Games We Play by Dana Isaly

Chapter Ten

I left my car with the valet and escorted her inside and upstairs to the VIP area, where all my friends were already seated. Taking her to her apartment and letting her get ready made us a little late. Probably didn’t help that I had pulled over to finger fuck her to climax on the way. I couldn’t help myself. That dress was the sweetest kind of torture.

“So do any of these people know about your little alter ego?” she asked as we made our way up the stairs.

“They do. They’ve been my friends since before I started it up.”

“There you are!” Wes shouted as he ran up and pulled me into a hug. “She’s hot, bro,” he said into my ear before literally pushing me out of the way to look down at Quinlan.

“Hi,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’m Quin.”

“Quin!” he said as he stooped down and picked her up in his arms. I rolled my eyes and watched them, trying to not let it get to me that his hands were on her. He was my best friend, after all. And it’s not like she was actually mine. It shouldn’t bother me.

She squealed and threw her head back in laughter after she got over the initial shock of being picked up by a bear. Wes didn’t seem to ever remember how big he actually was. He was a few inches taller than my six feet, and he was built like a damn bodybuilder. Wes was a bounty hunter. And he was damn good at it. He was someone you wanted on your side in a fight.

“My name is Wes. It’s so good to meet you! Welcome to the group!” He squeezed her one more time before gently setting her back down on her feet.

“Nice to meet you, too, Wes,” she said, trying to make sure her dress hadn’t ridden up. She slinked her arm through mine and leaned into me. I let loose a breath I hadn’t quite realized I was holding during that entire exchange.

“Come on, come on,” he said, motioning us to follow him over to the rest of the group. “These guys won’t bite, even though they may look like they do.” He looked up at me, and I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe we do bite. But not people we like.” He paused and his eyes moved down to her with a wicked grin. “Unless you ask for it.” He winked at her.

“She won’t,” I answered for her.

He looked back up at me and smiled knowingly. Bastard. I should’ve known he was doing that to get a reaction. He was testing the waters to see if I would be territorial. I felt Quinlan gaze up at me, but I stared straight ahead, smiling at my group of friends as we approached the table.

“Guys,” Wes addressed the table before I could. “This is Quin, and we are going to be on our best behavior around her, or Jack here might kick all of our asses.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out a chair for her to sit in. I sat next to her and started introductions.

“Wes you met,” I said loud enough over the music for everyone to hear. “He’s a bounty hunter. And Greg,” I said, pointing to the blond who didn’t have an inch of skin not covered in tattoos, “he’s a software developer and a hothead. He’s normally the one to get us all in trouble.” He rolled his eyes at me but smiled at Quinlan.

“Nice to meet you, Quin,” he said.

“This little fucker is Owen. He’s a trust fund baby.”

“I am not a trust fund baby!” he countered. “My parents just happen to be very rich,” he said, winking at Quinlan. “And they gave me businesses to run.” When he said “businesses,” he did air quotes.

“They’re restaurants,” I said to her. “Don’t let him convince you he’s some big-time drug lord or something. He runs a string of Asian restaurants.” He scoffed. “We are kind of convinced at this point, though, that he’s part of a mafia family,” I murmured into her ear when Owen looked away. “He’s never confirmed nor denied that one.” She grinned.

“And this is Hudson,” I said, nodding to my last friend sitting to my right. “But everyone calls him Pyro. He has a not-so-little obsession with fire.”

“Nice to meet you, Quin,” he said, extending his arm and shaking her hand. She glanced down, but to her credit, her eyes didn’t linger on the multiple burn scars covering his hands.

“He’s the little brother of the group and acts like it, too. He’s a drummer in a band and does absolutely nothing else.”

“What do you do, Quin?” Greg asked from across the table.

“I’m a writer,” she called out. “I work for The Lead, an online gaming magazine. I’ve also started writing some stories on the side. I’d like to become an author one day.” I looked down at her and smiled, putting my arm on the back of her chair. The waiter came up behind us.

“What do you want?” I asked her. “What do you like?”

She looked me up and down with a coy little smile. “Anything sweet.”

“Yeah, I bet you do,” Owen said. I kicked him under the table as Quinlan laughed, and he spit out his drink, giving me a glare.

“Behave,” I said, pointing in his direction.

I ordered for us both and leaned back in my chair, switching my attention from people watching to watching Quinlan. She laughed and chatted with my friends like she had known them for years.

After a few drinks, my arm had fallen from the back of her chair to her shoulders. We had started the night with our chairs a bit apart from each other, but when I looked down, they were pressed flush. I couldn’t remember doing that, but it didn’t surprise me. Ever since she had walked into my life, I had felt the need to be as near her as possible. She looked over at me and caught me staring.

Her hand found my thigh, and I blinked, trying to turn my attention back to the group and whatever the hell they had been talking about since I had zoned out. Thank God Quinlan seemed to be holding her own with them because I was no help.

“Yeah,” she was saying, nodding her head at Hudson. “I didn’t really like it. Well, okay, wait. I liked it, but I didn’t like the lessons.”

“No one likes the lessons,” he said. “I learned how to play on my own. Taking lessons takes all the fun out of it. Makes it feel more like an obligation and less like something you enjoy.”

“You play drums?” I asked her, a bit shocked.

“Ah, welcome back to the conversation,” Owen said while Quinlan laughed.

“No, I took piano lessons as a kid.” She turned her gorgeous eyes on me, and she looked so fucking happy I wanted to grab her face and kiss the life out of her.

“Not to break up the lovefest going on over there,” Owen said, sitting his drink down on the table. “But I think it’s time to let Quin have some fun. Let’s go dance.”

“Yes!” Wes shouted and stood up with Owen and Hudson. Greg stayed firmly in his seat. The last thing he would be caught doing is dancing. Grumpy bastard. Not that I could say much. It wasn’t my favorite thing either, but to see Quinlan’s body moving to the music, pushing up against me?

Fuck.

“Sir?” I looked up and saw Anders hovering behind me. He was an older guy, late thirties, and smart as hell with numbers. He came highly recommended by Owen’s family, so I had scooped him up as soon as possible when I bought up the clubs. This one was his home base, but he was always traveling around to all of them, checking in, and keeping shit straight.

“Anders, please,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I’ve asked so many times. Please don’t call me sir. My name is Jack.”

“Um, Jack,” he started over. “Derek told me you were here. We’ve got some issues related to the business and thought that maybe you would want to go ahead and look everything over while you were here instead of having to come all the way back down here tomorrow?”

I looked down at Q and then over at Wes. He nodded.

“Go take care of shit, I’ve got her.”

“Because she wouldn’t be safe with me?” Owen asked.

“No one is safe with you,” Hudson answered. “Who knows what kind of shady shit you’re into.”

“As if you’re one to talk, Pyro,” Wes chimed in. “You fuck anything that moves.”

Quinlan laughed and watched their banter back and forth. Hudson looked down at her and pulled a toothpick out of his back pocket and stuck it in his mouth. It was a nervous habit he’d had for as long I knew him. He was always chewing on the damn things.

“Don’t believe him, darlin’. I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise,” he said.

She swayed a step as we stood, and I looked down at the table. She’d had quite a few drinks, and as small as she was, I wasn’t surprised she was already feeling the effects.

“You okay?” I asked. “It won’t take long at all, and they’ll take care of you. They may look and act like a band of misfits, but they know I will kill them if they don’t.”

“Quite literally,” Greg said before looking over at me. “I’ll keep an eye from up here.”

“I’m fine.” She gave me a playful little shove. “I’ll be in a big badass man sandwich. What can go wrong?”

A lot,I thought to myself. We seemed to attract trouble everywhere we went. Ever since we all found each other, we were known as the guys to steer clear of. Not sure if it was Greg’s hot temper, Owen’s assumed mafia background, Wes’s bounty hunting, Hudson’s obsession with fire, or my possessiveness, but we were always having to bail each other out.

“Fine,” I said, relenting and giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head. I looked at each of my friends. “Come get me if anything happens.”