Double Coverage (10 page)

Hannah’s face took on a scary shade of red. Great, Mason embarrassed her. “I’m sorry, but I have a boyfriend,” she said shyly.

Ryker stepped in. “Sorry about my friend; he hasn’t been out in public in a while and has lost all his manners.”

“He’s forgiven,” she said with a smile. “So what can I get you two?”

“Two lagers on tap and a basket of buffalo wings.”

“Not a problem.” She gave the guys a wink and walked away.

“Jesus, she was amazing.”

Mason cocked an eyebrow at Ryker as if he was crazy. “Dude, you said two words to her.”

“It’s love at first sight. She will be my wife one day,” Ryker said with a cocky grin, while staring at Hannah’s retreat.

Mason busted out in laughter, drawing attention to their booth. Ryker saw some patrons whispering and pointing in their direction. Some people recognized them, but had the decency to leave them alone. You didn’t find that very often when you were a celebrity in public places. Ryker was new to the city, but Mason was well known and loved throughout Denver.

“What’s so funny?”

Mason wiped his eyes. “So, you’re going to marry that girl?”

“Hannah.”

“What?” Mason asked.

“That girl you speak of, her name’s Hannah.”

Mason broke out in laughter again, just as Hannah came up to their table holding a tray in her hand with two beers on top of it. Ryker couldn’t take his eyes off of her and the way her movements were so fluid.

“How serious are we talking here?” Ryker asked Hannah.

She scrunched her nose as she asked, “What do you mean?” She was so damn cute, it took all of Ryker’s energy not to pull her down on his lap and bury himself in her neck.

“How serious are you and your boyfriend?”

Understanding flashed across her face. “Pretty serious.” She gave him an apologetic look.

“Well, just in case you change your mind, I’m Ryker. Ryker Lewis.”

“He thinks he’s going to marry you one day.”

Ryker choked on the sip of beer he was taking and wiped his mouth once he caught his breath. He looked up at Hannah, whose face was past the boiling point of red. Mason was grinning like a fool at his ability to embarrass everyone around him. Mason was going to get it, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Payback’s a bitch, man,” Ryker said.

Mason just shrugged and took a gulp of his beer. Hannah looked between the two men and said, “Well…uh Piper will be right out with your buffalo wings.”

“Piper?” Mason asked. It looked like his face turned a ghostly shade of white.

“Yeah, Piper, the other waitress. She’s taken as well boys. Sorry, but if you’d like, I could send those girls at the pool table your way; I heard them saying how they were single and looking for fun.” Hannah turned around, laughing. Ryker watched her little body sway away. Oh yeah, he was going to make it his goal in life to get to know her.

Ryker looked over at Mason and saw that he was staring at something. Ryker followed his line of vision and a laugh escaped his throat. A bright-red-headed, gorgeous woman started walking toward their table. When she made eye contact with Mason, she stopped in her tracks.

“Oh, this is going to be one of the best nights of my life,” Ryker said, while laughing and taking another sip of his beer.

***

Piper knew that there was a very slim possibility that she might run into Mason again someday, but she didn’t think it was going to be so soon and she didn’t think it was going to be at Dick’s Last Chance. What was he doing at a sports bar right across from the stadium? Did he want to get mauled by fans? Piper looked around and noticed that none of the die-hard Stallions fans were even making a play at his table. Were the rowdy fans actually going to let the man have a beer in peace? What was the world coming to? Now he was going to get the impression that the bar was peaceful, which it wasn’t.

Mason was staring directly at her with his beer almost to his mouth in mid-sip when she made eye contact with him. Her hand started to burn and she realized the plate of Buffalo wings she was carrying was for Mason and Ryker. Damn it. This was the last thing she wanted. She looked around to see if Hannah was busy, so she could make the delivery instead, but of course, Hannah was swamped at the bar. Piper was going to have to drop off the stupid Buffalo wings herself.

She puffed her chest out, shook her head to fluff her curls and headed toward their table. Mason did not take his eyes off of her, but finished the sip of beer he was taking when he first saw her. She tried to avoid eye contact with him, but she couldn’t help but look him up and down. God, he was too gorgeous. It annoyed her how attractive he was. He was wearing a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his well-toned, tanned and tattooed forearms. She tried to shake the thoughts of those strong hands running up her body on the beach, but she couldn’t; the images were stuck in her mind. She unfortunately thought about that night on the beach often and how good she felt in Mason’s arms.

“I’m surprised you’re not falling on your face wasted and drooling in the corner of the bar, given your track record,” Mason said to her, as she placed the Buffalo wings in the center of the table. His comment, thankfully, brought back all the reasons why she didn’t want anything to do with him.

“Dude!” Ryker said, but Piper hushed him with her hand. She could fight her own battles.

“I talked to the girls playing pool over there and they said they would blow you for fifty bucks. I told them they better ask for more, since you have some nasty ass bush down there,” Piper said with a grin, while Ryker busted out in laughter, even though she knew Mason was a well man-scaped man.

Mason gently put down his beer and looked up at Piper. There was no anger in his eyes, more like amusement.

“I didn’t pay you to go down there. What’s that say about you?”

“That I will take one for the team when it comes to revenge.”

“By how hard your nipples were that night,” he nodded at her chest, “and the way they’re hard now, makes me think differently.” He took a sip of his beer, while he grinned like a fool. Damn her treacherous body. She couldn’t help the way her damn nipples reacted to him.

Ryker chimed in before she could respond. She almost forgot that Ryker was listening in on their little spat. It was as if Mason trapped her in his own little world; she found it a little bothersome.

“So, did I hear right from your gorgeous friend over there, you are currently off the market?”

Off the market? What was Ryker talking about?

Guilt washed over her when Jax finally popped in her mind. How could she forget about sweet, kindhearted, adorable Jax? She was a terrible person. Earlier, in the kitchen she was day dreaming about Jax and the date they have planned, but then Mason reappeared and all thoughts of the southern gentleman escaped her mind.

“Yes, I’m seeing someone right now.”

“Is he aware that behind that body of yours lives the devil himself?” Mason asked, while chewing on a buffalo wing.

Piper leaned over so her shirt fell open, giving Mason a good shot of her cleavage. “I knew you couldn’t stop thinking about my body.”

Mason stared down her shirt for what seemed like a minute and then looked back up at her. “I won’t lie, you’re fucking hot, but you are Satan’s spawn.”

She got back up and leaned on her hip. “Interesting, you didn’t seem to think that when you were running your hands up my naked body, making out with me and moaning in my mouth.”

Thinking about that night again made Piper’s body heat up. After she ditched him, leaving him naked by the ocean, she regretted her decision while lying in bed…alone. She’d had many sleepless nights thinking about how it would feel to have Mason completely wrapped around her, making her toes curl even farther then he did with just his touch. She even had X-rated images of what he did to her with his cock.

Ugh, the vision of him standing bare for the world to see, cock sprung like a firecracker, made her mouth water. He was most definitely a well-endowed man and she so desperately wanted to see what he could do with it that night. But her stubborn personality kicked in and sought revenge. Even though revenge was nice, she was now regretting it. If she’d had him for one night, she most likely wouldn’t currently have sexual feelings for him.

She kept telling herself to think about Jax and how sweet he is. Jax was the man for her and her new life in Denver.

Ryker held up his hand to stop Mason from answering. He had a mouthful of buffalo chicken, but spoke anyway. “Jesus, can you two please stop bickering or just go fuck in the back room and get it over with? I’m trying to enjoy my beer here. Besides, Piper, you need to get the hell out of here so I can hit on Hannah.”

Piper laughed. “Hannah? She’s not your type.”

Ryker looked sincerely offended. “What does that mean?”

“It means she’s a good girl. She’s not one to jump into bed with a guy and not be bothered that he never calls her back. Face it Ryker, you’re a player and she is the marrying type. Leave her alone.” Piper pointed her finger at Ryker in warning. “Now, unless you Neanderthals need anything else, I’m going to go help the other paying customers.”

Piper walked away without hearing if they needed anything else. She didn’t care if they did. She needed to get away from Mason and his ego. It was suffocating.

Piper saw Hannah nod at her, silently asking if she was okay. Piper nodded back and went to go help the other customers, wiping away all thoughts of Mason.

Many hours, beers served and drunks shoved out the door later, Piper sat next to Hannah counting out their tips and ringing up the last of the customer receipts. Luckily, Piper did not have to deal with Ryker and Mason for the rest of the night. Hannah took one for the team and waited on the two arrogant men. Piper even noticed Hannah smiled and talked to Ryker a little more than she had to. Piper really hoped that Hannah didn’t fall for his playboy moves.

“Oh, I forgot, here is your half of the tip from the boys.”

The boys? Oh no. “Don’t call them that.”

“What? They were actually really nice and funny. You know, Mason could not stop staring at you.”

Piper snapped her head up from going through receipts. “That’s not true. He despises me.”

Hannah shook her head and smiled. Her light blue eyes shined with amusement. “Oh no, he has it bad for you. He even asked about Jax.”

Piper sat up a little more. “About Jax? Really? What did he say?”

“He casually asked who the ‘poor soul’ was who you dug your fangs into,” Hannah said, while making air quotes. “But when I started describing what a dreamboat Jax is, he got all huffy and started playing with his phone. He’s crushing on you big time.”

Piper snorted. “What is this? Grade school?”

Hannah shrugged. “I highly doubt he would ever admit it, though. He is kind of an ass. There is no way he would show his true feelings about you.”

“Yeah, I know he’s an ass. That’s not news to me. It’s one of the reasons I stay far away from him. I don’t need another alpha male in my life. He is a control freak and you can tell. I don’t need to get wrapped up in that.”

“I agree.” Hannah pushed a bill toward Piper. “Here, he left us each a hundred as a tip.”

Piper thought her eyebrows shot off her forehead in shock. “He left us EACH a hundred dollar bill? I mean, I know he can afford it, but why would he do that?”

“I don’t want to say.”

“Hannah…”

“Fine, he said to give this to you so you could get your eyebrows waxed. He said they were looking like two Tom Sellecks were trying to mate in the middle of your forehead.”

“Tom Sellecks?”

Hannah sighed. “Mustaches.”

Piper ground her teeth together. She wanted to wring his neck. “What a cocky, arrogant dick-eater. God, I don’t know what I did to him, but I can’t fucking stand that man. He gets on my last nerve.”

Hannah warned Piper about her language, but Piper didn’t care. There was no way she could talk about Mason without swearing. Just to reassure herself that she made the right decision in men, she sent a text to Jax.

Piper: Just ended my shift. I know it’s late, but I wanted to tell you how excited I am for our date.

She was packed up and ready to start making the walk home when she got a text message back.

Jax: Me too, beautiful. Sweet dreams tonight
.

Piper let out a long breath she didn’t know she was holding in. Jax was just what she needed. Instead of focusing on how much she despised Mason Dashel, she thought about what a great new beginning she was starting with Jax as she walked down the street toward her little loft apartment.

***

Hannah was incredibly tired from her shift at the bar. Mason and Ryker had her coming to their table any time they got her attention and, since Piper refused to serve them, Hannah had to deal with them. At least they tipped her well. They never really wanted anything, they only had three beers each, but they always called her over to settle a dispute or to ask questions about the bar…or Piper.

Mason was infatuated with Piper, Hannah could tell. She couldn’t blame the man, Piper was beautiful. Hannah had always felt inferior to her. It was hard not to when your best friend was tall, with long legs, vibrant hair and soul-piercing eyes. Any guy who saw her instantly wanted her number, but the greatest thing about Piper was she didn’t flaunt her beauty. She was very subtle about how she presented herself and had the sweetest personality, but was sassy at the same time. That was why Hannah and Piper got along so well. Piper was the ying to Hannah’s yang. They made a great duo.