“You were looking for me?” I say as I sit on a barstool.

“I was. How you feeling?”

Oh, god. It’s already making the rounds. I lay my face on the counter and groan. I’ll never live this down now. I should have stayed in bed until tomorrow. The way drama goes around this place, my story would have been old news by then.

“Crap,” I respond, the words muffled against the wood.

“I bet.” She chuckles as she lifts my head with her hands. “You look like it, too.”

Gee, thanks, friend.

“How did the appointment go?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

Her mouth tilts up. “It was good, heartbeat was good, and doc said the baby looked healthy, but it was still too soon to see the gender.”

My skin prickles and my body heats. I know he’s behind me before I even hear him. Shit, fuck, dammit!

I don’t turn or say a word as he walks around the bar, opens the fridge, and grabs a Coke. This is so damn awkward. His nose is pointed in my direction, but I can’t tell if he is looking at me, because he has on those damn shades.

I pretend to ignore him, even though every inch of me is aware of his presence. The hiss of the canned drink opening echoes loudly in my ears, and I imagine my senses going nuts because they are so focused and trained on him. A few moments pass, and the can flies across my line of vision, landing in the trash. My shoulders slump when my body senses he is gone.

“What the hell was that all about,” Winter whispers.

Thank god, she didn’t announce that sooner. I shake my head in a ‘don’t ask’ manner. I thought she would have known, but seeing as she doesn’t, I’m not about to share my humiliation with her. It is beyond embarrassing, and not something I want to keep on reliving.

***

Day two of ignoring Shadow

While I sit in the courtyard with my laptop and go over my lessons for the week, he comes out of the clubhouse. I immediately advert my attention, but he walks closer. I plead silently for him to keep on going, but, when I think I am free, he makes a sharp turn and sits down across from me at the picnic table.

My heart thumps against my chest, my breathing picks up, and I all but have a panic attack with him right freaking there.

“You mad at me?” he drawls in that deep southern voice.

Oh, god, no. Why would I be mad at him? I am the one who made a complete ass out of myself the other night. I shake my head no, not wanting to look up at him. I can’t form any words that would not be considered babble. It is bad enough he already tells me I act like a child, but now, he’s seen me do things that back up his malicious words.

“Okay… then the problem is…”

Please, don’t do this, Shadow. Please, don’t, I plead inside my head.

“Look, Tea, if this is about the other night? No worries. We’re friends. We’re cool.”

His words repeat in my head before I dare to look up at him. “We’re good? You’re not mad?”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “Why would I be fuckin’ mad at you, Tea?”

I stare at him with shock laced across my face. I practically hurled myself at him, if my memory serves me correctly. Maybe he is ignoring it. I mean, he did say no worries about the other night. My palms sweat and my knee bounces underneath the picnic table as I replay every single word he said. When I am finally happy with my conclusion that he doesn’t want to relive it either, I finally speak. “Okay,” I say in a quiet voice.

Shadow glares at me for a minute in his sexy way, before pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head so that he can peer directly into my soul. What is he trying to say, and what more does he want me to say? I don’t understand this new development. Why, all of a sudden, is he showing me his eyes, at least more so than before? He doesn’t even have his contacts in.

“I’m gonna lay it to you straight here, Tea. Yes, the other night was completely fucked up. You were fucked up! You all but dry humped my ass with your tongue down my throat. I’m not pissed, because I tongued your hot, sweet ass right back, but that shit can’t happen again. I won’t let it. I won’t let my demons destroy you. You think you’re into the shit that I am, and I know you’re curious about it, but it. WILL. NEVER. HAPPEN.”

My throat seizes and I gasp for air. I more than made an ass out of myself. I gave him reason, once again, to talk to me like this. Talk to me as if I don’t know what the hell I am getting into with him. That boils the blood running through my veins to a degree I have never felt before. How dare him. He is beyond pushing my buttons now. He can only refer to me as a child in so many words before I will eventually snap, and by god, he’s finally gone and done it. He’s finally made me hate him!

I stand, and before I give myself time to think, I spew my angry words at him. “Don’t you ever fucking talk to me again! You keep treating me like a goddamn child.” I huff out. “How is this for acting like one? Let’s play the silent game.” I clench my fists and my cheeks heat up with anger. I catch my breath and whisper my final blow. “You see me, you turn the other way. I come into a room, you leave that room. You may wear that patch right there,” I bend down and flick it, “but I have something you don’t. I have a daddy that’ll kill for me. How’s that for childish?” I stomp my feet, cross my arms and stick out my tongue to further my so called childish behavior. “Huh? Your brotherhood ain’t got shit on fatherhood. You fuck with me, and I’ll tell my good old daddy on your ass. I’ll show you a fucking child, you pompous prick.”