Player(3)

He hadn’t been the only one.

Dumbfounded, I’d looked down, my eyes roaming from her curly head down to the curve of her ample ass as she scrubbed. The motion set her body moving toward and away from me in a borderline pornographic wave that reminded me of something much more intimate than a shoe shine.

“I think I’m gonna go after her,” he said, watching me.

Something inside me jerked in surprise, but I kept still, kept my voice light. With a laugh, I said, “No, you aren’t.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t before. I shoulda hit on her the second she walked in. After her little display, I wouldn’t mind getting her on all fours so she could spit shine my D.”

My head swiveled around to eye him. “Assuming she’d be interested.”

He gave me a look. “Why wouldn’t she be interested?”

“She’s too smart to fall for your bullshit.”

His face lit up with humor. “Aw, what’s the matter? You don’t like her, do you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not.”

“No, of course not,” he echoed pointedly.

A pause. “I don’t want her. I just think she’s sweet, too sweet for you. There are plenty of girls out there for you to fuck up, but that one you could fuck up permanently.”

“Who says I’ll fuck her up? I just want to fuck her. I mean, if you want her, she’s all yours. After the shoe shine, you’ve got dibs.”

“Thanks,” I said flatly.

“But if you don’t, I will.”

My jaw clenched. I tried to smile. “Not a chance, man. No way would she fall for your line.”

He shrugged, the picture of apathy. “That sounds like a bet to me.”

I rummaged around in my bag, avoiding his eyes. Because if I looked directly at him, I might actually hit him. “You’re the fucking worst. I’m not putting down bets on some girl.”

“Not what you said last week about…Charmaine?”

I stood, scowling. “Charlene. But a girl at a bar with her skirt barely covering her ass is a different story than Val.”

“Val. Well, well, well. You do like her.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” It was inexplicable, the irrational bout of anger that sparked in my ribs.

Very few people could make me feel transparent the way he could.

In fairness, he wasn’t usually this much of a dick. Competitive, sure. Egomaniacal, absolutely. But we’d grown up together, come into our careers together. We’d played the field together and conquered a mountain of ass in the process.

In truth, he knew me better than just about anyone. And I knew him.

Ian watched me with cool, calculating eyes. “That makes things more interesting. You don’t think she’d be interested in me, but you don’t want me to take a shot. You like her. So why not go after her? And don’t say work. That’s a bullshit rule, and you know it.”

“And you know I won’t do it. Work chicks. Good girls. That’s your thing, not mine.”

“Well, you know what I think, Sammy boy?” he said with his most winning smile. “Not only do I think she’d happily sleep with me, but now you’ve convinced me you want a piece of her, too.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Tell you what,” he offered. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“You couldn’t just decide not to be a piece of shit?”

Another laugh, cheery and light. “Where’s the fun in that?”

I folded my arms but said nothing.

“I bet you can’t date her for a month. If you do it, if you last an entire month dating Susie Spitshine, I’ll leave her alone. And if you don’t, she’s fair game.”

A dry laugh burst out of me. “Come the fuck on, Ian.”

“Come on yourself,” he joked. “Get on my level, Sammy—it’s nice down here in the dirt. Sleep is easy when you have no conscience.” When I didn’t respond, he added, “It’s just a bet. What, are you afraid of losing after the other night?”

“I won that bet.”

“Bullshit,” he said on a laugh. “You were supposed to take her home without buying her a drink.”

“I didn’t buy her a drink.”

When he rolled his eyes, his whole face went with them. “No, I did. You putting her drink on my tab was smooth, I’m not gonna lie, but I still won. Come on, a little wager on the spit shine. You say I can’t have the ass I want, so this is my compromise—I get to watch you make an ass out of yourself while you try to figure out how to date.”

“I know how to date. I just don’t do it.”

“Oh, yeah? When was the last time you saw a girl more than three times?”

My brows drew together. “That’s not the point.”

He pushed off the wall, his face full of amusement and challenge. “That’s exactly the point. And those are my terms. How bad do you want me to leave her alone?”

I imagined him toying with her, stringing her along, hurting her like he would. He always did.

I could have named a dozen times off the top of my head that he’d hurt a girl, an unsuspecting, trusting girl. He spaced them into his conquests with an almost methodical precision, knowing how I hated it. I’d done my best to get him to quit leading on the innocent ones at work. The last one had been so upset when things fell apart, she’d wrecked her part during a show the next day and was fired on the spot.