I’m happy for Jensen, but his sudden turn- around in the romance department has the tendency to dredge up bad memories of our parents, and all the reasons we all three have always said we didn’t want to be in a committed relationship. Even though we never had an official pact, it had been long discussed and decided on among us, and Jensen had to go and betray Ramsey and me.
“We all know you just like to hit it and quit it,” Ramsey says to me.
“And on that note…” Jensen muses, mysteriously.
I follow the direction of his stare until I see Blondie, or at least a woman who looks a lot like her.
“Is that the same girl from Louie’s the other night?”
“Yep.”
Jensen’s laugh is mischievous now.
“What in the…?”
What is he up to?
“She may be a friend of Riley’s who I had told to come to Louie’s, to celebrate your fine performance on the stage. You were too tired and mopey then, so I thought you’d like to make up for lost time.”
I glare at him as Blondie sidles up to me and says, “Hey there, Gorgeous.”
I don’t know why Jensen thinks he needs to set me up. I could have had any girl at the conference that night. I probably could have even had uppity Whitney.
My guess is that he’s trying to tame me, so that I can have a ball and chain like he has Riley now. Hell, it’s even one of her friends. That figures.
But I look at Blondie again and can’t say I blame my brother for trying. He certainly chose well for me. Blondie has banging tits and pretty blue eyes under eyelashes so long they have to be fake.
“What are you drinking?” I ask.
“I’ll have some Sex on the Beach.”
She winks at me.
“Too bad we’re in the desert,” Ramsey laughs.
“What are you boys up to tonight?” she asks, inching even closer to my bar stool.
“Just hanging out and having fun,” Jensen says. “At least these single boys here are,” he quickly adds.
“Actually, I was just complaining to Ramsey about the state of my life,” I tell her.
Both Jensen and Ramsey shoot me what- the- fuck glares. Jensen’s is accusatory in nature while Ramsey’s is more curious.
“You are at the wrong place for that,” she says. “You have your two brothers- slash- BFFs- here, and your favorite drink…”
“And the company of a beautiful woman,” Jensen chimes in.
I would love to fuck Blondie but the fact that she’s Riley’s friend complicates matters. I don’t even know what he was thinking. He knows I don’t like to have to see my conquests around again. And I would hate to put any strain on his relationship with Riley by using and losing one of her friends.
But maybe these are all just excuses. At any other point in the past, I’d hook up with Blondie without giving it a second thought.
Maybe I’m still too distracted. I’m mad at myself for letting Whitney throw me off my game. One minute I don’t even want her to be my physical therapist and the next minute I’m looking at Blondie and comparing her to Whitney. And there’s no comparison. Not at all.
“It’s been fun but I’m heading home,” I say, throwing some bills on the bar before standing up to go.
Blondie looks at me with an offended pout, while both Ramsey and Jensen stare at me in disbelief.
“You’ve become quite the party- pooper,” Jensen says.
“Jensen!” Ramsey scolds him. “Harlow’s just been having a tough time. It’s really unfair what the military is doing to him, after all his years of loyalty and service…”
“Really?” asks Jensen. “They’re screwing with you that bad? You want me to ask Riley to help? I’m sure she can take them on and win, just like she did for me.”
I consider it. It’s not half a bad idea. I know Riley is a good lawyer who helped Jensen when he ran into trouble with the military and could probably help me convince the Powers That Be to let me back in.
But I’m hoping I won’t need to go that far.
“Thanks, Jensen. I think I just need to see how things play out. I’ll keep it in mind though.”
“Are you sure it’s only that that’s bugging you?” Ramsey asks. He knows me all too well. “Because I really think it’ll be okay. They just want to dot their I’s and cross their T’s, for liability’s sake and all of that.”
“I know,” I say. “Thanks.”
But there’s definitely something— or someone— else who is bugging me.
Against what may be my better judgment— am I thinking with my dick?— I decide to go ahead and start my sessions with Whitney tomorrow morning, if only to prove to myself that she doesn’t bug me all that much. I can handle this. The only way to get her out of my head is to work with her and be constantly reminded of what an uppity, meddling creature she can be.
Sure, that’s the reason I’m going to see her tomorrow. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.