Painless (65 page)

Tiffany shrugged. For once, she didn’t have her hands all over me. She just stood a foot away, holding a girl drink in her hand, which was half gone.

I decided to be polite and let her off the hook for past transgressions. “Can I buy you another drink, Tiff?”

“I’m good for now,” she smiled. “How were sales tonight? Did you clean up?”

I nodded cockily, “Hells yeah. We sold everything.”

“I heard your dad and your grandfather had paintings on sale tonight?”

“Yeah, their stuff sold too.”

“Congratulations,” she said sincerely, “you should be proud of yourself, Christos. I bet you made a ton of money.”

“I hope.” The next thing I knew, I was opening up to her like I used to. “I just hope it’ll cover the civil suit hanging over my head.”

“Civil suit?” She sipped her drink. “What civil suit?”

“Oh, some douche bag named Hunter Blakeley. Do you know him?”

She shrugged.

“Total prick,” I shook my head. “This guy Hunter Blakeley was harassing Samantha a few months back every time he ran into her. One day he does it in front of me. Tried to start a fight with me, but I tripped him into the dirt. So everything’s fine, right?”

She nodded, cuing me to continue, and sipped her drink.

I gave her the run down about running into Hunter in front of Hooters, and him and his three buddies following me and Jake to our car. I glossed over the part about me and Jake stealing Hunter’s bar babes and buying them drinks because I didn’t want Tiff thinking she had a shot with me, because she didn’t. And I’d been shitfaced that night anyway. I didn’t plan on doing much if any drinking beyond one or two at a time for the foreseeable future. I had too much to lose.

I never wanted to lose Samantha.

“What happened at your car?” Tiff asked, her eyes wide with interest as she sucked down more of her drink.

I had a moment to wonder if she was trying to get buzzed so she would have an excuse to put the moves on me without inhibition. It was her usual strategy. I’d have to keep an eye on her.

“I popped the guy in the nose,” I said. “Once. But I think I broke it. Anyway, this guy Hunter is a model, and it turns out he lost a bunch of work. Now his attorney is asking for close to a million bucks.”

“A million!” Tiff swallowed wrong and coughed several times. “Sorry.” She blotted her chin with her cocktail napkin.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What?” she smiled

“Nothing,” I grinned.

When she finished blotting, she said, “What are you going to do about this Hunter guy?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. Me and Russell think Hunter’s attorney found out how much my family is worth and they’re trying to bend us over.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tiffany winced. Over the years, I knew Tiffany’s family had seen their fair share of people trying to sue the shit out of them over the littlest thing, just because they had money. She could relate.
 

“Thanks, Tiff. Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up. We don’t have any videotape evidence or anything to prove that Hunter started it. It’s just me and Jake’s word against Hunter and his three pals. This Hunter guy can come across totally clean cut when he wants too. A jury would probably believe him. Best case scenario, I’m hoping we can get the damages reduced. But even then, it could be a few hundred grand.”

“That’s awful, Christos,” Tiff said, resting her hand on my arm.

I glanced at her hand.

She let it fall away.

“I wish there was something I could do to help…” she gazed into my eyes, but then suddenly got a far away look, lost in thought.

She was gone so long, I finally said, “Tiff? You still there?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “Sorry. Just thinking about something.”

“Anyway, I was going to say thanks, Tiff. I appreciate you listening. But don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with it.”

She shook her head and smirked, “You always do.”

She set her empty drink on the bar and said, “I need to go freshen up in the ladies room.”

I nodded and she walked off into the crowd.

A minute later, Jake wandered back to the bar. “You get our drinks yet?”

“Still waiting,” I said.

While we waited, I couldn’t help but wonder what was on Tiff’s mind all of a sudden. I could always tell when her wheels started turning over some new scheme in her head. She hadn’t changed a bit.

I’d have to keep my eyes on her.

===

SAMANTHA

“Let’s go talk to the band,” Madison said as Lucas, Logan and Victory walked from the stage toward the bar with the big shark hanging over it, “I’ll introduce you to Victory.”

“Okay,” I said as she pulled me along.

Romeo and Kamiko followed.

As we made our way toward them, Madison hollered, “Hey, Lucas!”

“What up, Madison!” Lucas grinned. “How’d you guys like the tunes?”

“Totally rockin’,” Madison said.

The bunch of us were now all standing facing each other.

“You guys were totally awesome!” I said.

“Hey,” Lucas smiled at me, “I remember you. You’re Samantha, right?”

“Yeah,” I grinned.

Lucas said, “Logan, you remember Samantha. We moved her shit out of her apartment into Christos’ pad.”

“Yeah,” Logan smiled. He didn’t say anything else. Still as shy as the first time I’d met him. But he was so cute it didn’t work against.

Madison said, “These are Sam’s friends Romeo and Kamiko.” They both said hello to the boys.

“And this,” Lucas said, “is our friend Victory.”

“Hi,” she said.

I shook her hand, “Your guitar playing is amazing,” I smiled.

“Thanks,” she smiled back, exuding a cool cat rockstar vibe.

I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I couldn’t tell if she was too cool for school or what. So I turned to Lucas and said, “Hey, Lucas, you guys played some really awesome songs tonight. But one of them really stuck out, and I was wondering what it was about.”

“Which one?” he asked.

“The slow sad one,” I said.

“You mean Now Your Eyes Are Closed?” he said, “The ballad?”

“I guess?” I said uncertainly. “It was the really sad one.”

Logan nodded at his brother.

“Yeah,” Lucas said to me, almost wincing, “that was Now Your Eyes Are Closed.”

“Well, it was really amazing,” I smiled sincerely. “But I couldn’t figure out what it was about.”

Logan, the shy one, glanced at Lucas, who suddenly looked miserable.

Had I asked the wrong question? I glanced down to make sure my foot hadn’t stuck itself in my mouth without my approval. Yup, it had, toes and all. At least now it was jammed so far inside my mouth I wouldn’t be able to say anything else to make people uncomfortable.
 

“Uh,” Logan said, “that song is kind of personal to me and my brother. We don’t really talk about it.”

“I’m totally sorry,” I said nervously. “I shouldn’t have asked.” Maybe one day, like in a few decades, my social awkwardness would disappear completely. But for now, it still lingered. Oh well.

“No worries,” Logan smiled, trying to sound casual, but I could tell he was uneasy with the topic.

Lucas, the talkative one, was now all choked up. His eyes had darkened and a brooding look weighed down on his face.

Had I been right about my guess that their song was about Lucas’ girlfriend dying?

Logan’s features softened with sympathy as he watched his brother Lucas sinking into a deep emotional pit right in front of us. “You okay, bro?” he asked. He rested a gentle hand on Lucas’ shoulder.

Lucas inhaled forcefully through his nostrils and shook it off. “I’m good.” A second later, the twinkle I’d seen in his blue eyes the day we’d met returned. He turned to Victory and said, “You were on fire tonight, girl. We need to have you sit in for us more often.”

“Thanks,” Victory smiled quietly.

“Wait,” Madison said, “I thought Victory was your regular guitar player?”

“Nah,” Lucas said, “our regular guitar guy is busy doing paying session work up in L.A., so we asked Victory to sit in for our last couple gigs.”

I blurted, “You should totally keep her in your band! She rocks!”

“Victory has a regular gig with another band,” Lucas said.
 

There went my foot again.

“She’s just doing us a favor,” Logan said.

Victory nodded. She was so quiet. Unlike me, the blurt bomb.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I could only assume it was Christos with our drinks. I totally needed a social save before I said something else awkward.

“Hey, Sam,” the voice said behind me. I turned around to face Hunter Blakeley.

Lameballs.

I meant, slimeballs.

Why was he here? Had he still not gotten the message I wanted nothing to do with him? Oh well, this was a public bar. Was there a quick way to explain to everyone that Hunter was suing my boyfriend for hundreds of thousands of dollars because he was a total ass, and we should all shun him until he went away? Maybe not. So I turned my back to Hunter, hoping he would take the hint and go away.

I should’ve known better.

Hunter squeezed into the circle next to me. He smiled at the Summer brothers and said, “I’m Hunter Blakeley.”

They both shook Hunter’s hand. They didn’t know who he was.

I glanced at Romeo, whose eyes had bugged out of his face.

“Who’s this?” Hunter drawled smarmily, eying Victory like a piece of meat. She was gorgeous, and Hunter was as predictable as he was obvious.

Victory arched an eyebrow at Hunter. I couldn’t tell if she was interested in him or not.
 

He extended his hand, “I’m Hunter Blakeley.”

Victory didn’t shake his hand. She just stared at it for awhile, then gave Hunter an amused grin. She was kind of hard to read.

Hunter smiled at her. “Are you a friend of Sam’s?”

Victory glanced at me. “Do you know this guy?” she asked me.

“Sort of,” I said uneasily. I wanted to shout, “He’s horrible! Run away!” But I was trying to be polite, so I didn’t.

Victory narrowed her eyes at me, drilling me with her gaze.

That was weird. She seemed mad all of a sudden. Was she mad at me? I don’t know why she would be, but I could feel it coming off of her in waves. I must have pissed her off somehow. Maybe she thought my question to Lucas about his song had been ultra rude, and she was offended for him? Maybe she was irritated I’d suggested she join Lucas and Logan’s band? Was it a sore point between them? I had no idea. Geez, I was the First Lady of Awkwardness & Insecurity tonight.

Victory turned to Hunter and smiled at him.
 

Maybe she was attracted to Hunter? I hoped not. For her sake.

Victory took a step toward Hunter, until she was right in front of him. Any second, Victory was going to take Hunter’s elbow, then turn to me and say sneeringly, “Let’s ditch these nerds,” before she and Hunter walked away. Then Lucas and Logan would laugh at me and throw things and call me names.

Instead, Victory glared up at Hunter and said, “Dude, you’re making everyone uncomfortable. Samantha doesn’t like you, and I can tell you’re a prick.” Her eyes gleamed when she said it. She looked, I don’t know, dangerous. Standing in front of him, she seemed way too small, but you know what they said about Honey Badgers. She wasn’t afraid of Hunter at all.

Romeo clapped a hand over his mouth, stifling a laugh.

A smile widened across my face. I couldn’t help myself.

Victory said to Hunter, “Why don’t you go elsewhere?”

The grin remained on Hunter’s face. He was never one to listen to basic instructions. He stood his ground. He was enjoying himself way too much to leave when the fun was just starting.

“Hunter Blakeley,” Christos singsonged from behind me. “So good to see you, pal” he said sarcastically.

My very own Motorknight always knew right when to show up.
 

Grin.

===

CHRISTOS

Hunter turned around and scowled up at me, “Christos Manos, in the flesh.”

I stared him down.

Hunter was a big guy. But I was bigger. And he knew he didn’t stand a chance against me in a fight. We had already proved that on two embarrassing occasions.

“How’s life treating you?” Hunter chuckled like he was my best bud.

“Awesome,” I smiled.

Hunter draped his arm over Samantha’s shoulders, like they were together.

Samantha winced and ducked away, saying, “Get off me, Hunter!”

He laughed it off like it was no big deal.

“You want me to teach Hunter some manners?” Jake asked, cracking his knuckles enthusiastically.

“No, I got this,” I said. The last thing I wanted was for Jake to knock Hunter’s teeth out and have his own civil suit to deal with. Jake and his family didn’t have money to spare like mine did. A big lawsuit would bury them.

Hunter said to Jake, “Easy, tough guy. Looks like your boyfriend is going to protect you. Maybe you can blow him later as a reward for standing up for you.”

“You’re an ass,” Madison said to Hunter. “Don’t you have some dick modeling to go do?”

“You remembered,” Hunter smiled, like he was good friends with Madison because of it.

“I remembered you’re a dickhead,” she scowled. “I’m sure there’s tons of dick modeling out there for a dickface like you.”

“Go, Mads!” Samantha blurted before slapping her hand over her mouth.

Hunter chuckled. “Wow, I’ve never seen so many ballsy women in one place.” He glared at me and Jake as he said it, implying both of us were women.

“Relax, Hunter,” I said.

He stepped up to me until his chest was an inch from mine and said, “I don’t think so.”

I really wanted to crush him like an ant.

“Come on, tough guy,” Hunter hissed. “Show me what you got.”

This was ridiculous. Hunter was doing everything he could to piss me off. He was acting like he had invulnerability armor on because of the civil suit. Sadly, he sort of did. We both knew he would sue me a second time if I hit him again. He had the upper hand and he was playing it to the hilt.

Whatever.

“When did you become such a pussy, Christos?” Hunter asked.

I shook my head dismissively.