“Trust me, mixing drinks is a really bad idea. When I was first dating O’Connell, I vomited spectacularly down the front of his shirt in front of the whole club. If I live to be a hundred I don’t think I’ll live down the embarrassment,” Em said. She was talking to Evie and Marie, but I could see by the slight tilt of Con’s lip, almost resembling a smile, that he was listening.
“That’s nothing on childbirth. Try taking off your knickers, lying on a table and having complete strangers look, poke and prod between your legs. Now that’s embarrassing,” Marie argued.
“No it’s not. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Kieran chipped in, and Em oohed and aahed over how romantic he was, when he leaned over and kissed his wife.
I let my gaze wander back to Evie. She gave me a small smile, and I wondered what she was thinking. The idea of knockin’ up any girl would usually have me running for the hills, but I imagined Evie round with my baby, and a great swell of possessiveness like nothin’ I’d ever known before washed over me.
“What’s the fourth drink?” she asked me.
“Lemonade,” I replied.
“Why?” she asked, eyeing all the other drinks I’d bought her.
“Because you asked me for it,” I replied, and her small smile turned into the biggest grin.
It turned out I didn’t have to worry too much about not getting to hold Evie. The other guys struggled keeping their hands off their women just as much as I did. An hour into the night, Con mumbled some shit about hardly ever getting a babysitter, and hoisted Em out of her seat and onto his lap. Taking that as a sign that girl talk was over, Kieran did the same with Marie and smoothly, I slipped into the seat Em had vacated, and slid my arm around Evie’s shoulders. Three cocktails later, she leant back and rested her head in the crook of my neck and nothin’ had ever felt more right.
Joe and Earnshaw had disappeared, likely on the hunt for pussy, and by the way Albie and Liam had been staring at each other all night, it wouldn’t’ve surprised me if they’d sloped off home for a sneaky round of ‘hide the salami’.
“You havin’ a good time?” I asked, breathing in the fresh, magical scent that was pure Evie.
“The best,” she replied, snugglin’ in that little bit closer to me. My heart was burstin’. Nothing. Not a single fuckin’ thing I’d ever done with a girl, no matter how dirty or freaky, had ever held a candle to that moment. I felt like a mother fuckin’ giant who could slay dragons and leap tall buildings in a single bound. For two hours I was king of the fuckin’ world. Until the moment my past decided I needed another swift kick to the balls.
“Hey sweetie, I heard you got out of the hospital. Why haven’t you come to see us?” said a voice to my right. I hadn’t seen the blonde move next to me until it was too late. Her long, bleached hair was styled in curls around a face that was carefully made up. Her bright pink lipstick matched her nails, and her fitted top was cut so low that her double D’s were practically in my face. I couldn’t remember her name, but I remembered the colour of her lipstick from a little over a year ago, when she’d been down on her knees sucking my cock.
I let out a small groan as my head played out the way this shit show was gonna go down. Lookin’ across to the guys in horror, like a deer stuck in the headlights, I expected them to be laughin’, and revellin’ in my misfortune, but they both seemed pissed off.
“Hi,” I said, though I’m sure it came out like a fuckin’ squeak. “I haven’t been out much of anywhere since I came out of hospital. I’m in a relationship now, so I’ve been spending all my free time with my girlfriend,” I replied. I hoped to fuck this girl took the hint and didn’t screw things up for me, and I prayed that Evie was cool with me announcing myself as her boyfriend.
I never really understood the whole ‘are we exclusive?’ ‘are we boyfriend and girlfriend?’ shite. You fucked, or you dated and fucked. If the dating shit happened more than once, surely it was exclusive and by date three you were a couple. Otherwise, what was the point in dating? Of course, I’d only ever fucked and couldn’t think of the last time I went on a date, so what did I know? But it didn’t seem like somethin’ that needed a conversation. Considering this was only our first date, I hoped Evie felt the same way.
“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone, but that’s cool. Listen, you remember my twin sister Lucy? She’s at the bar getting us some drinks, but I know she’s lookin’ for a good time tonight. Why don’t you come back to our place for a repeat of St Patrick’s Day? Your girlfriend can join us if she likes. I’ve never sixty-nined with a redhead before. I kinda wanna see if the carpet matches the curtains,” she said, seductively, only it wasn’t me she was eying, it was Evie. I was the polar opposite of turned on, as my balls literally shrivelled up and died. How could this shit possibly happen twice?
“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t do that anymore. Me and my girl are exclusive,” I explained, but it did little to relax Evie, who was stiff as a post beside me.
“You’re joking, right honey?” the blonde said, laughing.
“Nope,” I replied, trying really hard to be nice. Once upon a time I’d have taken her up on the offer in a heartbeat. So it didn’t seem fair to be a dick and treat her like shite now, just because I’d fallen for Evie.
“I don’t believe it. You’re actually serious!” she said, beginning to get the picture.
“I can’t imagine there’s anything remotely fun about the idea of only having sex with one person for the rest of your life, but the best of luck to you.” She paused for a moment to look me up and down, before standing and leaving as she muttered, “such a waste,” to herself.
I turned towards Evie to do what damage control I could, but she literally launched herself from her seat.
“Just going to the toilet,” she said, and fled from the table. I stood and watched her make her way to the bathrooms, trying to decide whether to go after her.
“Let me go,” Em said, and with a gentle touch to my arm, left to follow her.
“What an absolute fuckin’ shit show,” I said, sinking back into my seat, and running my hand over my buzzed hair in despair.
“Tommy, tell me you didn’t bring her to an Irish pub on a fuckin’ Saturday night without preparing her. This is place is wall to wall with women who think you’re communal candy they can bite off and chew whenever they feel like it,” Con said, looking at me like the fuck-up I was.
“I haven’t touched a girl since before the accident. I had no bloody idea it’d be like this. Shit, I thought it was a great idea to bring her out with all me mates. You know, let her see how much she has in common with the girls, and how things could be with us. Now I’ve flushed any chance I had with her down the shitter,” I replied, frustrated to fuck about how quickly the night had gone sour.
I was pissed off, but there was no-one to blame for my rage. My sexual experiences had shaped the person I was, and given me the confidence to recognise that Evie was the one. How fuckin’ ironic then, that they held me back from actually being with her. I couldn’t change my past, but if I couldn’t find a way to make her accept it, I would kiss goodbye to a future with her in it.
“Keep the faith, mate,” Con said, taking a sip of his pint as he watched for Em. “Right now I’ll bet good money my girl’s in the toilet, singin’ your praises to Evelyn and convincin’ her to give you a chance. If anyone can talk her around, Sunshine can.”
“And what do I do if that don’t work?” I asked, starting to feel pretty desperate.
“Then you go big,” Kieran chipped in. “Flowers, serenading her, whatever it takes. And when you get her, you keep on fightin’ for her. The only thing you don’t do, is give up. Cause’ you can guarantee, the minute you put your foot on the brake, there’s always some fucker with nicer manners and more green in their pocket, just waitin’ to take her away from you.”
“Great,” I thought. Not only did I have to worry about Evie runnin’ away from me, I now had t
o worry about some fucker stealin’ her away as well.
“Tommy, just remember, you’re a great guy. You’ve a big cock, a six pack that makes most girls cream their knickers and the mouth to back it all up. You’re a sexually attractive man with a lot to offer the right partner,” Kieran said.
“Take your mother fuckin’ hand off my thigh. Right. Now,” I replied, through gritted teeth. “I’m not fuckin’ gay, and I’m not bi, but I am about five seconds away from putting my fist through your face,” I warned him.
“Relax sweetness,” he answered, patting me on the leg before removing his hand. “Just try to take your mind off things.” I appreciated the gesture, but not the hand near my crotch. I glared at him, but the fucker just smiled even wider.
The boys and I chewed the fat, while we waited forever for the girls to come back. At some point Marie had sloped off to join them, and I could practically feel my ears burnin’ with all the talkin’ they were doing about me.
“Fuck,” Con muttered eventually as he looked over my shoulder. Em and Marie were walking back to us, but Evie was waiting at the end of the bar. Two guys stood either side of her and they were all chatting happily. I saw red. I didn’t give a flying fuck if one of ’em was a monk and the other a mother fuckin’ priest. That was my girl and this shit was about to get real.
Chapter Ten
EVELYN
I didn’t blame Tommy for having an active sexual history. But having it shoved in my face so often was exhausting. It was like fate was weighted against the idea of us being together. Truthfully, I wanted to fall in love. If only my passion for literature hadn’t set the bar so high. Elizabeth and Darcy, Cathy and Heathcliff, Peeta and Catniss. I wanted that all-consuming romance for myself. Inside the pages of a book it isn’t hard to succumb to the inevitability of forever. To see past the uncertainty and the complications, to the happy-ever-after that awaited. Of course, it’s easy to invest in a love story when you have nothing to lose. When you don’t doubt the hero and you’re guaranteed the happy ending. Real life was messy and complicated, and even without the obstacles, the main characters were just as likely to sabotage their own ending.
Em and Marie had sworn up and down that Tommy was a great guy and that I shouldn’t hold his past against him. It was obvious they loved him like a brother, and I envied him having such loyal friends. Despite what they thought, I didn’t judge him for how many women he’d slept with or the fact that I didn’t think he’d ever really had a solid, serious girlfriend. It was everyone’s right to choose what kind of life they wanted to live and what made them happy. Holding people to your own perceived moral standard was a dangerous way to misjudge someone’s character. I’d rather be friends with an openly promiscuous and kind soul than with a faithful family man who beat his wife on a regular basis.
The girl who’d propositioned Tommy, and I guess me, had shown me that I was already beginning to believe in my own fairy tale. The date had been amazing. For the first time in forever, I felt my age. We laughed and joked, and shared stories from our childhood. And I, a tiny bit tipsy and high on life, fell a little more for Thomas Riordon. If I was Alice in Wonderland, he was the Mad Hatter. Being with him was like falling down the rabbit hole and finding a bottle that read ‘drink this for instant love.’ Many women, I feared, had drank from the same bottle, and where were they now? Bemoaning the loss of their threesomes and wondering how it was that they’d lost his interest as quickly as they’d caught it.
It didn’t mean that I wanted to stop seeing him, I’d promised him two dates at least, but I reminded myself that I needed to be a little more guarded, and less open if I was to survive with my pride intact. Having experienced the freedom of letting loose and enjoying myself, it was a depressing thought. I convinced Em and Marie that I was fine, and didn’t need any more reassurance. That I knew he was a great guy and had understood about the long line of ladies preceding me, before agreeing to the date.
Managing to slope off after persuading them I needed a glass of water, when really what I needed was five minutes to pull up my big girl pants and go back to the table, I quickly found myself at the bar, wedged between two burly guys in tight, checked shirts and doused in so much deodorant and aftershave they made my eyes water. Despite that, they seemed friendly enough.
“I’m sorry if we’re crushing you. The bar in this place needs to get more staff. It doesn’t matter when we come here, it always seems packed,” the guy to my left said to me.
“I don’t mind waiting,” I replied. “It can’t be easy, being on their feet all night, getting drinks orders screamed at them.” He grinned at me in a friendly way, and I smiled politely back. Like girls who struck up conversations with complete strangers in front of communal bathroom mirrors, I imagined we were merely bar room comrades. Affable by the mere circumstance of being forced to stand together for an uncomfortable length of time. About the same height as Tommy, with tanned skin and neatly trimmed, short hair, he was good lucking in a commercial, Abercrombie & Fitch sort of way that did absolutely nothing for me. If you’d asked me a year ago about my ‘type’ of guy, he would have been it, and yet there wasn’t so much as a spark of attraction between us.
“You’re too nice. If you don’t scream a little you’ll never get served,” he said. Just then, his friend managed to snag the attention of one of the bar staff.
“What are you having?” his friend asked me. “You might as well order your drink with ours or you’ll be here all night.”
“That’s kind of you,” I replied. “If you wouldn’t mind getting me a bottle of water, I’ll give you the money for it.”
“You’re sweet,” he said with chuckle. “You keep your money, sweetheart. I’m sure I can stretch to a quid for a bottle of water.”
He paid for the drinks and handed me the water, and I followed them as they ploughed a path through the crowd.
“Thanks again,” I said, as I turned towards our table. I contemplated asking the guy again if he would let me pay him back, but it seemed a little silly to argue over a pound.
“You know, my friends have a table near the entrance if you fancy joining us,” the guy said. I opened my mouth to reply, when Tommy beat me to it.
“No she fuckin’ wouldn’t,” Tommy said, his face a mask of anger.
“Tommy!” I scolded, embarrassed at his rudeness.
“No harm, no foul,” the guy replied. “I didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”
“Well she does. So fuck off and find some other girl to hit on,” Tommy said, his barely contained aggression making my temper flare.
“Nice fella you’ve got there,” the stranger replied.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, but both men had gone, and my words were lost in the noise.
“If you wanted a drink, I would’ve got one for you,” Tommy said, sounding like a whiney, petulant child. I was so livid, I could well imagine my face matched the colour of my hair.
“How dare you! That was the rudest, most disrespectful display I’ve ever seen,” I shouted.
“Why am I rude? You’re the one letting other guys buy you drinks while you’re on a date with me!” he protested.
“It was one bottle of water he kindly bought with his round to save me from queuing, and he was too polite to take the money for it,” I explained.
“You’re crazy if you think he wasn’t trying to get into your knickers. Both of them were checking you out, you’re just too naive to notice,” he replied, folding his arms defensively.
“Maybe a bottle of water is all it takes to get into your underwear, but it’s certainly not enough to get into mine! If you trusted me at all, you’d leave me to handle how I deal with being hit on. After all, you want me to trust that you’re not popping off for a quick threesome every time you need the toilet I presume? You embarrassed me!” I yelled, furious that he was arguing with me instead of having the good grace to apologise.
“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you Evie, but you didn’t see how they
were looking at you,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how they were looking at me. What matters is how you dealt with it. You could have just asked me if I was okay instead of barging over here and acting like some kind of Neanderthal,” I explained.
“Well sue me for being a little over protective, but I take care of what’s mine and you’re my girl,” he argued.
“Says who?” I replied, sarcastically.
“Says my cock,” he shouted.
“Wow!” I replied. Who said romance was dead. “You say that as though it’s a sentient being with a mind of its own, but I’m not even sure that you and your..nether regions share a brain cell between you,” I replied, gesturing towards his penis.
“Nether regions?” he repeated.
“Yes. Nether regions,” I shouted, getting angrier by the minute. I could see the moment his anger subsided and he became playful and charming. Unfortunately for him, my own temper was fearful, and I was properly riled up.
“Say it one time for me baby. Let me hear the word cock once from your pretty little lips, and I’ll go over to him and apologise,” he teased.
“Cock off. How about that, Thomas Riordon!” I yelled, and with a quick and furious sign of the cross where I prayed silently for God’s forgiveness, I joined Em and Marie at the table.
Tommy took a stool next to the other lads, discreetly adjusting himself while I pretended to ignore him.
“You alright there?” Con asked, in obvious amusement.
“Hard as a fuckin’ flagpole,” he muttered, making the guys all laugh.
“Tommy, you’ve got problems mate,” Con replied, slapping him on the back.
“Don’t I fuckin’ know it,” Tommy said.
“Isn’t there somewhere you need to be?” Kieran asked. Tommy didn’t reply, so I glanced his way as inconspicuously as I could, to see the look of confusion on his face.
The Fire (Hurricane Book 4) Page 9
