Finishing my whiskey, I banged the glass against the table. “Dude, that shit’s practically guaranteed to be gold now that you’ve got me. Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.” For a split second, my foggy brain started wondering if I should talk to the guys first, or Denny. As our manager, he might have an opinion about this. I immediately shook that thought out of my mind though. Those fuckers had abandoned me a long time ago, left me to rot in the shadows. They couldn’t blame me for trying to find some sunlight. And if it turned into something bigger one day…well, then they would only have themselves to blame for not appreciating what they’d had.

Arnold called himself from my phone to get the number, then handed it back to me and stood up. Extending his hand again, he formally stated, “It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Hancock, and I’m looking forward to our future project.”

Instead of taking his hand, I saluted him. “Likewise.”

He left the table still looking baffled, and a slow, simmering excitement started to bubble through my insides as I watched him walk away. You would be the star. Damn straight I would be.

Chapter 9

To Be or Not to Be…Awesome

I woke up with a pounding in my skull and little or no memory of what had happened last night. Anna screaming at me didn’t help any. “You left them with your family! Then you didn’t come home until four in the morning! Where the fuck were you?”

Fuck if I knew. I’d woken up outside of Pete’s by the Dumpster. I had some vague recollection of Rita patting my leg and telling me to sleep it off…but that could have been a dream. A really weird, fucked-up dream. “I told you, I went to Pete’s to blow off some steam, and I passed out somewhere. But I made it home in one piece, and that’s really all that matters.”

Her eyes narrowed to dark and dangerous slits. It was hot. “Yes, it’s much easier for me to kill you when you’re alive. I told you I didn’t want your family as babysitters. You should have called Jennifer. And why did you need to blow off steam? You told me you were fine.”

“And I am, kind of. I just…with everything the guys have done to me recently…I needed…” Stopping myself, I let out an annoyed huff. I was so tired of thinking and talking about the guys. When would my life ever revolve around me? A dull buzz started gonging in my brain. It was different than the whiskey headache beating against my skull. It was almost like the throbbing was trying to tap out a message in Morse code. Something had happened last night that was important, that I should remember…my mind was completely blank though.

Anna got that anxious look that unsettled my stomach. I think she was scared I was just going to up and quit or something. But where would I go? Even I wasn’t stupid enough to throw away everything for nothing. See, Chelsey, I’m not the dog with the steak. The story doesn’t apply to me.

“Are you freaked out that I didn’t come home? Because I woke up alone, with all my clothes still on, so you don’t need to worry about that.” I vaguely remembered a group of girls at the bar, but I also recalled pushing them away from me. Anna had nothing to worry about. My cock was permanently drawn to her pussy. No one else even came close to her perfection.

She pursed her full lips at me, then crossed her arms over her chest. Her breasts were still larger than they usually were, thanks to feeding Onnika, and the movement lifted them even higher; she was practically shoving them in my face. “I should hope I have nothing to worry about. We both decided to end that crap when we got married. Give the children a good example and all that. Plus…I’d be super pissed if you were dick-sticking other people behind my back. We work because we’re honest. Brutally honest.”

A surprising amount of disgust roiled my stomach. Like I’d ever dick-stick someone else. It didn’t even sound appealing anymore. She was all I wanted, all I needed. Surveying my kingdom, I let my eyes linger over the pajama shorts Anna was wearing; they barely covered all of her backside. I wanted to touch the skin that was peeking out. A different kind of throbbing took me over, and amazingly enough, my headache completely vanished. Sex. It really was the tried-and-true cure for all sorts of aches and pains.

Crawling across the bed to where she was standing on the other side of it, I ran my hand up her leg. In a low, sultry voice, I told her, “I don’t want anyone but you. Why would I settle for less when I have the perfect woman at home?”

As my hand dipped into her short shorts, her lips shifted into a sexy, annoyed pout. “Stop that. I’m angry at you.”

My finger wandered into her underwear, and I tested the waters to see how she really felt. Like I thought it would be, my finger was wet when I pulled it back. Her mouth popped open with a low, erotic gasp, and I gave her a smug smirk. “No, you’re not.”

I shifted my hand so I could cup her backside. Fuck, she had an amazing ass. I was hard as a rock, ready to go, and for once, we could have sex in our bed. Mom had taken Onnika upstairs with her, and she was still up there. Another bonus…Anna was probably fully rested after a night of uninterrupted sleep.

“Yes, I am,” she stubbornly insisted. The anger was gone from her eyes though, so I didn’t believe her. “You left the girls with your parents. Onnika is still upstairs with your mom. How do we know if she fed her? Maybe the milk ran out? Maybe your mom is a heavy sleeper? Maybe she…oh God…”

Sometime during her speech, I’d sidled close to her, swept aside her shorts and underwear, and ran my tongue across her pussy. Fuck, she tasted good. Her hand instantly went to my head, holding me in place. “Fuck, that feels so good…don’t stop…”