Bad Things(35)

I raised a brow, instantly intrigued. That would be priceless…

“And if they don’t vote you out, you get to sleep in my bed, no funny business.”

He nodded. “No funny business.”

I held my hand out to shake.

His big, warm hand enveloped mine.

“You’re going to lose,” I warned him. “I know these women better than you do. They won’t be swayed by your pretty face and your slutty body.”

I opened the door and walked inside while he was still laughing at me.

I went back to the loveseat and no sooner had I sat back down than Tristan was sitting next to me, crowding so close that I had to scoot nearly into Bev to give him room.

Tristan threw his arm over the back of the couch, making himself very comfortable.

“Girls, this is Tristan. He thinks he can crash our girls’ night. I told him it was girls only, no exceptions. Who wants to help me kick his ass out?”

My eyes narrowed when not one of them volunteered.

“I vote we keep his ass in,” Candy said, giving him a very friendly smile. “I like his ass already.”

I mouthed a few choice words at her.

“It’s more of a friends’ night than a girls’ night,” Harriet said. “We just don’t have any men volunteering to join.”

“What’s the harm?” Jen joined in. “The more the merrier.”

I couldn’t believe it. They were turning on me. I opened my mouth to say something when Tristan spoke into my ear. “If you tell them it’s a bet, I automatically win the bet.”

“Fine,” I bit out. “Let’s take a vote. By a show of hands, who wants to let a man into our sacred girl ritual night?”

Everyone raised an eager hand in the air, except for Bev and Lucy, apparently the only ones who had my back.

I continued, even knowing I’d lost. It wasn’t in my nature to just give up. “Who votes we keep our girls’ night how God intended it, girls only?”

Me, Bev, and Lucy raised our hands. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or kick him when I saw that Tristan was raising a hand. He knew that he had enough votes, even if he voted with me, the smug bastard.

And so he stayed, chatting up the ladies until nearly three in the morning.

Aside from the sting of losing a bet, I thoroughly enjoyed having him there.

He was funny, and charming, and for whatever reason, he gently deflected Candy, and then Harriet’s subtle, and not so subtle come-ons.

Lucy shot me a few concerned glances in the beginning, but in the end, even she was charmed by Tristan’s playful personality.

“You know, we usually call it a night by ten, eleven tops,” I told Tristan, as he helped me clean up after all of the women had left. He’d even managed to shoo Bev off to bed, not letting her help with cleanup. She’d had enough of her own strong cocktails to take him up on the offer gratefully.

“Did I corrupt your friends?” he asked with a shameless smile.

A corner of my mouth kicked up ruefully. “Not as badly as you’re corrupting me. I don’t do the dirty Vegas club scene.”

“I think I understand you a little better now, after meeting your friends. You’re like a forty-five year old, trapped inside of a hot, twenty-one year old body. That might be why you can never really cut loose and just let go.”

I took exception to that. “I cut loose all the time. We’ve been out dancing every night this week. What do you call that?”

He pursed his lips, which drew my traitorous eyes to them, even in a bit of a pique. “It’s true you can dance. God, can you dance. And you’re certainly able to go out and have a good time, but that just isn’t the same as letting go. Even drunk until you feel pretty, you seem to stay in control every single second. I’ve yet to see you have a twenty-one year old moment.”

“Well, excuse me for not being a total slutbag, like half of the twenties crowd in Vegas.”

“It’s probably a lot more than half…” he mused.

“Well, it isn’t me. If that’s your idea of letting go, I think I’m just fine how I am.”

“I wasn’t trying to offend you,” he said in his most conciliatory tone. “And I absolutely don’t mean that you should be sleeping around. I don’t know how to put it into words, but I’d just like to see you acting carefree sometimes.”

I stewed about that for a bit, as we finished cleaning up.