Had they all been played by the sisters?
Chapter 13
The next evening had the three men going back to the pub, where they were all set on finding out not only why the women had kept the fact they were related from them, but also why none of them saw fit to tell them that they worked at the pub their father was a part owner in.
The smell of fried foods hit them as they entered the very busy Flannigan’s Pub and Grill. Ethan was first to set his eyes on Kel, who was taking an order at a table full of young men. She was laughing and joking with them, being nice, chipper, and what he considered to be a bit too flirty.
He made no attempt to slow his roll as he came up behind her. “Fancy seeing you here.”
She spun around and looked at him with a gaping mouth. “You as well. I thought you’d be long gone by now. And I’m working, so leave me be, Ethan Southern!”
“Is he bothering you?” one of the foolish men asked as he stood up from his place at the round table of six young men.
“Mind your business, boy!” Ethan growled at him. “This young woman and I have a history. Don’t we, love?”
She looked over her shoulder at the young man who’d come to her defense. “It’s okay, Charlie. I’ll turn in your order and bring your drinks right out.”
“You let me know if you need me to get rid of any riffraff, Kel,” Charlie said as he took his seat.
“Will do,” she said as she walked away with Ethan on her heels.
“You owe me …” That was all he got out before she spun around.
Her face was red with anger. “Do not tell me what I owe you. Take a seat or take a hike, Ethan!”
Her eyes flashed red, and Ethan thought he’d better give her a moment to calm herself. “I’m going nowhere, my love. I’ll be right here until you find time to talk to me. And we will talk, you and I.”
With a huff, she walked away, leaving him staring after her.
Phoenix spotted his curvy redhead as she was behind the bar, cleaning glasses. “Cait!” he called out to her.
She ducked her head when she saw him and hightailed it to the back where he couldn’t go. Or so she thought. When he went right back into the kitchen, she was shocked. “You can’t be back here!”
He grabbed her by the wrist as he spoke between clenched teeth. “You and I are going to talk. You can pick where that’ll be.”
“I don’t have to talk to you, Phoenix. Just let me go.” Her eyes darted back and forth, and she looked a little afraid.
He thought it might be because she and her sisters had some kind of a deal going. “I want to know why you lied to me.”
“I never lied to you,” she said as she struggled to make him let her go. His hand was making waves of heat move through her as she’d dreamt about the man making hot love to her all night long. Him holding her the way he was had been a part of that riotous dream.
“You three are sisters, Cait!”
“How’d you find that out?” she asked him with a shocked expression.
“We have our ways. So let’s talk about why you three skipped out on us all.”
She jerked her arm, and he let her go. “Just leave us all alone, Phoenix. None of us want to see any of you three ever again. Not ever!” Then she ran away from him, disappearing into the blackness of a hallway at the very back of the kitchen.
Jess saw Griffin before he found her. She left her station at the cash register, darting past one of her cousin co-workers. “Take over the register, Patsy.”
Patsy did as she was told as Jess ducked into the hallway that led to the restrooms, not noticing that Griffin had spotted her and was heading her way. When he walked into the ladies’ room right behind her, closing the door and grabbing her, she tried to scream, but his mouth on hers muffled it.
When she felt his lips on hers and his tongue moved into her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her and turned her around so her back was up against the door, she melted into him and wrapped her legs around him.
His kiss was hard and demanding. Jess hated that she loved it so much. He pressed his hard cock against her soft core, grinding into her body, making her heat up and grow moist.
She was powerless to stop him. But when he went too far and moved one hand to unbutton her jeans, she pulled her mouth from his, remembering the damn bet. “No! No, Griff!”
“Why’d you all do it?” he asked her as he rested his forehead on hers. “Why didn’t you tell any of us that you three are sisters and that you all work here?”
“It’s not important. What is important is that we’re not going to be seeing any of you. Now let me go,” Jess said as she didn’t even bother to struggle to get away from him.
“What’s your game, Jess?” he asked her, making her furious.
The sisters had all agreed not to let the men know, if they did come back for them, that they knew about their bet. So Jess was left on her own to make something up. “I don’t think you’ll stick around, and I don’t want to be another notch on your belt.”
“You should give me a chance, don’t you think?” he asked her, then kissed her neck, making her moan.
Griffin could tell it was her sisters who were stopping her from doing what she wanted with him. Her hands plunged into his thick curls as she continued to moan with his attention to her neck. “Yes,” came her soft response.
“Is that a yes, you’ll give me a chance?” he whispered in her ear then gave her earlobe a nip.
“No,” she moaned. “It was a yes, that feels so good. But I can’t be doing this. Not with you, anyway.”
“Not with me?” he asked then looked her in the eyes. “But you can do this with someone else? Not while I’m around, you can’t. You see, I think you and I could be a bit more than just friends.”
“I know that,” she said as her eyes narrowed and she thought about what his plans for her really were. “But I don’t want anything from you, Griff. Except for you to leave me alone. I’m not a toy.”
“Who said you were?” he asked. “Your sisters? Did they tell you that I’d treat you like an object? Did they say you should stay away from me because I’d just use you then dump you? Because that’s not what my plan for you is at all, baby. Not at all.”
But Jess knew what his plan was. It didn’t matter if he kept seeing her; she’d always know he was in it to win the damn bet. He wasn’t worried about hurting her to win it, either. “Let me go, Griff.”
“If I let you go, will you try to calm down and think rationally? Don’t let your sisters ruin this for us.”
She shook her head, trying so hard not to blurt out what she knew they were after. Somehow, she managed to hold her tongue. “Let me go.”
A knock at the door had them ending their little reunion as Griffin had no desire to get thrown out of the pub. “I’ll let you go for now, but I’m not going anywhere. None of us are. You three will have to talk to us. Tonight!”
With that, he opened the door, finding a shocked older woman who he stomped passed. Jess watched him leave, then fell back against the wall.
How was she going to deal with him?
The night passed with the men sitting at a table none of the sisters would wait on. Instead, they left their Aunt Cathy to take care of the men, who watched their every move.
Cathy had been told only a little about who the men were and why the sisters didn’t want to wait on them. They’d said the men had gone too far in their advances last night. Cathy was perplexed at why that would make her nieces so mad.
As she gave the guys another round of beers, she asked, “So, what actually happened last night between you all? My nieces are as mad as old wet hens over you three.”
“I have no idea,” Ethan answered. “We all got along great. Then the girls ran out on us after asking us all to call cabs. This is most likely more than they want you to know, but I’m going to tell you anyway. They all had agreed to get hotel rooms with each of us.”
Cathy’s hand flew to cover her mouth. �
��No!”
Griffin jabbed Ethan in the ribs. “Too much info, Ethan!”
“Well, they did,” he went on.
Phoenix was in agreeance with Ethan. “The ladies must’ve gotten cold feet. And that’s okay. We just want to talk to them to get them all to understand we didn’t mean to make them feel forced. Shit! The truth is they were the ones who asked us, not the other way around.”
“Oh, my God!” Cathy mumbled in disbelief. “So it was them who asked you three to get rooms and, and, oh Lordy, and fornicate with them?”
Griffin gave Phoenix and Ethan deep frowns as he said, “No! No, that’s not how it was at all. Look, we each want to get the chance to talk to the lady we came to like very much last night. We want an opportunity to let them know we meant them no harm. That’s all, really. Could you be a peach and let them know that, Cathy?”
“I can,” she said as she fanned herself. “You’re all so handsome and sweet. I think they must’ve misunderstood you guys or something. Let me go see if I can get to the bottom of what their problem is.”
And with her retreat, the men finally felt like they had a chance of smoothing things over with the girls. Phoenix leaned in to whisper, “Should we end the bet and confess?”
“God, no!” both Ethan and Griffin said.
And with that, the men were going to continue with their bet. “We knew this might be hard,” Griffin reminded his friends.
“We’ll continue just like we planned. Unless you want out, Phoenix,” Ethan said.
Phoenix looked at the others and shook his head. “No, I’m still in. I just didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen. I thought they might play hard to get. But I never saw them getting mad at us. It’s just throwing me off my game, is all. I’ll get back on the right track.”
They all clinked their mugs of frothy beer and stayed firm on their bet without a clue as to what the women were aware of.
Chapter 14
Pots and pans clanked as the kitchen staff shouted orders to one another. Jess, Cait, and Kel stood to one side in a huddle, discussing the audacity of the men who had dared to show their faces at their pub again.
“In the ladies’ room?” Kel asked Jess after she’d told them where Griff had cornered her. “Well, that’s too much! I’ll tell the man he’s overstepped his bounds!”
“No!” Jess argued. “I’m not a little kid anymore, Kel. I can take care of myself. I did manage to get out of there with my panties still on, you know.”
Cait laughed as she cut her eyes to look at their Aunt Cathy, who was coming into the kitchen, looking for something. When she saw her three nieces, she came straight to them. “We need to talk, girls.”
Their rotund aunt’s cheeks were red, which meant she’d been embarrassed. The girls’ ire was up already. If any of the men had anything to do with what was wrong with their aunt, then the men had it coming to them in spades.
“Did anyone speak to you in an improper manner, Aunt Cathy?” Cait asked her.
When she nodded, Kel grew furious. “Tell me who and I’ll deal with him!”
“Well, my darling nieces, my demeanor is off as I’ve heard some … Well, some news that quite frankly I don’t understand,” Cathy said as she fanned herself. At 51, Cathy wasn’t exactly inexperienced in the ways of love, but she’d been married to the girls’ uncle for 25 years. She wasn’t used to hearing sexual things about any of her family.
Jess’ hand went to her hip as she asked, “What did you hear and who did you hear it from?”
“Your men,” Cathy said.
Kel’s hand went up as she said, “They are not our men! But what did the asses say?”
“They said that you three asked them to get cabs and take you to hotel rooms for the night to fornicate like animals!” Cathy blurted out, making the entire kitchen go silent.
Kel looked around as everyone was staring at them with gaping mouths. “No! No, that wasn’t how things went! And you all get back to work! We have hungry customers out there. Mind your business!”
Jess’s cheeks were scarlet as she asked her aunt, “Did they actually say those exact words, Aunt Cathy?”
“No, no they didn’t mention the part about fornicating like animals. That’s my personal spin on it. But they did say you all were coming on to them,” Cathy explained.
“We did,” Cait confessed. “We had our reasons, though.”
“Well, reasons or not,” Cathy told them as she shook her finger at them all. “You should never toy with people. You all were raised better than that. Now, I want you all to give those men at least ten minutes of your time. I want you all to explain why you did what you did to them.”
“No,” Kel said stubbornly.
“You will, or I’ll tell your grandmother what you’ve done, and we all know how long that sermon will be,” Cathy threatened.
“Damn,” Cait muttered under her breath. “That woman will give us all brand new Bibles with the sections she’ll make us read out loud to her paper clipped so we can find them quickly.”
“And then we’ll have to attend Mass with her for a solid week, every dang morning,” Jess added as she kicked the floor with her black non-slip shoe.
Kel stuffed her hands in her apron pockets as she griped, “And go to confession every evening. It’ll cost less of our time to let the guys talk to us for ten minutes.”
“That it will,” Cathy said as she huffed, knowing she’d won the battle. “You all are officially on a 15 minute break, my darlings. Make it count.” She herded her nieces up and pushed them all out of the kitchen. “Get to cleaning up your messes, girls.”
Kel saw the smiles on the men’s faces as they left the sanctuary of the kitchen. “There they are. And look at those shit-eating grins they’re all wearing.”
“I’m just going to let Griff talk, but I’m not going to say a word about why we ran out on them,” Jess said.
“Come on, girls,” Cait said. “Let’s toy with them some more. They want to come this far for us and their stupid bet. Let’s act as if we’ve all had a change of heart. We can blame it on Aunt Cathy.”
Kel turned around to look at her sisters with an evil grin on her lips. “Tell your man you’ll accept a daytime date tomorrow, if he cares to make amends. At least we can all get a free meal and maybe some flowers and candies out of the bastards.”
“I’m going to tell Griff the date needs to be something pretty spectacular,” Jess said as she made her way to the table where the men were waiting for them.
Griff got up and met her halfway, taking her hand and kissing it. Ethan kept his seat, making Kel come all the way to him. Phoenix tried to wait, but found he couldn’t and got up just as Cait got to him. He picked her up in his strong arms and kissed her. Then he carried her off to a secluded booth.
Running his hand through her auburn ponytail, Phoenix whispered, “I’m sorry, Cait. Whatever it was that I did to make you feel uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I’ll be a gentleman tonight.”
Cait’s heart melted as he looked at her with puppy dog eyes. “Well, it’s not all your fault. Maybe my sisters and I were kind of wrong to get our panties in a bunch about you three. Aunt Cathy talked some sense into us.”
“Can I make it up to you?” Phoenix asked her as he ran his hand over her cheek.
With a smile, Cait said, “You can take me on a real date tomorrow. But only in the daytime. I can’t trust you at night. Not yet.”
“Nor can I trust myself to keep my hands off you at night,” he said, then kissed her with a sweet kiss. “I’ll make it a very special day for you, Cait. A date you’ll never forget.”
She sighed and leaned in for another kiss. “Good. Now, how about one more kiss before I have to get back to work?”
“I’d love to oblige you with one,” he said, then planted another kiss on her delicious lips.
Jess found herself pinned against the back wall as Griff leaned his body on hers. “Baby, you look like you have something you’d like to say to m
e,” Griff said as he played with her long ponytail.
Her body was quivering with him all over her, but she swallowed and shook her head to clear her brain. “We’ve talked, my sisters and I. We’ve decided that we can accept dates from you guys. But daytime dates. And I expect something out of the ordinary. If you still want to see me, then you’ll agree to it.”
She shuddered as his lips brushed the area just behind her ear. “K.”
Placing her hands on his chest, she pushed him back a bit. “What time should I expect you, tomorrow?”
Griffin held out his hand. “Give me your cell.” She did as he’d asked and he called his number. “Now we have each other’s numbers, and I’ll call you in the morning to let you know what time I’ll come for you.”
“My father will be waiting to meet you, Griff,” Jess told him, trying to intimidate him a bit.
“Great. I’d love to meet the man who raised such a spunky woman.” He kissed her then, and she wrapped her arms around his neck involuntarily.
Meanwhile, Kel took a seat across the table from Ethan as she eyed him warily. “So, you think that you can tell our aunt some lies and get us where you want us, do you?” she said with a smirk.
“Lies? We told no lies, love. So, why the teasing last night?” he asked her as he leaned forward and took her hand which laid on the table top. His thumb stroked her palm, making her stomach go tight, and heat flood her entire body. Warmth pooled in her nether regions and Kel knew things would be harder for her than she was used to handling.
“Why the rush to go to a hotel?” Kel volleyed back.
“I do recall that you were in every bit as much of a rush as I was. Your body told me as much. Your soft skin was begging for my touch,” he said with a husky voice that made her ears ache to hear more.
“Did it ever occur to you that I might’ve been testing your character, Ethan? I told you about my heartbreak and gave you the opportunity to do the right thing, and you didn’t do it,” Kel said. “So, I’m willing to give you one more shot.”
“You are?” he asked as he moved his hand up her arm in a slow and deliberate motion. “And what kind of a shot are we talkin’ ’bout here?”
Hacked For Love & The Dom's Songbird Page 92
