The Beginning of Us (238 page)

“Probably a good idea.” I take a quick look around. “Where’s Micah?”

“He’s in the back with the girls. Holly asked him to help her with something...wait, there he is.”

I turn around to see Holly, Micah and Angel walk out from the back. My eyes are glued to Angel as they travel from her messy ponytail down to her tennis shoes. She has a pair of tight black jeans on and a white tank top that has the usual Larry’s logo across her chest. I turn around, having to readjust my pants.

“You okay?” Josh laughs.

“Yes” I snap.

He puts his hands up in the air as he laughs his ass off at me.

“Glad I can amuse you.”

“You do. You do,” he nods, still laughing.

“What is so funny?” Micah asks as he sits down at the table.

“Nothing.” I eye Josh, daring him to say something. Thank God he doesn’t.

“Hey guys,” Angel says cheerfully as she comes to stand between Micah and Josh. Then her eyes land on mine, that smile drops off her face, and she takes in a deep breath as if it’s going to kill her to talk to me. “What can I get you to drink, Slade?”
How can she already be mad at me? I just got here.

“I’ll take a Bud Light. In a glass, please.” I give her a tight smile.

She nods her head, then turns to walk off.

“How did I already piss her off? Anyone know?’’ I look to my friend and brother who are shaking their heads no.

“Told you it was going to be hard,” Micah says, taking a drink of his beer.

“I don’t know her all that well, but I was in here often while you were out of town. I’ve never seen her be mean to anyone but you.” Josh smiles.

“Figures.” The one girl I want is going to be the hardest for me to get.

“Here you go.” She comes back, placing my beer in front of me. She turns to walk off, but I grab her hand. She turns back around, looking down at our hands then up to my eyes.

“Need something else?” she asks with that bitchy tone that I love.

I can’t take my eyes off of her. I want to know what I did wrong, and for once in my life I want to fix whatever fuck up I did. I want her to give me her full attention. I want to see her gorgeous smile.
And I want her to stand here for a few minutes and just talk to me!

“Tell me something about yourself, Angel.” She tries to pull her hand away, but I hold it tighter.

“There’s nothing
you
need to know.” She tugs on her hand again. This time I let it go. “Do you need anything else?” I shake my head no, and she turns to help another table.

“You two need to tell me everything you know about her.” I take a drink of my beer before I place my elbows on the table.

“She was with Jax for eight months and for the time that I’ve known them, he was a jack ass to her, treated her like shit. So don’t be your normal dick head self. You need to talk to her nicely.” Micah tells me, taking a swig of his beer.

“Nicely? I
was
talking to her nicely.” He knows how I usually talk to women. He knows that was nice for me. We can’t all be sweet and romantic like Micah.

“Nicer,” he says slowly. “This may come as a surprise to you, Slade, but to get someone different, you will have to act different.”

Act different? How am I supposed to act? “Fine. I will go talk to her
nicely
.” I pick up my beer and stand up. I turn around to walk to the bar, but don’t make it two steps before I run right into Angel and spill my beer all over her.

She gasps, throwing her hands out to her side, and looking down at the mess I created. I stand there frozen, watching it run down into her chest between her rather large tits, soaking her shirt in the process and letting me see her tan lace bra underneath. My already tight jeans get tighter.

“Slade,” Angel hisses, getting my attention.

“Fuck. I’m so sorry.” I seem to always be telling her I’m sorry.

I pick up a couple of napkins, and start wiping off her chest.

“Slade!” she squeals, jumping back. “It’s okay. I can do that.” She takes another step back, snatching the napkins from my hand. “Thanks, though.”

“I’m really sorry, Angel.” Her head snaps up. She looks pissed; probably because I have a smirk on my face. She looks so fucking hot in the beer covered tank top. I just want to tear it off of her as I lick it off her chest.

She gives me a look of hatred as her eyes bore into mine. “I’m sure you are.” She pulls her shirt away from her chest as she wipes it down.

“I’m going to go change.” She turns and starts to walk off.

“Need any help?” I call out as the guys try to cover their laughter by coughing. They fail miserably.

Angel stops and turns around, taking a few slow steps toward me. “I think you’ve helped me enough.” She gives me a slow sexy smile that makes my hard erection twitch, then turns and walks off.

I sit down at the table, “I think she’s playing with me,” I say to myself more than anyone.
Giving me that gorgeous smile when she was clearly pissed off at me.

“She hates you,” Josh laughs out.

“We’ll see about that.” I stand and head to the back of the bar. I find her as she walks out of an office, now wearing the same tank top just in black.

Her eyes meet mine as I walk right up to her. “What’s your problem with me?” I demand.

I can feel the hatred coming from those bright green eyes as she puts her hands on her hips. “Slade, I don’t want to do this.”

“Do what?” I place my hand on her shoulder, and she jumps back.

“Have this conversation with you. Why don’t you go back and drink with your buddies while I go back to doing my job?”

“Why won’t you let me explain about Jax?” She is seriously pissing me off.

“Why do you want to talk about Jax now? You should have talked to me about him when you knew he was sleeping with someone else!”

I grind my teeth in frustration. “How many times do I have to say this? I didn’t even know him. I had no idea what was going on. Listen to me. I don’t know what he was doing with her. I mean, yeah. Sure, guys fuck around on their girlfriends.” I shrug. “But to be with her over you?” I shake my head, confused by that thought. “I know in a way you think it’s my fault since I was the one who invited her back, but I never thought she would bring him.”

She holds up her hand. “Wait. So you’re saying it is somehow my fault that he was fucking around?” Her voice rises.

I start shaking my head, trying to back track my current statement.

“And you!” She lifts her hand to gesture at me. “Why would you invite her over? Were you sleeping with her, too?” She pulls her lip back, disgusted by that thought.

I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. I’ve already lied to her once, and I don’t want to lie to her ever again. “I’ve slept with her.” I watch as the disgusted look turn to amusement.

“Of course you have.” She throws her hands up in the air before they land on her hip. “Was she your girlfriend, or just another someone you slept with?”

“I’ve never had a girlfriend, Angel.”

“I just don’t understand.” She shakes her head, looking down at the floor.

“What don’t you understand?”
Why I slept with her?
Sometimes I would ask myself that same question.

“Why he didn’t just leave me if I wasn’t enough?” she whispers.

I have never wanted to treat a woman as badly as Jax treated Angel. I mean, yeah, I have never had a relationship with one. I just fucked around, but they never thought it was more than that. I never told them I loved them then went behind their back to be with someone else.

I take a step toward her. “Angel.” She looks up at me. I expected her to have tears in her eyes, but she doesn’t as they stare into mine. “I wanted to tell you. I did. I even picked up my phone the next day to call and tell you, but something came up and I forgot. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

I reach out slowly and cup her cheek in my hand. She doesn’t pull away, so I take another step closer until my chest is touching hers as I look down at her. I can feel her heart beating fast as she breathes. I know she can feel my hard dick in my pants, but I can’t pull away. I need to be close to her, touching her, showing her how sorry that I am.

“I will always regret not telling you.” I run my hand through her loose ponytail. I feel a finger slide over a cut.
From when he shoved her down?

I want to kill Jax. I want to rip him to shreds for hurting her. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to calm down. It wasn’t all his fault; in a way I had a small part to play in that outcome. “I’m so sorry that he hurt you.”

She takes a step back as my hand falls to my side. “Who told you?” she whispers, looking down at the floor.

“Does it matter?” She looks up at me with a sad face.

“No. I guess it doesn’t. Why would you care what did or didn’t happen to me, Slade? You don’t know me.”

“I want to.” I take a step towards her.
I want to know everything about her.

“Why?”

Can she not see the way she makes me feel? Why wouldn’t I want to know her? Any man would kill to get to know her.

I take a deep breath; there’s no need to lie to her. I have always been honest when it comes to just fucking around, and I need to be honest about this too, even if I don’t know exactly what this is yet. “Because you’re special.”

It’s as simple as that.

I watch a smile form on her face, and I think I’ve finally got through to her.

I smile as she takes a step towards me. “You surprise me, Slade.” Her smile drops. “I never expected you to be the type to say bullshit just to get a girl in bed with you,” she adds flatly.

“Um, what do you...um, no.” I shake my head.
Fuck, does she confuse me!
“That’s not…” I shake my head again.

She gives a little laugh, “Right!” and walks back to the bar.

Well, I want to punch Micah now! I tried something different, and it obviously didn’t work. I need a drink, something stronger than a beer. I walk up to Holly who is wiping down a counter behind the bar.

“I need three rum and cokes.” I pull out my wallet.

“Don’t worry about that. Micah has a tab running.” She sets the drinks down in front of me.

“Okay. Just let me know what the total is at the end of the night. I’ll cover it.” She starts to say no as I walk off, but I ignore her.

“Here we go, guys.” I place the three drinks down on our table.

“It went that badly, huh?” Josh asks.

“Something like that.” I’m going crazy. What the hell do I have to do to get through to this woman? “Well, you’re advice sucked ass.” I look to Micah.

“What did you say?” he asks cautiously.

I shake my head and sit down. I’m not going to tell him what I said. They’ll laugh at me. I take a long drink.

“Did you guys need something?” When I turn my head, Angel’s hips and stomach are right there. I can’t pull my eyes away. She bends over and looks at me. “Did you need something, Slade?” She gives me a soft smile.

I know she’s being sarcastic, so I let my eyes drift down to look at the top of her cleavage. Fuck, I want to place my hands on her body, feel her cry out my name. I’m so turned on, remembering how they looked when soaked with my beer. “You, naked in my bed, as you call out my name.”

Shit. Did I say that out loud?

“Thought so,” she whispers as she wipes the smile off of her face and walks away.

“Man,” Micah laughs.

“You want a shovel, Slade? Help dig you out of that hole?” Josh laughs.

“Fuck.”

I can’t help the reaction I have to her. Nothing I’m doing is working. I tried the nice and honest thing. For fucks sake, I told her she was special! I know she’s different. Otherwise she wouldn’t consume my every thought. But I let my normal dick head self out, took it the sexual route, and that just got me a go to hell look.