Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Okay…”
“You see that table of ladies behind me?” She motioned with her eyes for me to look over her left shoulder. “The ones who are probably staring at us right now and smiling like loons?”
I glanced over. Sure enough, three sets of eyes were glued to us. “Yep. I see ’em.”
“Okay, so…a year ago today my fiancé ended our engagement. Those are my three best friends, and they are never going to leave me alone until I talk to someone tonight.” She sighed. “They mean well. I know that. But I’m not ready to jump back into the dating pool. Do you think we could just talk for ten minutes? They’ll sleep better tonight not worrying that I’m going to die an old maid.”
I smiled and lifted my chin toward the stage. “You see that drummer up there? The one watching us with a dumb-ass smile right about now?”
The woman looked over and back. “Yes?”
“That’s the male version of your three ladies. I didn’t make it to engagement, though I’m pretty sure the woman who dumped me recently was the one. And it’s only been three months, not a year. But I agreed to come out tonight just so my buddy would stop making up reasons to pop in and check on me.”
“Perfect.” She smiled and extended her hand. “I’m Lacey.”
“Brayden.” We shook. “Nice to meet you. Can I buy you a drink?”
“How about a shot of tequila?” she said. “And I’m buying.”
“Even better.”
I glanced over at her friends again. They looked equal parts excited and nervous. “I’m going to look left and hold my hand up to call the bartender over. Why don’t you give your friends the thumbs up on the sly while I do that? Might help them relax a little.”
“Oooh… Good idea.”
A few minutes later, Lacey and I clinked tequila-filled shot glasses. I held mine up in a toast. “To moping around and getting teary-eyed when we see other couples looking happy.”
Lacey chuckled. “To being miserable for as long as we want.”
We both knocked back the shot, following up with a lick of salt and a suck of lime. Lacey set down her glass. “So what went wrong in your relationship?”
I frowned.
“Oh gosh.” She saw my face and put up her hands. “I’m sorry. It’s too soon for you to talk about. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sure I wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it after only three months.”
“It’s fine.” I shrugged. “Though nothing really went wrong. It’s kind of a crazy story, actually.”
“Well, that’s a very intriguing statement. Now you have to tell me…”
I chuckled. “I think I might need another shot if we’re going to swap war stories. How about next round on me?”
Lacey smiled. “Good idea. I find alcohol makes it easier for me to talk about the hard stuff.”
I raised my hand to call the bartender, and we knocked back another round. The second one slid down smoother than the first. I wasn’t much of a drinker, so between the tequila and the two beers I’d had before she walked over, I was feeling a fuck of a lot more relaxed. The alcohol apparently also helped improve my vision, because I noticed a few things about Lacey for the first time—like how big her blue eyes were, and how full her pouty mouth was. When she sucked on the lime, my gaze took a dip lower—appreciating her feminine curves.
With our liquid-courage tanks topped off, Lacey turned and straightened in her seat, giving me her full attention. “Feel more talkative now?”
I smiled. “Yeah, I’m good.”
However, telling my story turned out to be more difficult than I’d thought. I couldn’t seem to find the right place to begin. After a few minutes, I decided to stop overthinking things and just spit it out. “I slept with my girlfriend’s daughter.”
Lacey’s jaw dropped, and her eyes went wide as saucers.
“Shit. That didn’t come out right.” I shook my head. “I didn’t sleep with her after I started seeing Alex. I slept with her before.”
But Lacey only looked more confused. “You slept with your girlfriend’s daughter and then your girlfriend?”
“Yes, but it sounds worse than it is. Let me back up, start from the beginning.” I explained how Caitlin—Kate—and I had briefly dated in college, and that Alex and I had no clue about that when we’d met by chance. When I was done telling the story, Lacey looked almost as shocked as when I’d blurted out that I’d slept with my girlfriend’s daughter.
She shook her head. “That’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. What are the chances you would date someone in college in one state, and then randomly meet her stepmother a decade later in a different one and fall in love?”
“I told you it was a screwed-up story.”
“Is it weird that I almost feel like it was fate working in some odd way?”