey announced as he rose from the table. He drained his beer and slammed the glass down before wiping his sleeve across his mouth. “I’m going to go check out what’s going on at the dance floor. Any of you ladies want to join?”
“Drake does!” Brad said as he gave me a shove. I tensed for a moment, then shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I didn’t have to make a move on any woman if none of them caught my eye, and if I were to go with Trey then it would get the rest of the boys off my back.
