Asking for Trouble(33)
Brent again. Why wouldn’t he go away?
As if synchronized, both Story and Ruby’s phones buzzed on the table. To her friends’ credit, neither one of them paid their devices the slightest bit of attention. Hayden took pity on them, however, even as her heart swelled that they would stay out all night if she needed to talk. She hiked her purse over her shoulder and stood.
“Come on, guys. We can’t have you late for Troy Bennett and Daniel Chase booty calls. It would be sacrilege.”
“Are you sure?” Story gained her feet, wobbling noticeably, telling Hayden she would need to take her friend directly to Daniel’s door. Knowing Brent would be there, too, she did her best to temper the warring dread and excitement in her belly.
“Ruby, you prop her up while I call a cab.”
“Go teamwork.”
…
Brent and Troy stood in the lobby of Daniel’s building, still talking about the Mets game that had ended an hour earlier. Daniel had come downstairs under the pretense of seeing them off, though Brent suspected he was just growing anxious for Story to arrive. Troy grew surlier by the second as he waited for a call from Ruby to tell him she’d gotten to his place, just around the corner from Daniel’s Upper East Side apartment. As for Brent? He should have headed back to Queens an hour ago, but knowing Hayden made up the trio of girls, he’d begun inventing excuses to stick around.
“Why don’t you two Nancys turn your phones off and go to bed? I guarantee they wouldn’t keep you waiting so long next time.”
Troy snorted. “That method won’t work with my girl. She’d have me for breakfast.” He paused. “Come to think of it, your plan might not be half-bad.”
“Excellent advice, Brent.” Daniel shook his head. “This must be why you’re beating off the women with a stick.”
Brent didn’t take the bait, falling silent as he thought of Hayden for the tenth time that hour. If she called him right now and asked him to come over, he’d be knocking on her door before she hung up the phone. He wouldn’t have the willpower to resist. Alternating images flashed in his head as though projected on a movie screen. Hayden in her tight skirt and stockings, eyeing him with distaste. Hayden swollen-lipped and rumpled, giggling into her pillow. Hayden awestruck as a busload of students applauded her efforts. Which one would she be tonight if he went to her? He didn’t give a damn. He just wanted to see her, but he’d fucked his chances their first night together. Even when he’d helped her repair the bus, she’d made it perfectly clear his hands weren’t welcome on her body. But God, the idea of not touching her again made him feel sick and anxious.
Daniel, perceptive as always, jumped all over his failure to issue an idiotic comeback. “Uh-oh. Someone’s holding back.” His expression turned disbelieving when Brent still didn’t respond. “Whoa. Since when do you ever hold back?”
“Since you two started telling your girlfriends every damn thing,” Brent said, thinking fast. “I feel like I’m part of the Babysitter’s Club. You two are like Stacey and Dawn.”
“First of all, you know way too much about the Babysitter’s Club,” Troy interjected. “Second, I call bullshit.”
“Complete and utter.”
“That’s my cue to take off.” He slapped them both on the back. “I hope they show up this century.”
No sooner were the words out of Brent’s mouth than a cab pulled up along the curb. It was like watching the clown car portion of a circus act. One door flung open and Story stumbled out onto the sidewalk, still singing an a cappella version of Love Shack.
Hayden and Ruby tumbled out after her, doubled over with laughter, each latching onto Story’s arms. “We’re just going to get her upstairs,” Ruby called to the cab driver. “We’ll be right back.”
On either side of him, Daniel and Troy crossed their arms over their chests as all three girls stumbled and swayed their way toward the building, beginning the chorus of Love Shack all over again. When they caught sight of the men, they ground to a halt so quickly, it was almost comical.
Story blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Busted.”
Daniel stepped forward. “I thought you were grading papers?”
“I was at one point…then we went to Brooklyn.”
“Ruby,” Troy growled.
She threw up her hands. “I’m completely innocent. They came to me.”
“You’re in big trouble, hustler.”
“The good kind or the bad kind?”
“Both.”
While the two couples bickered on the sidewalk, Brent locked gazes with Hayden and felt a sucker punch of heat low in his belly. Flushed with intoxication, she looked almost exactly as she had after climaxing around him that first night. Her guard was down again. Why did that get to him so bad? She felt the same urgent need, too. He could tell by the way her lips parted, sucking in a quick breath at whatever she read on his face. Just as quickly, though, she broke their connection, entering herself in the fray.