The Wright Boss(62)

Or worse, she'd try to get pregnant and get me on the hook forever.

I shook my head in disgust and pulled out my wallet. I threw a hundred dollars down for the meal and tossed another hundred at her. "For the good time I'll be missing."

She gaped at me. "Landon!"

"The answer is no," I said as I stood. "Actually, the answer is fuck no. I'd rather see you in court than sit here another minute."

"Landon, wait!"

As I exited the restaurant, I chuckled at myself for how stupid I'd been for coming. Everyone was right. She wasn't going to sign the papers just because I had gone to dinner with her. It had been worth a try but worth nothing more than that.

I tried Heidi's number when I got back to the car, but she didn't answer. I revved the Mercedes and peeled out of the parking lot, on my way to her apartment. I didn't care if Emery was there. I needed to see Heidi. I needed to get the slime of that dinner off my body. It was a mistake to go, and while I had known that deep down, I had wanted it all to be over so fucking bad.

And fuck Miranda and her fucking stipulations. She didn't get to put stipulations on this divorce. She'd had plenty of time to fix our marriage. It had been falling apart for a year. I'd defended her to everyone, and then I'd just realized they were all right.

I was almost to Heidi's apartment when I got a text from her.

Flips.

I cursed and pulled a U-turn, on my way to the bar she adored. Considering her history with her father, you'd think she wouldn't love bars as much as she did. But I knew they still held happy memories for her. Maybe that was what she always clung to when she came to Flips to hustle pool from unsuspecting victims. It probably helped her forget her dad as much as it brought positive memories. For someone who'd had a pretty rough life, she was unbelievably buoyant. I admired her for that. For pushing through all the bullshit and coming out ahead. And, one day … I'd get her to talk about it all.

I parked out front of the bar and killed the engine. The place was surprisingly busy for a Monday night, but it always had its regulars.



       
         
       
        

My regular was standing in low-slung jean shorts and a black tank top that said Hank's in distressed white letters. She had a pool stick behind her neck, and she was holding on to it with both hands. The guy standing next to her was looking at her as if she were his next meal, but she just urged him to take his shot. When he missed, her laugh rang through the bar, and she stumbled forward, dropping the pool stick to her side.

She was drunk.

My face fell as I approached her.

I could see it in her languid body movements and the tilt of her shoulders as she stepped up to the table. She bent over to aim for her shot, and half of her ass cheeks hung out the back of her shorts. It was hot as fuck. But it wasn't on display for me. It was on display for every fucking dick in this place.

And, suddenly, I was furious.

Not with Heidi. With myself.

I had been out at some shit dinner with my horrible soon-to-be ex-wife. I had made Heidi come here where she needed to play pool and get sloppy drunk to forget. I had done this.

And, now, everyone in the room was getting a full view of her ass because of my goddamn mistake.

No fucking way.

My appearance was noticed before I made it all the way up to her.

"Hey, man," the guy she was playing said to me. "What's up?"

I ignored him as Heidi's eyes locked on to mine.

"Landon!"

"Time to go."

"No way! I have, like … a whole beer here, and I'm totally slaying Tommy over here."

I arched an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes back at me. "You were busy."

"I'm not busy anymore," I said, my voice low and uncompromising.

"I'll just finish this game."

"No."

"Hey, pal, why don't you let the lady do what she wants?" Tommy said.

"Why don't you find another half-naked drunk girl to hit on?" I spat back at him. "I'm going to be here, taking care of this one."

Heidi walked up to me and poked me in the chest. "I don't need to be taken care of."

I stepped up to meet her. "You're right. You don't need to be taken care of, but I am going to take care of you anyway. You can't convince me otherwise. And, right now, I would like to put some clothes on you and get you away from every guy in this place who wants to whip his dick out right now."

"Oh, you want to put clothes on me?" she said with another eye roll. "That's new."

I shrugged out of my suit coat and slung it around her shoulders.

She protested, "I'm fine!"