Tapping The Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires #1)(74)

I groaned. “How do I get myself into these situations?”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got your back. I’ll distract what’s-his-face while you and Kline enjoy a night out.”

“Thank you.”

She handed me my clutch off the sink and moved toward the door.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, making sure I didn’t look as crazy as I felt. My makeup was still intact, not a hair out of place. All I needed was another drink, or five, to calm my nerves and I’d be good to go.

Maybe.

As I walked past Cassie, she whispered, “Just so you know, this is really screwing with my big plan of seducing your brother tonight.”

I rolled my eyes.

She held the door open for me. “Don’t worry, I’ll save it for another night,” she added, a smirk on her face.

“Good plan, you slutty turncoat.”

“Heyyy,” she slurred, hinting at less sobriety than I’d hoped for going into a situation like this. “I’m no f*cking traitor and you know it. I’m getting ready to eye-f*ck the shit out of this guy for an entire evening just for you.”

“No,” I corrected. “No f*cking, eye or otherwise. Just talking. We’re friends.”

She smirked as we rounded the corner and the guys came into view.

“What’s his name again?” she asked, her eyes glowing like the last embers of a dying fire.

“Thatch,” I answered by rote, minutely horrified that another member of my work world knew I was a virgin—or that I used to be—even though he didn’t know I was me…I was Rose. Whatever. “Thatcher Kelly.”

“Mmm,” she moaned, fluffing her breasts into an even higher elevation in the cups of her bra and licking her lips.

“I’d thatch that.”

Fuckkk. I should have known. For Cass, it was all in the name. This was going to be one long-ass night.





“This place is unreal. You come here all the time?” Will asked as we walked into The Raines Law Room, dim lights and old-style sofas filled to the brim surrounding us.

“Not really,” I answered honestly, knowing it wasn’t really the place but the actual going that was the problem. “This is really more Thatch’s style.” The vibe was chill, but the allure was the drama. “The cloak and dagger, the limited access.”

Will laughed and nodded in understanding.

I turned from him to the room to finish what I’d already started. My eyes had scanned the crowded bar immediately upon our arrival regardless of my knowledge that such an exercise was foolish and futile. My Georgie would be late to our wedding, the birth of our kids, and her own funeral.

Wait. What?

I glanced at her brother, panicked that he could read my mind, but he must have seen something other than outright terror in my eyes.

“Don’t worry, man. George’ll be here eventually.” He laughed. “But if Cass is with her, they probably stopped at Barcelona Bar before even thinking about coming this way. That girl actually gives no f*cks.”

I nodded along as though I understood, but I was barely even listening.

I mean, I could almost understand the wedding thing. I was crazy about her, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But the kids?

Jesus.

My thoughts were in a tailspin, headed straight for the harsh reality of a quickly approaching ground when my pinballing eyes caught on something unexpected and unwelcome. Loud, boisterous, and impossible to ignore, it was quite possibly the only thing that could have superseded my line of thinking at that point.

Shoving through the crowd as gently as possible, checking to see that Will was trailing along behind me, I sought confirmation of my new, much more immediate fears.

Bodies moved with ease, and flirty smiles bombarded me from several female angles. I didn’t have eyes for any of them, though, and for the first time in weeks, it wasn’t because of Georgia.

Thatch turned as I approached, a shit-eating grin topping his redwoodlike frame at the sight of me. “K-man! Fuck yes! Out on the town! I thought I’d seen the last of this,” he spewed out in quick succession, the effect of being several drinks deep slightly loosening his already slack tongue.

Will smiled at his greeting, and I tried not to cringe.

I really didn’t need Thatch to be there tonight. I’d stupidly believed I could keep being Ruck and myself without the gun going off in my face. I was wrong. This was what happened when people played with things they weren’t responsible enough to handle.

The walls collapsed, or at least, they felt like they did, and my tie set out to strangle me. Will smiled and greeted Thatch happily.

I ran through the consequences of his presence and tried not to puke.

God, if I couldn’t get him the f*ck out of here quickly, I was in trouble. His picture was on my profile. His face was the one Georgia had been associating with Ruck.

What was already a goatf*ck of dishonesty was setting up to turn into an all-out cluster.

I leaned forward and right to Thatch’s ear, using the crowd noise as an excuse to keep Will out of the loop.

“You need to leave,” I told him succinctly, knowing that if ever there was a time my girl would be less than forty-five minutes late, this was it.

He laughed and slapped me on the back.

“It’s good to see you too, man. I miss you. I only get to see you at practice these days.”