For once, Kane didn’t do his best dick impression and said nothing to blow my cover. “No problem, Lola. I can walk you out. Then I’ll come back and help Stefan since there’s no way he’ll be able to handle things upstairs without my help.”
“Okay, thank you,” Lola said, giving Kane one of her cute smiles that made me think maybe she could fall for him and all my problems would be solved.
“Great! See you later, Lo!”
I watched Kane walk her out of the club and bolted toward the stairs to get up to Shay but remembered I hadn’t grabbed a condom from my desk in all the nonsense with Lola. Fuck! Quickly, I ran into my office and found a pack where I kept them in my office drawer, but before I could get upstairs, Kane stopped me by blocking my way out the door.
“What the fuck are you thinking, Stefan?”
I was thinking that Shay was waiting for me and between Lola and Kane, I couldn’t decide who the bigger killjoy was. “You’re in the way. Can we talk about whatever you want to talk about tomorrow?”
“You know what I want to talk about. Blowing Lola off isn’t going to work. We need to be on her and Shank’s good side, and treating her like you just did isn’t going to make that happen.”
All the happiness I’d felt after talking to Shay had all but ebbed away by now, leaving me cranky and horny and stuck talking to Kane, the last person on Earth I wanted to hang out with tonight. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was keeping me talking to him there on purpose to ruin any chance I had with Shay.
“Kane, I told you the other day. I’m not going to be responsible for Lo’s happiness, no matter what you think. If you want her to make sure Shank continues to help us, you cozy up to her. She seems to like you, so it wouldn’t be too hard, assuming you still know what to do with your dick.”
My ass busting didn’t go over well, and he leaned in toward me to crowd my space until his face was just inches away from mine. “You made this fucking mess. Now you’re responsible for it. Maybe if you weren’t always thinking with your cock you wouldn’t have to do things with it you don’t like.”
The look in his blue eyes made me think he had plans to fight me right there. Jesus! Why the fuck did this guy always seem to be on my ass about something. “Back the fuck up, Kane.” He didn’t budge, so I leaned in and glared at him. A few seconds of that told me he wasn’t going to give in, so I resorted to my foolproof tactic.
I lied.
“Fine. I’ll make it up to Lo tomorrow, okay? Now get the hell out of my way!”
He gave me one final nasty glare and backed up to let me past, but not before he threatened me one last time. “Stefan, I’m not fucking around with you. Cash may have a soft spot for you, but I don’t have those feelings. We need Shank, and for good or for bad, you’re the one who has to make sure his daughter is happy. You fuck this up, and I’ll fuck you up, and Cash won’t be able to stop me this time.”
“Fine.”
I left him standing there outside my office and tore up the stairs hoping that he and Lola hadn’t totally ruined any chance I had to hang out with Shay again. Hitting the fourth floor, I looked down the hallway and didn’t see her near the bar. Disgusted, I caught my breath and leaned against the wall, silently cursing both Lola and Kane. Fucking A!
A noise from one of the fantasy rooms caught my attention, and I walked toward it hoping I didn’t find some orgy. Seeing that would be like the universe rubbing my face in shit. I peeked my head in and there stood Shay looking around like she was in awe of the place.
“I thought you left,” I said quietly as I closed the door behind me.
“I was just taking a look around. I didn’t realize I was in here that long.”
“You mean long enough to still be here when I returned?”
She gave me a tiny smile and looked away. “I don’t know what to say, Stefan. I did have a good time.”
Stepping toward her, I slid my arm around her waist and gently pulled her toward me. “And we can have a good time again. There’s nothing standing in our way, unless your boyfriend is back in the picture.”
She looked up at me and I saw questioning in her green eyes. “He’s not.”
“So what’s the problem? I can feel you want me like I want you, Shay.”
“That’s the problem, Stefan. I do. But everyone else in this place does too, and I don’t like feeling like I’m one in a cast of thousands.”
“You’re not.” Even though I’d been with Kat and Jana the night she left me hanging, as I stood there with Shay’s condemnation of my lifestyle staring up at me, I didn’t want anyone else.
“Stefan, we had fun, but I can’t be who I’d need to be with someone like you. I just can’t.”
“What do you mean? You don’t have to be anybody but you.”
Shaking her head, she frowned. “That’s not true. I’m not like Lola or Mika or any of the other women you get together with here. That’s not the kind of woman I am. Every one of them seems to be okay with being just another notch in your belt. I’m not.”
“You’re not like them, Shay. I know that.”
“So maybe it’s best if we just leave whatever there is between the two of us where it was the other night at my apartment. Maybe we’re just too different to be anything but a one-time thing, Stefan.”
Shay turned to leave, but I pulled her back into my arms and kissed her. “Maybe I don’t want to leave it there. Maybe we’re not so different, after all. As Lola reminded me earlier tonight, you’re leaving in a few months. Why can’t we just enjoy one another until then?”
“Because of what you just said. Lola. And Mika. And Kat. And Jana. I may not be the poster child for monogamy. Trust me, I’m not. But that’s just too many people I don’t really even like in my personal life.”
I didn’t know why, but the thought of any of them did nothing for me now that I’d been with Shay. And the idea that my ever being with them could mean she might not want me bothered me more than even I understood. This had all started out as a bet between me and Kane, but it had gone way past that for me now.
“They don’t mean anything to me. I already decided not to be with Lola and Mika anymore, and that thing with Kat and Jana the other night…” I stopped talking before I said something that would only prove to Shay I wasn’t the type of guy she’d want, but I saw by the look on her face that it didn’t matter.