Bad Things (Tristan & Danika #1) (14 page)

I seconded that.

We ate, and drank, and talked for hours.
 
As the therapy session wound down, the talk turned silly, as it usually did.

“Fuck. Ing. Hot.” Sandra said, referring to the owner of the Cavendish casino, and the gallery where she worked.
 
She looked like she was feeling awfully pretty.
 
“He came into the gallery a few days ago, and I about had a heart attack.”

“He
is
gorgeous,” Candy said, toasting the air.
 

“No,” Sandra said.
 
“You don’t understand.
 
He looks gorgeous in pictures, but in real life, he will
blow your mind
.
 
Once you’ve seen his eyes up close, you can never go back.”

“You should make a pass at him,” Candy said.
 

“
I’d
make a pass at him,” Harriet said.
 
“In fact, I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Sandra shook her head.
 
“He only dates supermodels with legs that go up to their tits, or playboy models with tits that go up to their chins.”

“Just go for it,” Harriet said.
 
“What have you got to lose?”

“Um, her job,” I said, rolling my eyes.
 

Harriet and Candy were funny as hell, but not the ones to take advice from.
 
Their brand of outrageous would not work for everybody.
 
It backfired on
them
half the time.

“Dating the boss rarely turns out well,” Lucy pointed out reasonably.

“I wasn’t saying she should date him,” Harriet defended.
 
“I was saying she should bone his pretty brains out.”

“Arguably an even worse idea,” Lucy mused.

Sandra held up a hand.
 
“Settle down everybody.
 
He’s not interested in me, so it’s not even a question.
 
I just like to vent about how fucking hot he is.”

“Amen, sister,” Candy said, toasting the air again.
 

I raised my glass, as well.
 
I could toast to that.
 
“To hot men who we don’t need to fuck to appreciate,” I said.
 

I got a few startled glances for that unexpected outburst, but everyone toasted with me.
 

“Are you just speaking in general?” Lucy asked, tilting her head to study me.
 
“That sounded a little specific.”

“Oh, it’s specific,” Sandra slurred.
 
“James fucking Cavendish is specifically the hottest man alive.”
 

Bev giggled.
 
Uh oh
, I thought.
 
She was tipsy if she was giggling.
 
“Wait until you get a load of Danika’s friend, Tristan,” she said.
 
“He could give Boss Cavendish a run for his money, and he and Danika have
crazy
chemistry.”

“The fuck you say?” Candy inquired, looking very interested.
 

“Why you holding out, Danika?” Harriet questioned, her words slurred.

“Who’s this Tristan?” Lucy asked, and I saw by the way she was studying me that she was already worried.

I hitched one shoulder up in a self-conscious shrug.
 
“He’s strictly a buddy.
 
Bev is just drunk.”

Bev nodded.
 
Very drunkenly
, I thought.
 

“Is he hot, though?” Olga asked, her accent even more pronounced now that she’d had a few drinks.
 

“He’s very good looking,” I allowed.
 
“And he has a great sense of humor.
 
And he’s super tall, with biceps the size of my waist.”
 
I held my hands out in a circle to show them how big.
 
“And he’s really nice.
 
And don’t even get me started on his dimples.”
 
After about the second sentence, I started to realize that I was feeling
really
pretty.
 
Dammit, how many drinks had I had?
 
It was hard to count, when Bev was constantly bringing a new glass, and I had no idea just how strong the cocktail was.

“You sound like you admire him,” Lucy pointed out.
 
“But you say it’s purely platonic?”
 

“I’m attracted to him, and I love being around him, but I have every intention of
keeping
it purely platonic.”

I must have sounded a touch defensive, because Lucy wasn’t the only woman in the room that didn’t look convinced.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I was in the kitchen, replenishing the snack trays, when I saw that I’d missed three calls.
 

I’d left my phone on the counter, and I grabbed it, a little too eager to see who had called.
 

I felt a ridiculous amount of disappointment when I saw that they were all from my ex, or Daryl the Dickhead, as I liked to think of him.
 

It was silly to expect Tristan to call me, just because we’d been apart for a few hours.
 
Lucy’d hit it right on the head about my co-dependency issues.

My phone dinged a text at me, and I was disappointed yet again when I saw that it was a text from Daryl.

Daryl
:
 
I miss you, baby.
 
Why you ignoring my calls?

I felt my lip curl up in disgust.
 
The bastard had a nerve.
 

I started to respond before I remembered that texting back, no matter what I said, only ever encouraged him.
 

Two things happened at once.
 

“Is that asshat bothering you again?” Candy shouted from the living room, right as the front door opened.
 

I looked up to see that Tristan had just walked in, and all of the women were watching me.
 
That quickly changed, and I could have been happy that the potentially awkward conversation about my ex had been avoided, except that Tristan had apparently heard her comment, and although the women’s attention had shifted to focus on him, his was very much focused on
me
.

“Who’s bothering you?
 
What’s going on?” he asked, striding straight to the kitchen.
 
He’d obviously taken Candy’s comment way too seriously.
 

“Um, no one. Nothing’s going on.
 
Why are you home so early?
 
Shouldn’t you still be working?”

He shrugged, his eyes going to the phone still in my hand.
 
“I ducked out early.
 
Is it that asshole ex of yours calling you again?
 
I’m seriously going to kick his ass if he doesn’t leave you alone.”

I set my phone down on the counter, folding my arms across my chest.
 
I saw his eyes go to my bared stomach, and I was gratified as he swallowed hard before looking back at my face.

“The first time you’ve had a paying gig all week, and you ditch out?
 
Are you like,
allergic
to work?”

I’d been trying to distract him from talking about my ex, and it worked like a charm, for all of ten seconds.
 

He laughed, moving into the kitchen.

He grabbed my phone off the counter before I saw his intent.
 

“So rude,” I told him.
 
“How would you like it if I started snooping through your phone?”

He didn’t look up from my phone as he reached into his pocket and handed me his.
 
“Go for it, boo.”
 

“Boo?” Candy called from the living room, sounding amused.
 

I’d forgotten that we weren’t alone, which said a lot about how much Tristan distracted me.
 

I set his phone on the counter, folding my arms across my chest, and giving him a very unfriendly look.
 

He didn’t look up, scrolling through my phone.
 
I saw his jaw clench right before he brought the phone to his ear.
 

Without another word, he strode out of the kitchen, through the dining room, opened the sliding glass door, and walked outside.
 

I followed him, wondering what the hell he was up to.
 

“Is this Daryl?” he said into my phone.
 

My jaw dropped.

He paused for a long moment, and whatever Daryl was saying was loud, because I could hear his voice from several feet away, though I couldn’t make out a word of what he was saying.
 

“Who I am is the guy who is going to kick your fucking ass if you don’t leave her alone.
 
One more phone call, one more text, so much as a fucking email, and I will
find
you.
 
Do you understand?”
 

He paused again, and I could hear that Daryl was yelling on the other end of the line.
 
“It doesn’t sound like you’re understanding what I’m saying.
 
How about I come over to your house, and we can talk about it in person?
 
Hell yeah, call the cops.
 
Cops or no, I can guarantee that I will mess you up before they can take me away.
 
I’m a very close friend of Danika’s, and I take my friendships very seriously.
 
Now do you understand?
 
Lose her fucking number.
”

He paused for a long time before speaking again.
 
“That’s just fine.
 
Fuck you, too, man, just so long as you leave my girl alone.”
 

He hung up the phone, looking at me.
 

He sighed, striding to me.
 
He pushed my face into his chest, hugging me.
 
I melted against him, even pissed.
 
I thought that was because I wasn’t
really
pissed.
 
It was more that I thought I should be pissed.
 
What I
was
was completely infatuated.
 
I didn’t think I’d ever met a sweeter guy in my life.
 

He kissed the top of my head, murmuring, “Don’t be mad at me, K?
 
I just want to look out for you.
 
I can’t help it.
 
You’ve put up with enough of that guy’s shit.
 
Let me take over.
 
I’ll make sure he never bothers you again.”
   

“You aren’t really going to beat him up, are you?
 
That was just a threat, right?”

“Sure, boo,” he murmured into my hair.
 
“I won’t beat him up, just so long as he never tries to contact you again.”

Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of his arms.
 
“You’re impossible, you know that?”

He nodded, and gave me that dangerous smile.
 
“I’m impossible, and you’re irresistible.
 
That’s a great mix, if you ask me.”

I rolled my eyes, heading back into the house.
 
“Irresistible, my ass,” I muttered.

He laughed.
 
“Exactly,” he said.
 

He laughed harder when he saw the writing on my butt.
 
“Sassy pants, huh?
 
Did you have those custom made?”

I shot him a very sassy look as I started to open the door.
 
“You think you can just infiltrate a girls’ night in?
 
We’ll see about that.
 
I’m going to have you voted out.”

He stopped me with a hand on my arm and a big grin.
 
“Let’s make a wager out of it.
 
If the girls vote me out, I’ll give you that bikini peep show you’ve been fantasizing about.”

I raised a brow, instantly intrigued.
 
That would be priceless…

“And if they don’t vote you out, you get to sleep in my bed, no funny business.”

He nodded.
 
“No funny business.”

I held my hand out to shake.
 

His big, warm hand enveloped mine.
 

“You’re going to lose,” I warned him.
 
“I know these women better than you do.
 
They won’t be swayed by your pretty face and your slutty body.”

I opened the door and walked inside while he was still laughing at me.
 

I went back to the loveseat and no sooner had I sat back down than Tristan was sitting next to me, crowding so close that I had to scoot nearly into Bev to give him room.
 

Tristan threw his arm over the back of the couch, making himself very comfortable.
 

“Girls, this is Tristan.
 
He thinks he can crash our girls’ night.
 
I told him it was girls only, no exceptions.
 
Who wants to help me kick his ass out?”

My eyes narrowed when not one of them volunteered.
 

“I vote we keep his ass in,” Candy said, giving him a very friendly smile.
 
“I like his ass already.”

I mouthed a few choice words at her.
 

“It’s more of a friends’ night than a girls’ night,” Harriet said.
 
“We just don’t have any men volunteering to join.”

“What’s the harm?” Jen joined in. “The more the merrier.”

I couldn’t believe it.
 
They were turning on me.
 
I opened my mouth to say something when Tristan spoke into my ear.
 
“If you tell them it’s a bet, I automatically
win
the bet.”

“Fine,” I bit out.
 
“Let’s take a vote.
 
By a show of hands, who wants to let a man into our sacred girl ritual night?”