Her gaze practically burns a hole in me.
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t as kind as I could have been.
“Hey, sugar, if you’re up for a f**k, I’ll happily step in where he’s lacking,” Tom says, catching her attention.
She pulls herself away from me and focuses in on Tom.
I nearly breathe a sigh of relief to have her and her cheap perfume out of my face.
“Bound and chained Jake is, but I’m as free as a bird,” Tom says.
“Tom Carter, right?” she says, straightening up, pushing her chest out.
“The one and only.”
“I’ve heard great things about you.” She shifts her gaze downward on him. “A few of the girls have been to your place, right?”
“Right.” He grins.
“I’m taking my break now.” She tilts her head for him to follow her.
“Boys, I’ll be back in half an hour.”
Tom gets up and grabs the waitress by the hand. I watch him lead her off through the crowd.
I shake my head, laughing.
“Skank,” as Tru would say.
At least Tom’s getting his rocks off for a few. I’d say he has no shame, but then, there was a time I would have done exactly the same. And really, I should thank him for taking her heat-seeking-missile gaze from me and focusing it straight onto him.
“Ah shit, Tom’s just f**ked off to the bathroom with our easy access to shots,” Denny complains.
“We’ve got the Jack,” I say, picking it up. I pour Denny another, then myself.
“So you off to London in a few days?”
“Yeah, and I can’t f**kin’ wait.” Denny leans back against the seat, resting his head on the top as he takes a drink. “Feels like it’s been f**kin’ ages since I last saw Simone. Well, it has been f**kin’ ages,” he adds.
“I don’t know how you do it, man. I couldn’t be away from Tru like you are with Simone. Just a night away from her does my head in.”
I can talk to Denny like this and know he won’t bust my nuts because he knows where I’m coming from. Tom, on the other hand, will never understand.
“It’s hard f**kin’ going,” he says. “But it’s just the way things have to be at the moment. Her work’s there and mine is here.”
“Couldn’t she get a transfer out here?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head. “Her company doesn’t have an office out here. It would mean her having to get a new job, and I know how much she loves working at that place.”
“You want her to move out here, though?”
He takes another long drink, then, leaning forward, puts it on the table. He cups the glass in his hands, swirling it around.
“Yeah, I do.”
“So tell her.” I pour more whiskey into my glass and gesture to Denny.
He moves his hands, allowing me to pour it in.
“I told Tru how I felt, asked her to move in with me, and she did. You’ve got nothing to lose by asking Simone.”
“I guess.” He shrugs. “I’ll talk to her about it when I see her.” He throws his drink back in one. “Fuck this, I’m getting hammered.” He gestures for a waitress and puts in another order of shots for us. “Hey, what happened at that club the other night? Zane said you knocked some dude on his ass.”
“Some dickhead who Tru knew from London had his hands all over her, so I knocked him on his ass. Wish I’d done a lot more, to be honest.”
Like broken his f**king nose. Motherfucker filed an assault charge just like I knew he would. Then I got served from his lawyer.
I just gave my lawyer the nod to pay him off. I can do without the hassle of little f**k-wads like him. Honestly, to keep his hands off Tru, it’s worth every cent.
“Sounds like he deserved it,” Denny muses.
“Too f**kin’ right he did.”
Denny and I have just knocked back our first round of tequila shots when Tom reappears at our table.
“Dude, that was quick,” I say as he lands back in his seat. “Fifteen minutes—must be a f**kin’ record for you.”
“It was long enough. Just a quick blow job; then I banged her, and I was more than ready to come by that point. Not the best blow job ever, or f**k, for that matter. She’s been rode too many times, so I just visualised f**king Maxine Halliday and I was coming in no time.”
“Maxine Halliday from college?” I ask, grinning.
She was hot as f**k, and one girl I never nailed. That was only because Tom was f**king her. We didn’t share back then.
Not that I share now. No one touches my girl but me.
“The very one. Man, you remember her? She was hot as sin. I screwed her all over campus. I even fingered her during a lecture once, had her coming all over my hand.”
“Thanks for the visuals,” Denny says.
“You’re very welcome.” Tom pats him on the shoulder. “And go easy on me. I was taking one for the team, banging that waitress. She wasn’t gonna let up on Jake, so I diverted her attention from his c**k to mine. And you can thank me now.” Tom looks in my direction. “I call it a bottle of the most expensive champagne they have here, and I’m being generous at that.”
“You want me to buy you an expensive bottle of champagne for f**king some cheap waitress in the bathroom?”
“Absolutely,” he says, grinning.
I shake my head, laughing. I’ve known this guy nearly ten years, and even now, he still never ceases to surprise me.