Page 36 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
I gritted my teeth, my nostrils flaring. I had to keep it in me. I couldn’t lash out on him just because he was picking at the scab without even knowing it.
“It’s fine. It’s all in the past.”
But it wasn’t all in the past. Not at all and not tonight. For a reason unknown to me, my brain decided to toy with me and remind me of Emma every few seconds. We entered the packed bar, and immediately, a stab of pain pierced through my skull. It was overcrowded and too loud.
We advanced through the standing crowds of people until we managed to find an empty table in the middle of the bar. According to Jake, this was one of the most popular places, and right now, I couldn’t hate it more. I felt agitated and annoyed with everything, but I was trying my best to hide it. I couldn’t make a scene just because I had changed. They didn’t have to know the new side of me.
We sat down and ordered beer, and as soon as the waitress left, Dominic faced me, sitting next to me. “A nice piece of ass, no?” he asked me, wiggling his eyebrows. He was referring to the waitress, who kept staring at me while taking our orders.
Yeah, she was hot, but at the moment, I couldn’t even bring myself to care about it, and I hated it. I hated feeling this way because I was normally a happy go with the flow kind of guy, but ever since combat I had felt an anger that I had never felt before.
I couldn’t smile as often as before, and I couldn’t stand crowded places anymore. I hoped that the beer would put an end to my vexation and blanket my negative thoughts, but I knew that it most likely wouldn’t work. Antidepressants and alcohol rarely helped me find the peace that I lost the moment I went into my first fight. And when you looked the death in the eyes, it stayed with you forever, replaying in your mind mercilessly.
“She’s fine,” I responded to Dominic.
“She’s more than fine,” Aiden, my other friend, said. He was also single like me. “I would bang that pussy if I had the chance.” I’d almost forgotten how crude Aiden could be. He was a womanizer and didn’t like to settle for one girl only.
“Why don’t you ask her for her number?” Jake asked him.
“Maybe I will later. But I think she likes our friend here more.” Aiden pointed at me, and I shrugged my shoulders.
Did I want to waste my time on her? Was it worth it?
At this point in my life, I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend. There was no chance I would allow anyone to stay by my side when I was this unpredictable and moody. That was a huge risk. So that left only one-night stands.
I caught her gaze on her way to our table, but I didn’t feel attracted to her. She was pretty but not my type.
“Here you go, guys,” the waitress said and put our drinks on our table. Then she flashed me a seductive smile. Nothing. My cock didn’t even budge. “Call me if you need anything else,” she said, looking at me all the time, and I just nodded in response, managing to send a half-smile her way.
“Oh, we’ll definitely need something else,” Aiden purred and winked at her. She smiled in response and sashayed away.
“Geez, man. I’m starting to think that you’ve really become a nun,” Jake told me, nudging my shoulder. “She’s obviously interested in you, but you don’t give a flying fuck about it.”
“Yeah, man,” Aiden added. “If you don’t want her, then I’ll jump in.”
“Be my guest,” I told him. “If she wants you, that is,” I jeered at him, unable to stop myself. The man was sometimes too cocky for his own good.
“Whoa, man,” Hunter, another friend, said, raising his arms in the air. “That was a burn!”
My lips quirked up in a smile that was far away from being sincere. I just wanted to go home. We clanked our glasses, and I took a huge gulp of my beer, telling myself to hold myself together and endure this night a little bit longer.
Chapter 7
Emma
I linked my arms with Demi before we walked into the bar, trying my best to force Noah out of my mind. The memories of our dates continued to haunt me, until I was close to telling the taxi driver to turn around and drive me back home.
I couldn’t let Noah ruin yet another night for me. He had done than more than enough during the months following our breakup.
I thought that when we arrived to the bar, it would get better, but my brain continued to oppose me. Why? Why tonight? What it was about this night that made me obsess over him all over again.
My friends and I moved to the bar in the center of the room, noticing the way the guys around the place watched us. I caught one guy openly staring at my legs, and I smiled at him. We took seats at the bar and started chatting about the different guys around us.
“Damn, there are many fine male specimens here,” Clarissa said, fanning herself with her hand.
We ordered cocktails and made a toast. “To fun,” Demi said.
“To fun,” we repeated, and I took a sip of my Mojito.
“Did you see how he looked at you?” Clarissa asked Demi, leaning over me to tell her in a lower voice that could barely be heard over the loud music.
“Who?”
Clarissa rolled her eyes. “The bartender, silly! He was totally checking you out.”
Demi grinned at her. “Maybe.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“Wait to see if there is someone more interesting.”
“Ouch,” Melanie said, sitting on Demi’s other side. “Poor bartender.”
“Hey! You know I have a specific taste,” Demi replied to her.
“Like tall, sexy, and rich,” Clarissa said.
“Exactly,” Demi answered and took a sip of her Tequila Sunrise.
“You’re too picky,” I said.
“The pot calling the kettle black,” she told me. “How about you? Have you finally met someone who meets all your criteria?”
“Not really. Tonight’s date was another failure. If this keeps up, I’ll give up on dating for good.”
“Don’t give up,” Melanie said. “You’ll find the right one for you sooner or later.” She was always saying that, but it was easy to think that way when you were in a stable relationship.
“Not all of us are lucky like you, Melanie,” Clarissa told her, expressing my exact thoughts.
“It’s not about luck. Believe me. You’ll find your soulmates. Maybe they are here!” She motioned at the people around us, and I snorted. Yeah. Not likely.
I glanced around and caught a few gazes from the men who were checking me out, but other than a few flutters in my belly, I didn’t feel anything. My brain found this a perfect moment to torture me more, reminding me of the moment when I set my eyes on Noah for the first time.
It was in P.E. and it happened after a ball hit me. I ended on the ground, when a boy appeared above me wearing a worried expression on his face. He apologized to me for hitting me accidentally with the ball, but all I could think about was how gorgeous he was. His amber eyes looked at me like he could see all of me, and the attraction between us was instant. I could feel the sparks fly, the time slowing down for us. No one else mattered.
I fell for him—literally and figuratively—right then and there, and then he asked me out. We had been an item ever since.
I took another sip of my Mojito, regretting not ordering something much stronger. I looked at the bartender, who was now staring at Demi so obviously that I felt sorry for the guy.
“Why don’t you give him a chance?” I asked her, motioning with my head at the bartender. “Look how cute he is.”
“Then why don’t you give him the time of the day? I’m just not that interested. In fact, I’m more interested in the guy over there.” She pointed at someone behind me.
“Who?” I asked and turned around, trying to figure out who she was pointing at.
“Oh, he’s there. He’s sitting next to some blonde. You see that hot group of guys in the center of the bar?”
I nodded even though I wasn’t sure if we were looking at the same group…
“He’s facing us, so you can’t miss him. He has a pretty striking amber eyes and brown hair. And he looks really rugged and dangerous. He’s just my type.”
I squinted, focusing on finding the guy she was describing, until I found him and the world stopped moving.
Oh. My. God.
No. No, no, no.
Noah. It was Noah.
I quickly turned my head back so he didn’t spot me, my body filling with panic. I couldn’t believe this. Was that truly Noah? Did I start imagining things? I’d been thinking about him the whole night and now I started seeing him?
I sneaked a peak over my shoulder to confirm if it was him with my heart in my throat and whipped my head back. Yes. It was him. I would recognize his face anywhere.
What the hell was he doing here? I couldn’t believe that he was actually here! He came back and of all places, he was here.
“What’s wrong with you?” Demi asked me, unaware of how shaken I felt at the moment.
