Lingus (10 page)

Zoey started giggling as she turned in the seat to look at me face to face. "I can’t believe you did that in front of Robby Lingus.”

I snapped the seatbelt in. "Why are both of you calling him by his entire name anyway? That's stupid."

"You never call Andrew Wood just Andrew, asshole." Nicole said, and she was right, I didn't. I mean, I could just call him Andrew but he wasn't just any Andrew, he was Andrew Wood. Nikki started reversing out of the parking spot, making funny noises from the front seat. "I knew black wasn't his natural hair color," she mumbled. "You really didn't know who he was?"

"Nope. I just thought he was some guy." The more I said and thought that, the more it genuinely bothered me. It seemed to be that everyone knew who Robby Lingus was except me. It wasn't like I watched porn all the time, but still. This was exactly like the time everyone else knew not to drink from the punch bowl except me, and I ended up drunk off my ass.

"He's really nice, Kat. I've met him a couple of times in passing." Zoey said in a cheerful voice, her gray eyes still peering at me through the visor mirror. "Did he ask you for your phone number or anything?"

Part of me felt like such a fucking loser, while the other half was relieved. The loser half was disappointed he didn't make an effort to at least try to build a friendship with me, because I thought maybe he sensed that we got along really well, but maybe he was just that nice and funny to everyone? He probably was. The other part of me was relieved that he didn't ask me for my number, or even make an effort to give me that idea. I was an only child, I didn't know how to share and I wasn't willing to learn. What was I going to do if I started developing feelings for a porn star? I already felt mopey about the situation after just three talks.

"Nope."

Zoey frowned, flipping the visor up. "Well, whatever. You don't need any real dick as long as you have batteries."

"Oh yeah, thanks for that smooth move, Zo. Real smooth." I groaned, reminding her of the embarrassing outburst over by the booths.

She gasped, and I saw her throw a hand over the left side of her face. "I'm sorry, Kat!"

"It's fine," I grumbled back, knowing I couldn't stay mad at her even if I tried.

Nikki had been surprisingly quiet for too long, which I knew from experience was never a good thing. Her intense hazel eyes were locked on me through the rear-view mirror. "You wouldn't do a porn star?"

"The jealousy would eat me alive," I said with a sigh. "I don't want to set myself up for heartache being with someone who was with other girls on the side, Nik. No offense, Zo." I finished knowing that even though Zoey's situation was different, her job had still cost her a pretty good relationship, but we all knew now that a pretty good relationship wasn't a great relationship.

"So, what you're trying to say is that you wouldn't let him fertilize your flower?" Nikki snorted.

Zoey made a stupid noise that sounded like a cough and a choke. "You wouldn't let him hide his salami?"

"Pump gas into your tank?"

"Hibernate in your cave?"

"Catch a ride on the Kitty Kat Express?"

"Tenderize your meat?"

I groaned between laughs. "And I wonder why none of us have steady relationships."

Chapter 13

I tugged at the bottom of my dress for the fifth time in the last thirty minutes, earning a scowl from Josh.

"Quit fidgeting with your hem!" he hissed before tossing back a shot of whatever the bartender had supplied him with. Josh used his thumb to wipe at the corner of his lips. "You look great, Kat, so quit that shit."

"I don't mind showing off some leg, but I don't want everyone to see my ass," I tried to explain to him.

I wasn't shy with my body for the most part. I'd inherited my dad, Frank's, excellent metabolism later in life, exercised regularly, and ate pretty well. Obviously, I was no size zero like Zoey, but I was content and comfortable with my size four. Well, usually more like a five or a six depending on how often I was going to the gym.

Josh cocked an eyebrow at me, shifting on the stool he was occupying at the bar as he raked his dark blue eyes up and down my frame. I'd feel uncomfortable if any another man looked at me like he would some prized sports car, but this was Josh. Josh who I had caught wearing my underwear multiple times when we were roommates in college. Josh who liked DP and I wasn't talking about Dr. Pepper or double penetration in the form of vag and ass.

Zoey and I were more excited about giving him Officer Spanky, as we'd started calling him, than we were about his birthday party. Unfortunately, the birthday boy and I were the first ones at Breeze. Zoey was coming with some
friend
named Eva as well as bringing along Ryan, her brother. Nicole was going to pick up Calum. That idea made me laugh a little because it was typical Nikki behavior. She always picked up the guy on their first date. I think she was trying to send a message of dominance, but who really knows. I was surprised she managed to wait more than an entire week to meet up with Calum instead of caving in and meeting him up for some "P and V time," as she deemed it.

It had already been seven days since the porn convention. Time went by so fast it felt like only a couple of days instead. Now that school was out of session, I was busy working on my newest book and hitting up the gym with Zoey for hours. Unfortunately, the stud muffin I'd created for my newest novel shared pretty much every trait with Tristan King. Go fucking figure. The one person I tried not to think about was also the one person I couldn't stop thinking of. I didn't go as far as to name him Tristan too, but I settled for Christian the moment I came across the name randomly one night.

"I like your dress," Josh said, running a manicured finger down the strap of my polka dot black dress. It had tiny spaghetti straps, a sweetheart neckline, reached me at a respectable knee-length, but the best part of it was that I found it on sale.

I squeezed Josh's nose between the knuckles of my index and middle finger because I knew how much he hated it. "Thank you. You look nice too." He grimaced as he pulled away, adjusting the dark gray suit he was wearing over a crisp white shirt, and looked around to make sure any potential suitors didn't interpret my action as a romantic advance.

"So, is Robby Lingus coming or what?" he asked, picking up the mojito that he ordered at the same time as his shot.

The bad thing about having three friends who were all really nosey, as well as really close, was that if one knew something that the others didn't, it was only a matter of hours before everyone knew. It was a blessing and a curse. I'd have to give Zoey and Nicole credit though, Josh didn't find out about the Tristan and Robby situation until the day after porn con. Being the good friend that he was, he spent an hour going into details on how much prettier, smarter, and sexier I was than any of the other girls he'd ever seen Tristan with in his pornos. My boobs, ass, legs, face, and intelligence had never been more complimented in my life before that conversation.

It was a testament to my ignorance that my gay best friend knew who Robby Lingus was and I didn't. I didn’t even know Josh watched anything other than male-on-male porn.

"No clue. Nikki didn't say anything, so I wouldn't put my money on it."

Josh frowned, raising his hand to touch his rock-hard hair. I swear he used half a bottle of gel on his blonde hair everyday. Where Zoey, Nikki, and I didn't bother highlighting or coloring our hair, Josh didn't hold back. He had white-blonde highlights redone every three weeks, religiously.

He frowned and shrugged. "You think he might be at least a little gay?"

I snorted before I picked up my glass of vodka and cranberry juice. "I don't think you can be a little gay," I laughed, but secretly asked God not to let him swing both ways.

"You never know, Booger. Maybe he secretly likes bratwurst," Josh said with a straight face. I couldn't help but wince at his use of my nickname.

"Is that what you're going to wish for tonight?"

Josh crossed his fingers on both hands and closed his eyes. "All I want for my birthday is for Robby Lingus to be gay," he chanted before we both burst out laughing.

A manly snort interrupted us, followed be a velvety, smooth voice that sounded amused. "I'm flattered, but I think you'd have better luck wishing Calum was gay. He likes crossing swords."

Josh and I spun around in our stools to face the source of the milky, smooth voice, but I already knew who it was. Tristan was of course standing just two feet behind us, his hands as always, buried into the front pockets of his charcoal colored, slim-fitting pants. The black button down shirt he had on was neatly tucked into his pants and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

Good golly, Molly. I was worried Josh would try to bite him if I didn't get to it first.

Tristan grinned at both of us, when we noticed that Calum stood right behind him with Nikki in tow. "It happens, Tristan. It's just... life. When you have two shafts that close together, you just can't help it." Calum explained with a shake of his head.

Josh snickered from beside me. "Don't I know it, baby. You wanna sword fight?" he purred at Calum with a wink.

I started laughing, looking up at Calum and Tristan just standing there for a moment, completely silent and looking at Josh with blank expressions before they both burst out with loud laughs too. The three exchanged introductions while Nicole squeezed through them, smoothing down the strapless cream dress she was wearing and tossing her straight, long sandy locks over her shoulder.

She shimmied in through the three men to wrap me in a hug. "You look pretty," she said, tugging on a few strands of my wavy hair.

"Thanks, Nik. You do, too," I told her.

A second later, Josh let out a squeal, before darting past Calum and Tristan, saying something about having spotted his birthday present. Josh had a special gift for being able to spot a gay man in a crowd. It was like gay-radar, but more along the lines of a male dog catching a female dog's scent in heat.

"In that case, Calum want to dance with me?" Nicole asked him like he really had a choice.

The massive man just nodded and shot her a big smile. "My pleasure," he purred, and Nikki snorted but didn't say anything as they headed off.

"Hey," Tristan said in a smooth, deep voice while rooted to his spot a couple feet away. I could see his eyes move from my face down to the exposed skin of my chest for a very brief second before he looked at my eyes again.

"Hey," I said really low before clearing my throat. "I didn't think you'd come."

He smiled at me as he planted himself onto the stool Josh left unoccupied. He twisted it around to face my direction. "I don't really have a life outside of school and work," he said with a shrug of a broad shoulder. "I wanted to see you, anyway."

I snorted, rolling my eyes in his direction. "You're full of it," I told him, trying to wave down the bartender. I'd mentally prepped myself for his charm, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was a professional at luring and seducing females on a regular basis.

"I'm serious. I wouldn't lie to you."

"Okay," I agreed, unwillingly, with a smile and sip of my drink.

"What are you drinking?" he asked and took my glass to smell it.

"Vodka cranberry," I answered while he tipped it back, finishing off the little bit that was left. His pink tongue peeked out to lick his bottom lip. "Do you drink out of every random person's glass?"

Tristan snorted and looked at me under those long, dark eyelashes. "No, just my Mom and now you."

"I guess now would probably be a bad time to tell you I have the flu then."

He laughed, a full throaty chuckle before he turned his stool to face mine. The space between us was so narrow, his warm knee pressed against my thigh. "I'll take my chances," he said with a smile. "Your friend, Josh, seems like a nice guy. How old is he turning?"

"He's twenty-seven now," I told him.

"How'd you meet?" Tristan asked, his clear green eyes locked on mine.

I start telling him about how we were in the same Spanish class, and it took me half the semester to finally talk to him. Then I went off into a rant about being roommates our junior year, and how I caught him walking around naked one too many times until I had to set up a mandatory clothing rule when outside of the bedrooms. He kept asking me questions about when we lived together, and then bought me another vodka cranberry while he sipped some kind of beer I'd never heard of.

"What do you do?" he asked. We were both a little more relaxed then than we had been earlier, and somehow we'd shifted our stools so that the inside of his right thigh was pressed against my outer left thigh creating a pleasant heat on my bare skin.

"I teach fourth graders."

His smile reminded me of the sun after I'd been in the dark for long, it'd be so bright, you'd have to squint. "That's neat. How long have you been teaching?"

I sipped my drink and waved at Josh who was talking to some guy behind Tristan. "I just finished my first year at Tucker Elementary."

"Really? The law office I work at is right down the street."

Law office? I was a lightweight when I drank and my tummy had already been feeling a little fuzzy. I remembered that he mentioned working and going to school. "Hammond and Associates?" I asked, because their office building was one of those modern masterpieces that I liked to look at on my way home.