Chapter 8
Molly
I put the last pair of sweatpants away in the drawer of a vacant guest room on the second floor. Shoving it closed with my hip, I unwind the gauze Tate put on my wrist at my house. That thing is overkill for this little bruise. Stuffing it into a side pocket of my bag, I leave the room and pull the door closed behind me. What I need is a stiff drink at the bar. As my foot lands on the first step down the flight of stairs, Tate’s voice cuts through the noise and floats up to me through the side railings. I don’t see him, so I take a guess that he’s standing in the hallway directly below.
“Come on, man. Don’t give me that—”
I freeze in the spot to listen, interested to hear if he’s talking about me. I’d love to know what he really thinks of this Jett situation.
One of the guys with him says, “Don’t deny it, brother. Something’s going on between you two. It’s clear as day.” I don’t recognize the voice, so it can’t be Silas or Axe. My guess is it’s Cole.
“Okay whatever, man,” Tate answers.
“And now, with both of you in spitting distance of knocking boots every second, you’re trying to tell me you and Molly aren’t a thing?”
Leave it to Cole to spare the sugar coating on the situation. I hold my breath, unsure whether I want to hear Tate’s answer. Part of me wants to charge down there and give them both crap for talking shit behind my back. But now that my curiosity is piqued, I have to know, and don’t care if anyone sees me eavesdropping in this not so discrete spot at the top of the stairs.
“Women have a way of growing on you,” I hear Silas say with a laugh. “You’d better watch out. I didn’t plan on Sabrina either.”
I bite my lip, wondering where Sabrina and Jenny are right now. Sabrina would probably be the first to shut them down. I wait for Tate to speak up. I want to hear his take on things, dammit.
“Give me a fucking break,” Tate replies, adding a disgusted scoff. “Molly’s cool and shit, but this isn’t some fairytale like you and your old lady. She knows what we have. We’re both damn good at scratching each other’s itch. Nothing more, nothing less. There aren’t hearts or diamonds in our future.”
“Bullshit,” Silas says.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re seeing, man. Trust me, we’re both lucky if she doesn’t get sick of being around me in the next three days, let alone start a thing. It is what it is, and we’re both cool with that.”
There’s an odd wave of silence. My jaw tightens. I exhale, close my eyes, and inhale again, calming myself down so I won’t charge down the steps and punch Tate in the junk for saying that. He’s not wrong, but there’s a big difference between casually sleeping together and being damn rude about it. He’s talking as though we’re not friends, which I thought we were.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says to them. “Fucking Molly is a treat. But that’s all it is.”
The fucking douchebag. To him, I’m nothing more than a good lay. He’s put me in the same league as the revolving door of sack demons. It isn’t like I’m expecting a ring, and I know that men suck at being real when they’re around other guys, but he owes me a little more respect. The way he downplays our friendship hurts the most.
Rejection burns hot in my veins. I want to shake it off, but no amount of effort will erase his little sound bite from my brain. Forcing my rubbery legs into action, I take the stairs one deliberate step at a time, hands on my hips, and as I turn down the hall, I see the five of them. They’re gathered around, beer bottles and whiskey glasses in their hand as they gossip like old ladies.
Silas is the first one to see me approaching. The way I see it, there’s only one way to handle this situation—and it doesn’t involve kid gloves.
I zero in on Axe.
He’s swigging beer from a bottle as his booming laugh fill the hallway. Yes, he’ll do perfectly for the job. I’m not shy as I break through the circle of men and sling my arm around Axe’s waist, giving him a tight squeeze.
“Mind if I borrow that?” When Axe looks down at me in confusion, I snag his half-empty bottle and take a sip. “It was a long ride over here. I could go for an above average dose of refreshment.”