ANOTHER GLASS FUMBLES OUT OF my hold, slipping free from the towel I had been using to polish it and tumbling to the floor. The sound of glass splintering makes me flinch, and I brace for Nate’s commentary. He’s been giving me wide berth for a few weeks now, but I know he’s just seconds away from not biting his tongue any longer.
When I look up from my mess and see Nate giving me a sideways glance, I ignore him and continue cleaning up the shattered glass. This stupid glass might as well be a metaphor for my week. A mess that’s becoming my new normal ever since Nikki’s bombshell proposition. Not that I’m counting, but it’s actually been three weeks and a one fucking day since that Thursday night. Not one peep from her. She hasn’t been in Dirty, she hasn’t called, not a single text. Nothing. And I can’t figure out if I’m more pissed about her lack of communication after that night or if it’s that I even care at all.
“What the fuck, dude?”
Ah, there it is.
Ignoring Nate, I continue to sweep the broken glass into the dustpan with the broom we keep behind the bar. There’s no way Nate’s going to give up without pulling answers from me. Not since he’s finally stopped looking at me like keeping his mouth shut is the worst thing he’s ever had to deal with. Swear to fuck, I’ve never met a grown damn man who could pout better than a toddler. Surly bastard.
“What the fuck, what? Glass slipped, I didn’t exactly want it to.”
“You need to get laid. Maybe you won’t have butterfingers if you work out that frustration that’s had you acting like a moody son of a bitch for weeks.”
I don’t respond, but my mood sure does fucking sour a little more at the mention of getting laid, which only fills my brain with the memories of Nikki coming undone beneath me. I haven’t even been able to think about getting laid if it wasn’t with her. No one else will do. How fucked up is that?
“Seriously, Shane,” Nate tries again, leaning in to nudge my shoulder with his. “What’s crawled up your ass? Even when we used to handle all this inventory and prep shit by ourselves, we could fly through it, but today, it’s like you aren’t even fucking here.”
“Nothing’s up, Nate,” I grumble, putting the broom and dustpan back under the bar and standing, placing my hands on the wood and dropping my head with a loud exhale to look at my booted feet. When I look back up, my eyes scan the empty room around us before glancing over my shoulder at my best friend. I sigh, shake my head, and hold his probing gaze. “Fuck, Nate, I’m not even sure I can explain it all without breaking more shit.”
He drops his clipboard onto the empty bar top before turning to lean with his ass against the wood to focus on me completely. “Ember always tells me to just start from the beginning, man, so I figure you could go with that, and then we can muddle through it together.”
“We sound like two chicks ready to paint our nails and gossip about the new cute boy in class.”
Nate laughs, a deep belly laugh that echoes around the empty club. “The day you ask me to paint your nails is the day we break up. That is reserved for only my special ladies.”
Easing the tension from my shoulders, I let out a burst of laughter before sobering. “It’s Nikki.” I open my mouth, ready to explain more, but close it when I realize I really just don’t have the fucking words to explain further. With a sad as hell shake of my head, I just hold his gaze and offer him a shrug.
“Well, isn’t that a relief. I figured as much, but Ember was all ‘don’t bring it up, honey’ but waiting for you to bring it up would’ve taken years. Thanks for bringing that up, man. I’m so glad we have the kind of relationship where you feel like you can come to me and all. As annoying as you can be when you’re acting like a pouting baby, it sure is entertaining to watch the mighty Shane Kingston crash and burn. Before I start enriching your love life with my words of wisdom, I feel like I need to tell you that if I ever see your cock again, I’m going to have to bleach my eyes. That just doesn’t sound like a fun time, so no more cock sharing, okay?”
“Nate, what the fuck?”
“Two weeks, one week, three? Fuck, I don’t know how long it’s been, but the last time Nik crashed at our house, Quinnie got her hands on Nik’s phone, and man, I thought we were pretty close before, but that was before I knew what your dick looked like.”
“Jesus Christ, you’ve been waiting this whole time to slip in that you saw that, haven’t you?”
Nate’s smile grows, mischievous little shit.
“She been around?”
“Nikki? Uh, yeah. She lives in Hope Town. Where else would she be getting around?”
“You’re a pain in my ass, Nate.”
His booming laughter rings out. “Saw her this past Wednesday when Ember went to her place for their weekly gab fest, but I haven’t spoken to her since the day I saw your dick.”
He wags his eyebrows, and I know instantly what he’s implying. I ignore the anger that I instantly feel knowing he had to have also seen the picture Nikki had sent me that night. I don’t like how out of control this girl makes me feel. Not one fucking bit. For fuck’s sake, Nate’s the happiest married man I know. There’s no way he saw that and thought about her sexually, but just knowing he did see that part of her is enough to make me want to put my hands back on her … to mark her as mine.
Fucking hell.
“I feel like this is the part of our little chat when I point out you didn’t deny you’ve crashed and burned over a woman.”
“I haven’t … what the fuck are you talking about?”
“Shane and Nikki, sitting in a tree,” he belts out, moving his hands as if he was conducting a band to his silent tune.
“How old are you again?” I drone, grabbing the clipboard and picking up where he left off.
“So are y’all like a thing?”
“No,” I answer.
“You gonna be a thing?”
“No.”
“You sure about that?”
“Nate, seriously, shut the fuck up.”
“We could double date. Don’t girls love that kind of stuff?”
“I think we need to go do something manly, Nate. You’re around too much estrogen at home. Clearly, you need more guy time.”
“If you have a boy, you’d better keep him away from my princess.”
“What the fuck? Who’s having a baby?”
“You should probably just call her. Stop breaking shit around here and go get your willy wet.”
“Something is seriously wrong with you,” I tell him, wide-eyed yet annoyingly entertained.
“All jokes aside, why don’t you just call the girl, Shane? I know I said a lot of shit about you starting something with her a few weeks ago, but if it’s what you both want, go for it.”
“I’m not interested in a relationship, Nate. You know the shit I went through with Lacey. It got so bad after we moved here and Dirty opened; she hired a PI because she was that fucking convinced I was cheating on her. Not sure why she didn’t do that shit back in Athens, but something about this place made her go insane.”
Nate laughs dryly. “Yeah, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black.”
“You’ve got that right.” I put the clipboard back down and turn to lean against the bar, looking at Nate. “We’re going to do this girl talk shit, aren’t we?”
He holds his arms out wide. “Come on, girlfriend, tell Nate Dog all your troubles.”
“Something really is wrong with you.”
He shrugs. “My dad tells me that daily. Come on; we’ve got an hour before the crew shows. Let’s get your love life settled so we can finish this shit and get out of here early tonight.”
We share a look, knowing there isn’t a chance in hell we’re getting out of here early tonight. Not with Dent, our full-time manager and bartender, out sick, and five other employees down with the flu.
“How much do you know about her ex?”
“Seth, king douche?”
“I guess. I only met the guy a few times over the years, but the way he’s still sniffing around, I didn’t think they had split.”
“Looks like we got another pot in the room,” Nate sniggers.
“This isn’t even close to the shit I’ve got going on with Lacey.”
“Isn’t it, though?”
“Explain, Nate.”
“She scraped that fool off right around the time Ember and I got solid. I don’t remember all the details. I was distracted by tears and a lot of ice cream. Not to mention, I was public enemy number one just because I had a cock, so I got out of that convo between her and Em real fucking quick. Something about him cheating, but if you ask me, he was treating her like shit long before that.”
“And he’s been around because she took him back?”
He reaches out and smacks my forehead with his palm. “No, dumbass. Just like you with that cheating bitch Lacey, she keeps trying to get the dude to leave her alone. Both of y’all have exes with their teeth clamped tight.”
“Which is exactly why I’m not fucking calling her. Combined, we’ve got enough baggage to sink the Titanic … again.”
“Or because you’d rather be a little bitch than figure out what is between the two of you.”
“Or maybe because it’s easier to crave something you got a taste of than deal with the stomachache that follows when you indulge your sweet tooth too much.”
“You know, before Ember, I probably would have agreed with you. Shane, man, who’s to say you’d have to deal with that kind of ending? Nikki isn’t like most girls. Maybe you need to ask yourself if she isn’t worth at least seeing what’s going on between y’all, why she’s been able to affect your life this much just by the silence coming from her end.”
Nate drops his hand to my shoulder, giving a solid pat and a cocky smile before walking away from the bar. His words tumble through my head while I finish inventory. Long after the club opened for the night and I had finished the paperwork on my desk, I was still thinking about what Nate said.
Nikki might be different than most girls, but I haven’t met a single one who could handle my job. Jealousy is a nasty bitch that taints everything in its path. Different or not, I doubt Nikki Clark is immune to it. If she makes another move, we can play, but play is all we’ll do.