Imperfectly Bad (17 page)

“Hey, you,” she purred as she turned around on her seat, dressed in only her bra and panties. She obviously hadn’t yet made her way into her outfit for the evening, but that wasn’t surprising considering it was still early. I glanced down at my watch, noting that we had plenty of time for a quickie before we had to meet up with the gang.

“You’re beautiful.”

“You know all the right things to say,” she teased with a smirk leaning back in her seat.

“I only speak the truth.”

Standing in front of her, looking down into her sweet brown eyes, I realized why I liked Layla so much. She was everything Jenny wasn’t. She was a dark beauty, with a kind heart. Layla was good, to Jenny’s toxic. I leaned down and pressed my lips gently to hers. It only lasted for a moment, but I know we both could feel the electricity and the importance of the moment because when it was over we both just stood there staring at the other.

“Wow,” was all Layla managed to say, but she was doing better than me because I had no words. Literally. For the first time in my life I was left totally and utterly speechless. I hadn’t felt those feelings in years.

I was worried that I was falling. No,
plummeting
would be a better word. I was plummeting into a deep abyss of confusion.

It was official.

For the first time since I was a teenager, I was falling.

And I think I was falling in love.

“Would you relax, they’re going to love you.”

I squeezed her hand for a bit of loving reassurance.

Love?
Where the hell had that come from?

She looked at me quizzically. “Really? And when was the last time you brought a girl to meet your friends?”

I pondered her question for a moment when I realized that I had
never
introduced a girl to the gang. Sure, they had met my conquests in passing, but never anything more than that.

“Well, now that you point it out…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I think I have every right to be crapping my pants right now.”

I laughed at her as we turned that all too familiar corner.

“Do I look all right?” she asked, smoothing the fabric of her skintight dress over her thighs.

I nodded.

“So, what is this place we’re going to?”

“O’Malley’s.”

“Yeah? Never heard of it.”

She stopped frigging around with her dress and slid her hand back into mine as I said, “Well, it’s kinda hard to explain. But it’s kind of an important place for us.”

We stopped in front of the building, just underneath that silly fuckin’ leprechaun. “Is it like St. Elmo’s Fire?”

I smiled and opened the door. “Emma’s going to love you.”

And it was true. Only Emma ever compared this place to St. Elmo’s Fire.

Dipping under my arm that held the door open for her, Layla dropped my hand, tentatively stepping in she looked around. The nervousness she felt was catching and it hit me that her reaction could be a deal breaker for me. I seriously doubted she would, but if she hated O’Malley’s, I might just have to cut her loose. I stood behind her and immediately located Tyler, Elizabeth, Shane and Emma at our table. I waved to them but didn’t move as Layla continued her assessment of our haven.

“So what do you think?” I asked.

“I think this place is quite the gem. I can see the allure. No crowds. Laid back. I like it.”

The gang were all staring at us, Emma waving with excitement. Layla started walking in the direction of the table but I pulled her into me, stopping her in her tracks and gave her a quick peck on the lips. It amazed me at how easily I had become so affectionate with her.

“What was that for?”

“For being so fuckin’ adorable.”

“Thanks… I think.”

She was even adorable saying that one sentence, her voice inflecting at the end. Shit. I was getting it bad. “And perfect. I’m thinking you’re pretty fuckin’ perfect too.”

She smiled before I broke our embrace and led her towards the table. As we approached, Tyler and Shane smirked at me.

Great. Let the ball busting commence. For years I had teased them about being doormats to women. Letting them control their emotions and basically ruling their lives. But here I was, finally on a level playing field.

“Jesus, Shane, have you ever seen Rob kiss a girl?” Tyler questioned. Judging by the animated way he was talking, he was enjoying this. He shot Shane a look before taking a sip of his beer.

As if it had been choreographed to perfection, the routine continued with Shane placing his hand on his chin, apparently giving serious thought to his answer. “You know Tyler, now that you mention it, I don’t think I have.”

“Me either, I mean I’ve seen him degrade one before…”

My fists balled at my sides as I muttered under my breath for them to shut the fuck up.

Emma stifled a giggle.

Given the stick I’d given them over the years, it stood to reason that they’d take the opportunity to give me shit. I shook my head, slightly frustrated and gave Layla a look but she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

I turned back to the gang, and watched on as they stared up at us, waiting for me to make my move. Suddenly, I was nervous as hell. Wiping the sweat from my palms on my jeans, I knew that I was totally out of my comfort zone and I questioned what the fuck I was doing. After a slight internal struggle, I took a deep breath and spoke up.

“Hey, guys.”

Emma was flapping her gums before I could say anything else. “Another girl!” she squealed as she jumped up in front of us and wrapped her arms around Layla like they were old friends. “I honestly never thought it would happen—”

“Hey!” Tyler cut in.

Emma directed her gaze over her shoulder at him. “Well, I didn’t.” She turned back to me and dropped her arms from Layla. “Now we’ve got two more in the gang!”

Layla shifted next to me and looked slightly uncomfortable.

Emma glared at me, then gently bumped me with her belly. “Are you going to introduce us?” she asked placing her hand on her hip.

“One: That thing is not a weapon. Two: You’re creepy as shit, Em.”

She flipped me off and flopped back down into the booth next to Shane. “Everyone this is Layla. Layla this is the gang.”

I used my pointer finger and started firing off their names.

“Shane and Emma,” I pointed to her belly. “Illegitimate love child.” Emma glared and I continued the intros. “Tyler and Spawn of Satan,” I leaned over and fake whispered, “but everyone else just calls her Liz.”

“You are such an ass,” Elizabeth scoffed, a slight valley girl edge coming out.

“Like, tell me something I don’t know.” My tone was mocking as I pulled up two chairs to sit on the outside of the booth. Shane suppressed a laugh as I grabbed a pint from the middle of the table and started to chug in an attempt to calm my nerves. Wracking my brains, I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this nervous. Probably when I’d introduced Jenny to my family. But that had been different. They’d hated her. The guys were going to love Layla.

“What are y’all drinking?” Layla asked looking at table full of pints.

Elizabeth, who had recovered quickly from my teasing session, leaned forward and scooted a glass in her direction. “Guinness. I thought it would taste gross, but it totally tastes like chocolate milk. I like it.”

Layla pushed the pint back towards the middle of the table.

“That’s okay, I don’t drink.”

I nearly choked on my beer. “You
what?
”

“I like it,” Elizabeth said again. She was such a self-centered flake, always thinking that everyone was talking to her. I dismissed her with my hand, not really caring what she had to say. I was more interested in Layla’s revelation.

“I don’t drink,” Layla repeated. “Long story short, I got really wasted one time in high school and did a bunch of dumb stuff. Haven’t touched the stuff since.”

We all stared in her direction for a moment and I could almost feel everyone holding their breath. It didn’t take a genius to see that they were wondering how I was going to handle this news. I’m sure they were betting that I’d be kicking her ass to the curb for it, but there was no way in hell I was going to do that. Maybe it was time for a change for me? I’d spent almost a third of my life drinking away the memories, not to mention trying to heal my broken heart with the countless stream of women. Perhaps it was time to go back to my roots. I’d been a good guy once upon a time and found love. Maybe, just maybe, Layla was worth bringing that guy back to life again.

I stopped drinking my beer and gently set it down on the table. Shane and Tyler looked toward me with astonishment written all over their faces, I always chugged the first beer of the night until it was gone, but not this time. This time I was leaving it half full.

“You know,” I started, “I’ve been thinking about giving up drinking.”

“You have?” Tyler questioned, obviously not believing me and I couldn’t say that I blamed him.

“I have. What’s the point? I’m getting too old to party like we did. It gives me hellish hangovers. I mean, isn’t it time for all of us to start growing up? Shane and Emma are married with one kid, and another on the way. You and Elizabeth have Emily. We all have great jobs, good places to live, so what’s the sense anymore? Seems sort of ridiculous, y’know.”

Everyone sat around the table, shooting each other concerned looks. I was sure they were thinking about my mental health and questioning my stability and I couldn’t blame them, I had been doing the same thing up until now, but I was going to own this. It was time for me to take control of my life and stop living like a sex-crazed alcoholic.

“I know you’re all probably thinking I’m crazy right about now, and I’ll have you know, I am.” I put my arm around Layla’s shoulder and smiled. “I’m crazy about this girl, and I think I would do anything for her.”

“Ho-ly fuck.”

That was from Tyler and Elizabeth reached over and slapped his arm. She still had a hard time with his crudeness. She was just so groomed to be prim and proper that she could never really get a grip on how we operated. She blushed more than we drank.

“I think it’s great, Rob,” Emma said with a smile and a wink at Layla.

Shane patted me on the back and smiled. “Our little boy is all grown up.”

Smug bastard.

I glared at him. “Maybe so, but don’t you forget I can still easily kick your ass.”

The day had arrived. I’d dreaded it for weeks but thankfully I’d had Layla to distract me from the impending doom. She’d been great, always offering a word of solace and hope. Seriously, I couldn’t say enough nice things about her. I tried to keep them to myself because I didn’t need anyone questioning me about it. I’d fallen hard, yet I was starting to feel like my former self. The hardened asshole. The guy Jenny had sent through the wood chipper.

Yeah, that guy was back.

Because the appointment wasn’t directly related to work I’d had to take a personal day. Real fuckin’ fun personal day. I was spending it just like any other work day. Stuck in court.

The sound of my shoes hitting the floor echoed around me as I walked through the hallway. The hearing was being held in court two and I saw Jenny sitting on the bench outside. It look me a few seconds to realize it was her because she’d dyed her hair dark brown, I didn’t think I had ever seen her hair a color besides flaming orange, and she looked weird.

I sat next to her and unbuttoned my suit jacket.

“This is fuckin’ ridiculous,” she spat.

“Well, you know me—always a pain in the ass,” I retorted.

“I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just sign the goddamn papers?”

“It’s really nothing to do with us at this point.” I shrugged. “It’s about the principle.”

She scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest. Whether it was an attempt to sway the judge or not I didn’t know, but she was wearing some fancy skirt suit, her tattoos hidden underneath the long sleeves. She had even taken out her piercings.

“Seriously, Jenny,
Bradley
? Do you have any idea of how much of a prick that dude is? He is literally everything you hate, wrapped into one disgustingly perfect asshole package.”

“Oh, and you’re Prince Charming?” she asked without missing a beat.