I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I hadn’t been able to all night. Nikki’s gift to Em had been a fitted black dress and black heels. If Nikki hadn’t gotten ready at our place, making sure Em was halfway tipsy before we got out the door, I don’t think she’d have worn it. I’m so fucking glad she did. It was definitely the most revealing thing she’d ever worn, and I loved it. My cock, which had been semihard since she walked out our bedroom door, loved it as well.
“I’m having such an amazing night,” she shouted at me. If she was tipsy when she left, she was definitely well on her way to being hammered now.
“Me too, baby,” I replied.
“You know, O’Connell, you’ve been talking to my boobs all night,” she replied.
“I know, Sunshine, but we’re married now. It means I’m legally entitled to stare at your tits every time you wear something hot and not get punished for it.”
She thought about this really hard for a moment. “I don’t recall that being in the small print of our marriage certificate but I’ll take your word for it.”
I patted my knee, and she sat down in my lap with a thump, making me smile. Damn she was cute when she’d been drinking.
“Great, the one place I go to kick back on my only night off, and you’re here.”
We both turned our heads to see that bitch Em waitressed with.
“Seriously, Katrina, what is your problem with me?” Em confronted her, and I knew she’d never have been in her face if she’d been sober.
“What’s my problem? Where do I start? How about the fact that you looked me up and down the first day you started and pinned me as a slut without knowing a thing about me. Do you even know how you look at any sexually confident girl?”
“So the fact that you’re always late, if you turn up to work at all, isn’t enough reason to dislike you? You know, it’s me who covers when that happens or when you’re not doing your job properly,” Em retorted but without much conviction.
“If I’m even less than one hundred percent, it’s usually because I’m exhausted, and in case you haven’t wondered why I’ve never been fired for taking time off at short notice, it’s because Rhona and Mike are good people who took the trouble to get to know me before judging me.”
“Look, I don’t know what’s been going on with you, but you’re not the only one with problems.”
I honestly never thought about how Em saw other women, didn’t really give a shit either to be honest, but there was no way this girl was fucking up my wife’s birthday, if she hadn’t already. “Look, whatever you have to say to Em can wait until another day. Her twenty-first fucking birthday ain’t the time to do it.”
“No, it’s okay, O’Connell,” Em said looking pretty white and seeming a lot more sober than she had a few minutes ago. “Baby, would you go and get us some drinks?” she asked me.
“Uh, no,” I replied. “Darlin’, I ain’t leaving you alone for some bitch to rip into you as soon as I’m gone.”
Rolling her eyes at my stubbornness, she asked the girl to join us. Looking suspicious and a little less pissed off, Katrina sat down.
“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that way, and you’re absolutely right. I have been judging you. Thing is, O’Connell was my first but I was beaten and called a slut every day for as far back as I can remember for doing things like wearing strappy tops with no sleeves or leaving my underwear on the dryer. When that’s your benchmark for slutiness, I guess it’s easy to judge. I should have taken the time to get to know you. I’m sorry.”
“Shit. Are you always this fucking nice? You apologizing never occurred to me so now I’m pissed off with nothing to do about it.”
“Welcome to my world,” I chuckled humorously and sipped on my beer. Em smiled tightly at Katrina but I had a feeling she was beating herself up over what this girl had said.
“If it makes you feel any better, I was lying when I said you’d smell your husband’s aftershave on me if you ever let him out of your sight. I was just trying to get a rise out of you. I don’t mess with married men,” she admitted to Em, and I was horrified. I don’t care how badly Em had judged this girl in the past, but making a wife think her husband is going to fool around behind her back is a low blow.
“Thanks,” Em replied with a half-smile, “but that didn’t really bother me that much. My husband wouldn’t cheat on me. But it’s nice of you to say so.”
“Are you for real? I thought judgy Emily was bad. I’m not drunk enough to deal with sorry, sweet, sugary Em. Let’s just agree that we’re not gonna be best friends any time soon. I’ll stop being bitchy if you stop being disapproving, and we’ll see if we can go a whole shift at least pretending to be nice.”
Man, this girl sucked at being nice almost as much as I did. She seriously needed to spend more time with Em. No doubt Em was racked with guilt for misjudging this girl.
“Okay,” Em said, still looking tortured.
“I’ll see you at Daisy’s then,” she said standing up from the table, “and happy twenty-first.”
She walked away, and Em sighed deeply.
“Hey, no browbeating today. It’s your birthday so let’s dance.”
Lifting her off my lap, I let her guide me through the throng of people to the dance floor, my hands resting on the gentle curve of her hips to make sure I didn’t lose her. I felt her tighten up as we moved our way through everyone. Even drunk she struggled to fight being a natural introvert. A lifetime of trying to blend into the background didn’t change just because she’d become my wife. Staying behind her, I stoked my hands up and down her hips, moving us to the beat as I nuzzled my nose gently against her neck and she shivered. It was too loud to talk without shouting but I didn’t need words. The scent of vanilla had me captivated, and I couldn’t have gotten closer to her if I tried.
“What’s up, bitches?” Tommy shouted as he parted the crowd like Moses at the Red Sea. There aren’t words to describe what he did on the dance floor. The cheesier the song, the more outlandishly he danced, and the girls loved him for it. Only when he was creeping out of their bed the next morning did they realize what kind of a player he really was.
Watching Nikki, Albie, Ryan, and the others flood the dance floor was my first warning that I was about to lose my excuse to hold Em close. When the opening bars of “We are Family” by Sister Sledge sounded, the DJ took to the mike. “Yo, ladies and gentleman. Let’s give it up for Em out celebrating her twenty-first birthday.” We whooped and hollered as Em reddened like a tomato. “Join her and her friends on the dance floor, and if you’ve got it, shake it.”
The music blared, and I rolled my eyes knowing that this was Kieran’s doing. Usually when Tom got going, I ran for cover, but as I watched Em’s face light up with happiness, I figured if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, and shook my arse so bad I gave even Tommy a run for his money. By the time the song ended, we were all hot, sweaty, and laughing our arses off. One song morphed into another but no one was in a hurry to leave. Tommy had already caught the eye of some girl, and by the way he danced, with her between his legs and pressed up against his chest, it wasn’t hard to imagine how the night would end for both of them.
“What the fuck…?” said a voice to my left. I turned to see Earnshaw staring daggers at Tom.
“She your girl?” I asked.
“My sister,” he answered through clenched teeth. Kieran, who’d been eavesdropping on our conversation, sniggered while I winced. Monday morning at the gym was going to be pretty interesting if Tom humped and dumped Earnshaw’s sister. Kier and I both turned to look at her. She was quite pretty, really. Long, tanned legs, nice, curvy figure, and straight brown hair. Em would probably call it some weird shade but as far as I was concerned, women’s hair came in six colors: black, brown, blond, red, white, and gray. Hers was brown.
“Amy, can we have a word please?” Earnshaw asked, and it amused me to see the tick in the side of his jaw. Fair play to the bloke. If Tom was rubbing up like that against my sister, I’d smack him first and ask questions later. His sister looked pissed to be pulled away from Tom’s wandering hands, but to her credit, she did what he asked without making a fuss. Me and Kier were like old women when it came to gossip, so we were all ears when he pulled her to the side of us.
“Look, Amy, I’m really pleased you decided to come out but I have to work with these guys so I don’t want one of them hooking up with my sister,” he reasoned.
“Jesus, you worry far too much. We’re all adults here. Who’s going to be bothered if Tommy and I have a little fun?” she answered.
“I’ll be fucking bothered!” he told her, losing his temper. “You don’t think I won’t get a detailed and graphic account of what you two did?”
“Don’t be such a fucking drama queen. If you had your way, I’d never date anyone,” she complained.
“Dating, yes! Dry humping on the dance floor with people I work with, no!”
Amy crossed her arms and stared at him. I half expected one of them to start growling. It was Earnshaw who broke the standoff first, his frown morphing into a mischievous smile.
“Fine. Dry hump away, but if you leave the club with anyone but me, I’m phoning Dad to tell him that you’ve gone off with a man you’ve just met.”
“You’d slut shame me?” she shrieked.
“In a heartbeat,” he answered, grinning away like he knew he’d won.
“You really are a dick, you know that?” she told him.
“Yeah, but I’m a dick who loves you.”
She elbowed him in the stomach on her way back to Tommy, which made him grunt. She went straight back to dancing up close and personal with our very own slut bag. Shit, if they got any closer, she’d be pregnant by osmosis. Amy was obviously showing her brother she wouldn’t be pushed around, but I’d bet good money she’d be sleeping alone tonight.
“I’m so fecking glad I don’t have a sister,” Kieran said to us both. Earnshaw’s once smug face now looked ashen as he loitered awkwardly, not dancing but trying hard to look anywhere but at his sister. Taking pity on him, I nudged his shoulder to get his attention.
“Come on. I’ll buy you a pint while your sister lets off some steam.” He nodded gratefully, and I turned toward Em who was still kicking it with Nikki.
“If you’re going to the bar, can you get me a lemonade?” she asked, “I’m going to stay and dance.”
“You had enough to drink, baby?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m happy to stick to soft drinks now that I’ve danced all the tequila out of me.”
Leaving her with Nikki, Earnshaw, Kieran, and I headed to the bar. The barman slid three pints and a lemonade across on a tray and I handed him a note.
Walking back toward Em, Earnshaw frowned, looking confused. “We’re going back on the dance floor?” he asked Kieran. I placed our drinks down at a tall table that overlooked the lower dance floor.
“Em’s been drinking, so we stand somewhere he can keep watch over her,” Kieran explained. Earnshaw looked at me like I was some kind of freak with three heads, which made me laugh.
I nodded toward the girls. “See Em, cutting loose and having a good time?” He nodded in response. “It’s taken a long time for her to feel that comfortable in her own skin. Even with her stepdad behind bars, she’s confident and carefree because she knows that she can have a drink and I’ve got her back. And if I haven’t, Kieran has or Tommy has. So as long as she’s there, we stay here.” I figured that I’d done a pretty good job of explaining how me and Em worked but he still looked at me like I was some kind of possessive Neanderthal. Whatever. I gave it a week before he watched over Sunshine as much as the rest of us.
We shot the breeze about boxing mostly while Earnshaw tried hard not to look at his sister and I tried hard to peel my eyes away from Em. Watching her dance in that figure-hugging black dress with those long, gorgeous legs that I’d had wrapped around my waist was making my cock twitch. If I had my way, she’d finish off her birthday clutching the sheets and screaming my name. A couple of the lads joined us, and Liam, who I hadn’t seen much of all night, stood next to me. He shifted from side to side looking pretty uncomfortable.
“Spit it out,” I told him finally. “What’s on your mind?”
“Just wondering if we’re still good. You know. About the other night.”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” I asked him, confused.
“A lot of people won’t be when they find out,” he admitted. Liam was usually laidback and steadfast. There was no pressuring or pushing him into doing anything he didn’t want to do. He was one of us but he was also his own man, and we respected him for it.
“Look, mate, when the truth comes out, everyone who means anything to you will feel exactly the same. We love you for who you are, not where you stick your dick. Finding someone to love who loves you back is a pretty big achievement in this shitty, little world. So if you get that, be brave, and everything will work itself out in the end.”
“Thanks, Con. I appreciate that,” he said.
“You know you’re going to have to tell the other guys eventually,” I pointed out.
“I know,” he said looking around wistfully, “just not today.”
As our friends trickled slowly from the dance floor to our table, Tommy and Earnshaw’s sister joined us. Earnshaw had gone from clenching his teeth to full-on grinding them. I couldn’t tell if the look on Tommy’s face was because he was really into this girl or because he was yanking Earnshaw’s chain. When a beautiful redhead walked past our table and Tommy stared at her adoringly like she hung the moon, I had my answer.
“Hey, Evelyn,” Liam said to her. “You seen your brother round lately? I don’t have his number, and I was looking for his help with a job.”
“I haven’t seen him for a couple weeks but I can give you his number, if you like,” she replied. They made small talk while she programmed her number into Liam’s phone. When she caught sight of Tommy and Amy, she took in their intimate position and her expression became completely stone-faced. By the time anything resembling hello came out of Tommy’s mouth, she was gone. When he realized that she’d seen him with his arms around another girl, Tommy looked devastated.
“Hello, love,” Em said, bouncing toward me.
“Still think it’s the best birthday ever?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “I can think of something that would make it even better though,” she said with a cheeky grin, then leaned over to whisper something erotic in my ear. I had us both in a cab home less than ten minutes later.