Ryley's Revenge (Gloves Off #2)(27)

“Would you like another one?” the bartender asked, shoving his floppy brown hair out of his eyes. If I was him, I’d cut that Bieber shit right off.

I looked down at my empty glass and chuckled. “Sure, why not?” It’s not like I have anything better to do. The girl I love was most likely in bed right this moment, f*cking another man. The bartender passed me a rum and coke, trying his best not to look pityingly at me.

I was at a bar, drinking by myself. How lame could you be? Pretty f*cking lame, obviously. As soon as I left Ashleigh’s apartment I came straight to our favorite bar when we were in college. Now we’d graduated, and everything was screwed to hell. I’d do anything to turn back time.

I knew I wasn’t the baby’s father. I wasn’t stupid or na?ve to think I was. It was just the only way I could think of to make Ashleigh see that I was better for her. There was still time.

“Well, look who’s sitting all by himself,” a voice interrupted my pity party.

Glancing up from my drink, I found none other than Camden Jameson sitting down on the stool next to me.

“Oh, but wait, that’s right you are all by yourself now that your girlfriend left you for someone else. I know that has to piss you off,” he taunted.

After tossing back my drink, I glared over at him and his two friends who sat down on the other side of him. “What do you want, cocksucker?”

Camden laughed and waved his hand in the air to get the bartender’s attention. Almost immediately, the guy came back, recognizing him. “Hey man, what’ll it be?”

“Uh, let’s see,” he started, pursing his lips, “how about another round for my friend here and a double shot of whiskey on the rocks for me.”

The bartender nodded. “Coming right up. By the way, I saw your fight last weekend. Good stuff, man.”

Camden smirked and I wished to hell I could punch the shit out of him. “Thanks, dude. Only one more to go before the title fight.” Then he turned to me. “Which I plan on winning.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” I stammered. Damn, those drinks were strong.

He smiled and patted me on the back. “With your help, no doubt.”

“Touch me again and you’re the one who’s going to need help,” I spat.

Camden chuckled and lifted his hands in the air. “Okay, okay. I won’t touch you again. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I have a way I can help you with Ashleigh.”

I sneered. “Why do you care about helping me with Ashleigh? She’s with your brother now.”

“Yeah, and I want to remedy that quick and in a hurry. I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t like the bitch. Bottom line, I don’t want to see her with my brother.”

Even though it killed me when she told me she touched that f*cker, it was still pretty epic what she did to him. I smiled as the bartender passed me another rum and coke. “Yeah, I heard about that. Must suck for you.”

His smile faded and he turned his head, tossing back his whiskey. “So do you want me to help you or not? Either way, I’m getting those two apart. But if you want to drown your sorrows be my guest. I don’t like to waste my time on pathetic pussies.” He laid a few high bills on the counter and pushed off the stool, getting to his feet. “Come on, guys. We’re wasting our time here.”

Goddammit, what the hell am I doing? Closing my eyes, I swayed a bit, as I envisioned Ashleigh with Ryley. I didn’t want them together, but I was going to need help. I guess I’d need to cross over to the dark side.

“Wait,” I called. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Camden stop and turn around. A leer spread across his face, and I knew I had sealed my fate. “What did you have in mind?”





THANKFULLY, OUR DATE went perfectly. We ate dinner and as soon as we got back, I was so exhausted I passed right out. However, right at this moment, it’d all caught up to me. Gabriella knocked on the bathroom door and opened it a crack to peek inside. She found me sitting on the cold tile floor with my arms around the toilet. Morning sickness was no joke.

“Ash, are you okay?” she asked, sliding through the door. Ryley had already left to go to the gym, so at least I didn’t have to worry about explaining to him why I was sick.

Groaning, I sat up and ran my hands through my stringy hair, fingers getting stuck in intermittent knots. I really needed to take a shower. “Yeah, I’m fine. I usually start feeling better as the day goes by. It’ll pass. I just feel so tired all of the time and my boobs hurt like hell.”

“The joys of being pregnant,” she replied flippantly. “Why don’t you take the day off and rest. Keeping up with Ryley can’t be easy.”

Getting to my feet, I chuckled and shut the toilet lid so I could sit on it. “You got that right. Are you getting ready to leave?”

“Yep, in about twenty minutes. I can toast you up a bagel if you want. Although it might be kind of hard to find them with all the seashells lying around.”

Grinning, I ran my hands over my face and laughed. “I think I went a little overboard picking them out yesterday. My intention was to make something special for the baby. One of my first real dates with Ryley was at the beach, so I figured it’d be something we could all treasure.”

“Oh, Ash, that’s a great idea. I’d love to help.”