Shutout (The Renegades Series Book 5) (11 page)

Rayne, a new girl, saw the large bills Matt was flashing and ran right over to him. She straddled him and slid her hands into his hair. She was tiny and thin with a thick head of bright red hair and large, fake boobs. Matt was lost in her breasts and wasn’t even looking when Dominic stood up and slid the fifty into Hailee’s top.

“Where to?” he asked as he stumbled a bit.

Hailee glanced to the manager and saw him give a nod at her.
Dammit.
As long as Dominic wasn’t breaking any rules, she couldn’t turn him down. “This way.” With her heart pounding like a drum, she led him across the room to the private area, which consisted of various blocked off rooms, a couch in each one, similar to the one she’d met him in that first night.

Bringing him back here was going to be less awkward than grinding against him with all of his buddies watching. Also, if she flaked, the manager wouldn’t see, and it would be less embarrassing for them both. But, God, being close to him, alone with him, even the thought of it made her stomach flutter and her legs weak.

With the door closed behind them, she pushed Dominic onto the couch along the wall. Normally she’d start grinding on the guy, giving him a good show for his money’s worth.

But she stood in front of Dom and looked into his glassy eyes. “You’re drunk.” Drunk, but still the most beautiful man she’d ever laid eyes on.

“Doez that mean you refuze me the dance?” He had started to slur his words.

“I never said that. I just said you’re drunk.”

“Yeah, zo what? I waz having a bad night, and I thought the alcohol would make me feel better. And I waz right, like always.”

He was still arrogant, even when drunk. “But I thought you won the game?”

His eyes were dark and heavy. He wasn’t lying; he was having a bad night.

“We did.” His eyes followed her every movement as she marched back and forth in front of him. She rolled her hips to the beat of the music. Closing her eyes, she ran her hands into her hair and then slowly down her body.

“Well, think of this dance as the victor’s prize then.” She ran her fingertip down his jawline, the scruffiness of his face tickling her finger. Her eyes locked onto his sexy lips, and she resisted the ridiculous urge to take his face in both her hands, and—

In one swift movement, he grabbed her hips and pulled her onto his lap. A gasp fell from her lips as her body melted against him. His strong hands had a hard grip on her, securing her in place, but she wasn’t moving away. His warmth, the clean smell of him, his strength, surrounded her and filled her senses. Closing her eyes, she had flashbacks of good times spent on their living room couch like this. How good it felt to have him hold her. How good it was to let go with him. Her heart ached for it, and she had to push back those old feelings. The reality was, this was not their old apartment, they weren’t together, and he was intoxicated.

He gazed up into her face, his eyes gentle and searching. “I miss you.”

His words snapped some sense into her and she straightened her back. She couldn’t allow this to go on, or she would be lost in him. “You’re drunk.” She peeled his hands away and stood above him, her legs spread on either side of his. With his warmth gone, she suddenly felt cold and bare.

“I am, but I still miss you.”

“No, you don’t.” She knew she should tell him to leave. But something stopped her. It could’ve been her need to feel his body against hers just one more time, or the pained look in his eyes, or— No, dammit, it was because he’d already paid her and she didn’t want to give back the money. Or something. Whatever, she just gave in to it.

Her voice was more tender than she meant it to be. “Just sit back and enjoy the dance you paid for.” She slowly moved around him, careful to look him in the eye as little as possible. She didn’t want to see his mouth either, because she’d always loved his lips, that sexy smile of his, and the way he always licked his lips when he was desperate to kiss her... Oh hell. Her emotions were on overdrive right now.

Sitting back down on his lap, with her back to his chest this time, she rolled her hips against him, trying to concentrate on replicating her usual moves. But her usual moves didn’t include this insane drive to be closer.

He reached out and put his hands on her hips, pushing her harder onto him again. That wasn’t allowed; she should remove his hands. But she didn’t move them. Arching her back, she leaned backwards into his chest.

Rubbing against him, she felt his hard length press against her, and her breath caught. Desire uncoiled inside her as she pressed back. His strong hands still gripped her hips, and for a moment she wished his fingers would move upwards to where her nipples were taut and needy.

Hot breath and his lips on her neck brought her out of his spell. What the hell was she doing? He reeked of beer. He was drunk and vulnerable, and she was worried what he might say in this state.

Being turned on by him was not the plan. This was her job; she did this to make money. She didn’t get turned on by the guys here, and she certainly didn’t get turned on by Dom anymore… so she told herself. Why did he have to keep coming in here? She sat down on his knee and turned to him. This wasn’t happening.

“I won’t do this.” She avoided looking at him as she handed him his fifty, but he pushed it back to her.

“No, it’s yours. Keep it. Maybe if I keep throwing money at you, you’ll stay with me.”

“What the hell did you say? I’m not a whore!” Her hand flew up to his face, but even as drunk as he was, his reflexes were spot on, and he caught her wrist before she made contact with his cheek.

“C’mon, Hay, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” He shook his head like he was trying to clear out the cobwebs, but alcohol is an evil thing. “If I’m giving you money, then no one else is. I didn’t like seeing you dance all over the guys on the team, and that room is full of other drunk douchebags just waiting to get their hands on you.”

He wasn’t wrong.

There was a good chance he wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning, so now was her chance to ask him. “Why do you keep coming in here?”

“To see you.”

Her pathetic heart fluttered before it dropped. That is what she thought he’d say and hoped he wouldn’t. “You shouldn’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“Doing what? Supporting you? I’ll always be here for you, Hay. No matter what you do, even if I don’t like it.” His face was serious, and his eyes trained on her, not searching the floor, and not running over her bare skin. He simply looked her in the eyes. Oh hell. That look, intense, gentle, and sexy all at once, had all the power to make her resistance crumble. She had to get out of this.

“I think you’ve had enough to drink. Dance is over. Let’s get you back to your friends.”

Grabbing Dominic’s wrist, she led him back to his table. Before she could stop him, he grabbed another beer and gulped it down. Kneeling down beside his buddy Kaden, she whispered so Dominic wouldn’t hear. “He’s drunk. Can you make sure he gets home okay?” She felt like it should be her making sure he got home okay, and she hoped his friend could be trusted to watch out for him.

“No problem.” Kaden nodded.

The team started to disperse within the next hour, but Kaden and Dominic stayed with a few other guys. With each table she went to, she could see him watch her and continue to down beers. They should’ve stopped serving him by now, but the way he flashed that sly smile at every waitress, and the sparkle in those dark eyes, they were putty in his hands, and he always had another drink.

Dominic

Dominic rolled over in bed. His head throbbed.
What the hell did I do last night?
The pain told him he had drunk way too much. Seeing as how the last thing he remembered was stifling his anger as he watched Hailee sensually dance around his teammates, he knew there was more to his night than that.

He couldn’t stand seeing Hailee dance around all those guys, waiting for one to pay for a private dance and see her lead him to the back room. Thank God she didn’t. If that had happened, he didn’t know what he would’ve done.

Some band was playing at the club; they didn’t know that before they got there. They were simply there to celebrate their win against Los Angeles. It was supposed to be a fun night of hanging out and light drinking. He suggested The Cat House in the hopes of Hailee being there again. What he found was her table dancing in a tiny ass outfit. He never saw her give a lap dance, but the rubbing up against the men and shoving her tits in their faces was too much for him to handle.

He’d already had too much beer by the time she came to their table. He shouldn’t have done it, but after too many drinks, he did vaguely remember handing her a fifty, and then they were in a room. After that, his memory was pretty much black.

Thinking about it made his head hurt worse. Thank God they had a day off today.

There was a knock on his door, then Kaden poked his head in. “Yo, bro, you getting your lazy ass up yet?”

“Shut it, Kaden.” He pulled the pillow over his head to avoid the light shining in from the hallway. “What time is it?”

“Almost noon. I’m headed out. Me, Ty and Kris are meeting at the gym if you want to join?”

“No way in hell, dude. I might not even get up today.”

“The old hangover hell, huh? Haven’t seen you there in a long time. You sure drank enough for it. Well, I hate to tell you that we’re out of coffee.”

Dominic groaned. “Dammit.” He couldn’t fight a hangover without caffeine.

“Well, if you change your mind, we’ll be at the gym. Never know, exerting yourself might make you feel better.”

“I’m sure it’d just make me puke.”

“Yeah, then you’d feel better!” Kaden’s laugh cut through his head like a knife and made him wince. “My bad.”

“How drunk did I get?” His memory was full of holes like Swiss cheese and the only thing he remembered was Hailee and all those men.

“What do you remember?”

“My ex hanging all over you, and all but pulling out your dick.” Anger filled his body, but the blood rushing to his head just made him nauseated. He threw the pillow off his head and ran to his bathroom, barely making it to the john in time. Whatever it was he ate last night didn’t fare so well revisiting him this morning.

“That’s nasty, dude.” Kaden called from the bedroom doorway.

Dominic rinsed his mouth and swished around some mouthwash before returning to his bed. “Don’t start with me.”

“Don’t get all mad. She was not getting ready to whip anything out. She was just doing her job, and I would say probably a little too well because you were there. She was egging you on, dude.”

He’d never considered that. Her moves and the way she gave every guy what he wanted, all along barely even touching them.
Was it all an act
?

“You got all worked up over it and we couldn’t keep the beers out of your hand. For every waitress who cut you off, you’d flirt with another and they were more than happy to give you another one. But that was after you returned from your private dance with her.”

“With who?” It was starting to come back to him.

“Your girl.” Kaden grinned. “You don’t remember that?”

“Nope.” But he did remember.
It was Hailee
.

“I don’t know what went on back there, but she avoided you for the rest of the night, even asked me to make sure you got home okay. Hope you weren’t a dick.” He shrugged. “Well I gotta bolt. Take it easy.”

“The ladies can’t resist me, you know that,” Dom said, but Kaden was already gone.
No way I was a dick
.
Not to Hailee. Or was I?
Closing his eyes, he swallowed hard, pushing down the nausea that rose in his throat. He had to shake this. Maybe hair of the dog? Greasy food? Caffeine? More sleep? Maybe all of the above, but he’d start with coffee.

Dragging himself out of bed, he made his way to the kitchen. Looking at the empty carafe, he sighed heavily. He searched the cupboard for the bag of coffee grinds, but it wasn’t there. “Fuck…” Kaden had said they were all out.

His stomach was gurgling again. He needed something until he could find some coffee. He grabbed an almost empty two-liter of Coke out of the refrigerator, and a slice of cold pizza. The Coke was flat, but the sweet, syrupy flavor still tasted good going down and complimented the garlicy pizza.

His hair flopped into his face. Running his fingers through it, pushing it out of the way, it felt heavy. He needed a shower. Stepping into the shower stall he turned the hot water up and inhaled the forming steam. The hot water felt good pounding against his skin and his headache subsided a little.

When he was finally scrubbed clean and waterlogged from standing in the shower for so long, he felt a bit more energized. But he needed more than a few sips of flat Coke and cold pizza to combat this massive hangover.

He found a gray t-shirt and blue jeans in his clean clothes pile; he hadn’t had the time to put away his laundry yet this week. The weather had been chilly still as spring was approaching, so he grabbed a dark gray pullover hoodie. Even feeling miserable, he made sure his outfits had style, as he put on socks and slipped on Adidas tennis shoes. Tossing a black baseball cap on backwards, he was ready to find some coffee.

It was a beautiful, almost spring day outside. He wanted to drive his truck with the windows down and let the fresh air in, but the cool wind hitting his face made his headache start to come back, and that was not what he wanted. The sunlight hurt his eyes because he forgot his sunglasses at the apartment, so he pulled over at the closest coffee shop he could find, Cool Beans. It didn’t look busy. He’d been here a few times, but didn’t frequent this area often. He spent most of his time by the arena.

“Caramel Macchiato with an extra shot, please.” He flashed the barista a smile. He needed more than an extra shot of caffeine, but knew that’d just make him a jittery mess. He rolled his sleeves up before picking up the coffee.

The barista nervously smiled as her eyes went from his neck down to his hands. Her voice came out squeaky as she spoke. “I really like your tattoos.”

“Oh, thanks.” He gave her a warm smile and tucked a ten-dollar bill into the tip jar.

Finding a quiet corner, he settled in and pulled out his phone while he sipped his coffee. The hot liquid warmed his body and soothed his wary stomach. Maybe if he relaxed enough, some more memories of last night would come back to him. No one had texted him, and there was nothing on social media about their visit to The Cat House, so whatever went down couldn’t have been that bad.

He kicked back and people watched out the window as he drank his coffee, wanting to get it into his system while it was still piping hot. This was a nice little street, brick road, painted lampposts and matching garbage cans. Across the street was a pet salon and a pink and white business that looked like a bakery. The sign read ‘The Pink Ribbon Cupcakery’.

Something about that name seemed oddly familiar, and after finishing off his coffee, he headed across the street to quell the sweets craving that just popped up. It was a cheery place. The door jingled as he entered, which made him cringe because he still wasn’t dealing well with loud or obnoxious sounds. A young girl with bubble gum pink hair bounced to the counter. Her personality was as cheerful as her hair and the pink and white interior of the shop.

“Hi! What can I get you?”

“Well, what cupcake flavor do you suggest?” There were so many sitting under the glass he didn’t know where to start.

“I personally like the Pink Ribbon cupcakes. They are vanilla cupcake colored light pink, with cherry vanilla buttercream icing colored a darker pink. And of course, a fondant pink ribbon nestled on top. Or you might like the Champagne Kisses cupcake. The icing really does taste like champagne, decorated with tiny red and pink hearts sprinkled onto the white buttercream icing. The batter is so fluffy and light, and it is currently one of our most popular flavors. If you like chocolate, there is always the Double Fudge Fantasy cupca—”

“Okay.” Her voice was upbeat and perky, but it was shooting through his head like an ice pick. “You know, I think I’ll take the champagne one.”

“Just so you know, we donate one dollar from every cupcake we sell to a breast cancer foundation.”

Dom looked down at the tip jar. It also had a sign on it that all tips were donated. “Why don’t you also give me one of the Pink Ribbon cupcakes, but in a to-go box, please?” He pulled out his wallet to pay her and stuffed a twenty into the tip jar. He handed her the money. When she tried to hand him the change, he stopped her. “Put that in the tip jar, too.”

“Thanks.” She pulled out the Champagne cupcake and set it on a paper plate, and then boxed up the Pink Ribbon cupcake. “Here you go. I’m the owner, baker, and decorator, and I also ring register.” She giggled a little. “My best friend is a breast cancer survivor, and I themed this whole place for her.”

“Well, that’s admirable of you.” He was guessing the pink hair had something to do with it as well. “I’ve never been here before, but I do think I’ll be back. Actually, I’m sure I’ll be back. Is that a soda fountain over there?” He pointed to the far wall.

“Yes it is,” she said proudly. “The only one in this area. We have the best milkshakes around.”

“Then I’ll definitely be back. Thanks.” He took his cupcake to a table by the window. He was gazing at the passersby but not really looking as he dug into the delicious sweetness of the Champagne cupcake.

His cell phone buzzed. It was a text from his captain. Tyler wanted to know if he was amongst the living yet. Ty hadn’t gone out with them last night, but had heard about Dom’s antics. Dom responded, saying yes he was out and about for coffee and sweets.

The door jingled while he was busy texting Tyler back, promising he’d be at the optional practice tomorrow morning. The girl at the counter broke into his thoughts as she greeted the customer way too loudly and cheerfully.

“Hey there, sunshine! What can I get you today? You working at the Pet Salon this afternoon?”

“I am.” She said something else about it being a slow day, or maybe something about her birthday. But her words were just muddled in his ears because the voice took him by surprise, and when he looked up all he could hear was his own heartbeat.

It was Hailee.

He cleared his throat, in the hope of getting her attention. It worked, because she turned around and her eyes locked with his. Not sure if she was going to bolt or ignore him or both, he had only one big gun in his arsenal. His smile. He flashed as coy of a smile as he could muster, hoping it reached his eyes, and did his textbook move. He looked down to the floor for a second, scratched at his whiskers, then back at her, hoping her gaze would still be locked.

To his surprise, she was.

“Here’s the money. I’ll be over there while you get that order together and I’ll grab it on my way out. Thanks,” she said to the pink haired bakery owner.

Hailee looked amazing. She had on tight blue jeans and a matching blue jeans jacket. Under that, a black crop top showed off her stomach, rib, and hip tatts. She had slipper like black boots on. Her radiant violet hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.” He continued to smile.

“Can’t say I had that expectation when I walked in, either.” She hesitated before pulling out a chair.

“Hailee, have a seat, please.” Pleasantly surprised when she sat down, he decided to go for it. “Look, I apologize for last night. I don’t remember a lot. But I’m sure I was a dick. You know I don’t typically drink like that.” He hoped she remembered.

She looked him over and tilted her head a bit before speaking. “You’re pretty miserable today, huh?”

“Yeah, you can tell?”

“Well, I can because I know you. It probably isn’t that obvious. Try some tomato juice mixed with carrot juice. I can’t tell you why it works, but it always seems to do the trick for me.” Her lips formed a tiny smile. “And you weren’t really a dick.”

“Nice of you to say, but I’m sure I was. Kaden filled me in on a little of what went on.”

“So you really don’t remember?”

“Not much.” His eyes found hers and held them. “However, I do remember
why
I was drinking so much.”

“Yeah, well, it’s my job and I won’t apologize for that.” Her face tensed up with the uneasiness of the conversation, and he regretted saying anything.

“I don’t mind if you stop by, but realize that it’s just my job. For now.”

“For now?”
What did she mean by that?

“Yeah, I have bigger things in mind for myself. But right now, that pays the bills.”