“I love your tattoo.” She leans forward and touches the edge of my butterfly tattoo on my left bicep. “Does it have some special meaning?”
I hesitate and take a sip of my beer before responding, “Would you think less of me if I said no?”
“I have a random heart on my hip from spring break my freshman year of college, so I’m in no position to judge.”
“Any other tattoos?” I ask as I scan her visible skin in the tank top and jeans she’s wearing. I don’t see any, but she proceeds to give me a rundown of a few that are out of sight and then I show her the only other one I have.
From tattoos, we talk star signs, where we grew up, and a dozen other topics.
Maverick walks slowly behind the booth, eavesdropping on us where Harmony can’t see him, and gives me a thumbs up and a smile. Like I didn’t already feel like a kid being chaperoned.
We talk about lots of stuff, but when Harmony glances at the time and says she needs to get going, I don’t really feel like I know that much more about her than I did when we sat down.
That might be on me. I can tell she’s cool, but I’m not sure I feel any type of connection with her, and I mostly answered her questions instead of asking my own. Basically, I was a terrible date. The team’s in a funk and so am I.
“I enjoyed talking with you. I wasn’t sure about being set up with one of Johnny’s friends,” she says.
“That’s fair.” I chuckle.
She takes a pen out of her purse, then grabs my hand. “I’m giving you my number. If you ever want to hang out again, give me a call.”
I stare down at the red ink along the top of my right hand as she gets to her feet. “Let me walk you out.”
She waits for me and the two of us make our way through the busy bar. I spot Jack and Meredith sitting at the bar, and a redhead with them that I can only assume is Kennedy. My buddy waves at me. His girl and her friend don’t see me, and I wave awkwardly back, still tailing Harmony. This whole thing is beyond weird.
“You have a ride?” I ask as we step outside.
“Yeah. I think that’s me right there,” she says as a red car pulls up to the curb.
The driver rolls down the window. “Are you Harmony?”
“Yep. One second.” She turns back to me and then steps forward. We exchange a nice, short hug that is incidentally the closest I’ve come to a girl in a really, really long time. My dick doesn’t not notice. And it doesn’t care how connected I feel to Harmony. It’s ready to do this thing. For two seconds, I consider chasing the car and asking if she wants to come back to my place.
I don’t, but only because it feels too pathetic and misleading. I stand outside a few moments longer. Fuck, I need to get laid. I need to do something, anything to stop moping around.
With that in mind, I head inside and go directly to Jack so I can meet Kennedy and get this night over with.
“Hey, you made it,” he says like I just got here. Only the smirk on his lips gives him away. He turns to the girls. “This is my buddy, Ash.”
“Hey.” I tip my head to him in greeting and then let my gaze fall to the girls sitting beside him.
“Hey, Meredith,” I say to the blonde sitting closest.
Her smile is friendly, if not a little practiced from all the on-camera work she does. “Hey, Ash. I heard you’re still out with the injury. How long until you’re back?”
“Uhh…”
“Sorry.” She laughs and that fake ass smile is replaced with a real one. “Off the record, of course.”
“It’s doing good, but I’m not sure yet when I’ll return.” That’s as much as I’d give anyone outside of my team, and I don’t wait for a follow-up before I move on to Kennedy.
She looks up at me with dark green eyes framed with thick black lashes. Her mouth is pursed, lips wearing this almost humored expression I can’t quite make out.
“Hey, I’m Ash,” I say to her.
“Kennedy.” She offers me her hand. The ring on her middle finger reminds me of Bridget and how she had on multiple that night of the game.
Kennedy already has a drink in her hand, so I ask the bartender for a water and take a seat to her right.
“We’re going to play darts,” Jack announces, sliding his arm around Meredith’s waist as they both stand.
I shoot him a glare. He’s deserting me and couldn’t be more obvious about his intention to leave us alone together.
“You good, Kennedy?” Meredith asks her.