When the song changed, Ky stood and made his way to Eden. His hands fell to her hips, and I knew that was my sign to look away. I glanced around the bar, taking in the other patrons and allowing myself to be absorbed by the atmosphere. There was a whisper of promise in the air that made the hair on my arms stand at attention. It was the kind of place that made you want to own up to every sinful thought taunting your mind, and every sinful thought I had revolved around a blond bombshell that would be moving into my apartment in less than twenty-four hours. I shifted in my seat and rested my head against the booth as I began to swim into dangerously tempting waters.

“I love them to death, but they are sickeningly in love.” Ashlyn laughed and collapsed into the booth beside me. “They are practically fucking out there.”

I turned to look at Ky and Eden and, sure enough, they were putting on a show for everyone. Immediately, I diverted my eyes back to Ashlyn. She grabbed the glass of whiskey clean from my hand and finished it in one go. Her face scrunched up as the straight liquor hit her throat, then she thrust the glass back into my hand with force.

“How do you drink this shit?” she asked through a cough.

“The question should be why you are drinking it?”

“I have a need to get drunk tonight, and whiskey will do that.”

“Does your need to get drunk have anything to do with what happened earlier?” I dove straight in.

“Maybe, but I’m not talking about it,” she stated quickly, then turned her attention back to the dance floor.

I grabbed her legs and twisted her back around until she had no choice but to look at me. “When are you telling Ky and Eden?”

The fact that people believed Ashlyn was still with him infuriated me. Just today, during a phone call with Mom, she mentioned Lachlan and Ashlyn, and it took everything I was not to tell her. He didn’t deserve to have his name mentioned with someone like Ashlyn, and until she told Ky and Eden, it would continue to happen.

“Can we not let my asshole ex ruin tonight? I’m having a good time getting drunk, and I’m the girl sitting with the guy every girl in the bar wants. Don’t let him taint that.” Her smile begged for me to agree. “I just want to forget everything other than right now.”

“I’m the guy every girl wants, huh?”

“Tori wants you. She is making that fact very well known.”

Both of us turned back to the dance floor that was now swarming with drunk people trying desperately to hook up for the night. Tori’s gaze found mine, and her heated stare was a clear indication of her intentions. As if I’d invited her, she moved through the crowd toward the sanctuary Ashlyn and I had found, and I cursed under my breath.

“What do you want?” I asked quietly, knowing that our solitude was about to be stolen.

“It doesn’t matter what I want, Josh, because I’ve got all I need.”

Tori slid in beside me, and Ashlyn immediately moved to the vacant chair across from me. Tori’s hand rested on my thigh, but all of my attention was on Ashlyn and her admission. It confused me and intrigued me, and I was desperate to find out exactly what she meant.

“I hear you are moving to London. That is incredible,” Tori said loudly. “I’ve always wanted to visit.”

Just hearing the mention of London caused my fist to ball. To be honest, I had chosen to eradicate the thought from my recent memory, and now Tori decided to bring it crashing back. There was no way Ashlyn would be moving to London, and it would be a priority of mine to make her stay. I had to. The thought of her being thousands of miles away was something I refused to deal with.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’ll be here for a couple more months, and then I’ll be packing up my life and heading to the UK.”

I couldn’t deal with this conversation. “I’m heading to the bar.”

I didn’t look back, but I felt eyes burning into me. Standing at the bar, I tapped my fingers on the mahogany top and waited to be served. My mind was a mass of confusion, and I knew I had to get control of it. After I ordered a fresh whiskey, I headed back to the booth to find it empty. I got lost in my thoughts, and swished around the whiskey. As alcohol swam through my veins, I began to forget about everything, and thankfully the cute girl behind the bar decided to keep supplying me.

“I bet you twenty dollars that you take Tori home tonight,” Ashlyn announced as she fell on the seat beside me with a thump and a drunken giggle. “She wont stop until you two fuck again. I’ve never seen a girl so obvious before.”

“I’m not betting you about who I may or may not fuck.”

“Why not? I don’t see anything wrong with a bet between friends; consider me one of the guys. I have bigger balls then some of your friends anyway.”

“No fucking way. I am not doing this with you, and please never say you have balls.”

She twisted her body until our knees were touching. “Why not? I am no different from any of your other friends. Come on, bet me.”

I shook my head dismissively. “You have a pussy. I have a cock. I am not talking to you about where my cock is going.”

“That’s a bit sexist,” she spat, and her eyes narrowed. “Why am I any different from Duke?”

I moved in close, until my mouth was hovering over her ear. I felt her shiver at the proximity, and the alcohol that swam through us both made all inhibitions dissolve. “I don’t think about having sex with Duke, and he certainly hasn’t got a pussy that entices me.”

I dropped my lips to the skin just below her ear before pulling away. Her eyes were hooded, and she was looking at me with her mouth agape. I had rendered her speechless. Everything I said was true, but I knew it was unlikely she’d remember it the next day.

“Well, no one has ever told me that my pussy entices them before,” she whispered. “I didn’t think friends spoke to friends like that.”

“You were the one that brought up fucking,” I said, stating the obvious.

A smirk touched her lips, and she rested her head on my shoulder. “Touché. But just so you know, I am totally going to win this bet.”

Christ.

MY HEAD WAS SCREAMING at me, my mouth felt like a desert, and I wanted to do nothing but sleep the day away. Last night was weird. Really weird. Dinner was beautiful, the company was fun, dancing rocked, but Josh was weird.

What the hell did he mean with the whole pussy enticing him comment? Exactly how much did we both have to drink last night? All that talk of pussy, cock, and fucking was insane. There was no way that I would suddenly entice him after almost five years. There had been months, years even, that we were both single, and not once did he show any interest in me. And believe me, I would have let my pussy entice him on more than one occasion. But now we were friends, and that was how it would stay. The only logical reason I could come up with was that he said it to shut me up and distract me from the awesome bet I came up with.

I stretched in bed, and my bones cracked to life. Today would be the last day in two weeks, maybe more, that I’d be waking up in my bed. In a matter of hours, I’d be wheeling my suitcase down the hall to Josh’s apartment and stepping into a land of unknown. The only guy I ever lived with for more than two days was Lachlan, and . . . well, we all know how that turned out. Josh was a different story, though. A very different story.

My phone bounced to life on the pillow beside me. With sleep-deprived eyes, I looked at Eden’s name flashing before me. Groaning loudly because it felt like I was using every ounce of energy I had, I swiped the screen to answer.