Page 4 of Deny Me

One

Two Years Later

I stompedthrough the melting slush and tore open the heavy wooden door to King’s. The bar was lit up and empty except for the three sitting at our usual table for Sunday lunch. Luella and Jack’s heads whipped around upon hearing my entrance, their eyes-widening when they took me in. Jameson slowly lifted his head in my direction with a sly fucking smile across his full lips. He was going to regret sitting there gloating when I slapped that smug look off his face.

I stopped about five feet away and flung the small metal whistle I had pried off my tail pipe through layers of duct tape. Jameson just let the small piece bounce off his bulging muscles without a flinch, taking in all the glitter coating me with his midnight-blue eyes.

“You arrogant son of a bitch!” I growled, pointing my finger at him. I almost lost it completely when I saw his chest shake with suppressed laughter.

“You look nice, Evelyn.” Pausing, he scanned me from my boots to my hair. “I would even say … you’re sparkling.”

“Evie…” Luella looked me up and down, her jaw hanging open in shock. “Ummm …. Is that glitter?”

I didn’t have time to acknowledge her right then. My eyes never left Jameson as I took a few more steps towards him. “You think this is fucking funny?” His shoulders started shaking. “Do you know how fucking hard it is to get glitter off of things? It’s like the fucking herpes of craft supplies. It’s never gone.”

Jack lifted a hand to his face to hide the fact that he was starting to laugh too. My death glare, aimed in his direction, made him try harder to form a sober expression. Closing my eyes, I pulled all the relaxing air into my chest and tried to let the anger go, stretching the tension from my neck. It didn’t help.

“Evie…” Lu began cautiously.

“Your brother put glitter in my air vents.”

That was it. Jameson started cracking up. So did Jack, even though he had the decency to try and hide it behind his arm. This wasn’t anything new to our group. Jameson, Luella and I had played pranks on each other since I’d met them over ten years ago. Jack, Luella’s boyfriend, just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Lu and I had become fast friends in our freshman year of college. Since my family was so far away, she invited me to spend the holidays with her and her brothers. Her parents had died when she was younger. And a year after I met her, her brother, Asher, died in Afghanistan, leaving just her and Jameson.

The fact that Jameson owned a bar and had taken care of his sister didn’t leave a lot of room for him to cut loose and be a normal twenty-something. I respected him for that. He was an amazing man and an amazing brother to Lu. But it didn’t stop me from believing he needed to have some fun and laughter in the form of me.

So, I used the one thing I had over him: my sexuality. I loved watching the way a blush would start in his cheeks and move to his neck. The further it moved down his neck, the more I’d succeeded. Then there were times I would be so honest and bold, making inappropriate jokes, and I would catch him smiling. Victory always swelled in my chest when I made the great Jameson King actually crack a smile.

But he always got me back.

When I had blasted on the heat in my car that day, only to be doused in an unforgivable amount of glitter, I let out a scream I was sure my neighbors down the block could hear. Regret and anger simmered on my skin when I remembered that I had given Lu and Jameson a set of keys in case I lost mine. That anger turned to a slow burn when I started my car and pulled out on the road, only to ramp back up again when I heard a high-pitched whistle every time I hit the gas. The faster I went, the louder it got.

Everyone on the streets of Cincinnati stared at the crazy woman covered in glitter like some kind of stripper coated in her business from the night before, driving a car that let out a loud whistle.

When I pulled into King’s parking lot, I had figured out what that noise was. I’d walked around my car and sure enough, I saw a whistle duct taped to the tail pipe of my car. As I worked the tape off with my frozen fingers, my rage burned so hot I had begun laughing maniacally, just imagining what I was going to do when I finally saw his stupid ass. Oh man, it had to be good. I was going to make him regret this. That glitter was never going to be completely cleaned out of my car. I would find that shit sticking to my stuff for years to come.

Jack had his arm thrown around Lu with his head buried in her neck, hiding. But I could still see the way his body shook with amusement. Even Lu was holding back her giggles. Jameson leaned back in his seat on the other side of the table with my empty chair between us. His thick arms crossed over his broad chest and his long, denim-encased legs stretched out carelessly, like he was enjoying the show. One side of his mouth was cocked up, forming deep smile lines in the dark scruff on his cheeks. His arm was extended, gesturing to the seat next to him, offering me my place at our table.

“Are you going to join us, Evelyn?” Putting his finger to his chin, he stared up in thought. “Or should I call you Diamond? You do sparkle like a diamond. I think it would make a great stripper name.”

The triumph written all over his face made the wheels start turning in my head.

“I mean you do have the body for it, Evie,” Luella agreed, laughing. Even though we were all guilty of playing pranks against each other, we always knew they weren’t done to be intentionally mean. But it didn’t dim the fire fueling my thoughts of retribution.

A lightbulb went off.

My pinched lips softened to a smirk and spread into a seductive smile. “You’re right, Lu.” My voice was soft and sensual. “I do have a great set of tits.” My eyes never left Jameson’s. His confidence wavered when he saw the seductive light shining from my eyes. Pulling my coat from my shoulders, I took another step forward, letting it fall to the floor and revealing my baggy sweater dress and thigh-high suede boots. “And all this glitter, all over my body,” my hands moved to my hips and up my waist, “I wouldn’t want to waste it.”

Jameson’s Adam’s apple bobbed as my hands skimmed my full breasts. I wasn’t lying about my great tits. They were a full D, high and firm. They looked perfect on my short, hourglass body. And Jameson was starting to realize that he couldn’t fight back. Or wouldn’t fight back. Until the time I pushed him too far two years ago.

Low music played in the background and I began to sway my hips. The click of my heels rang loudly in the silence that settled around the room now that everyone had stopped giggling, now that they were noticing my anger had shifted into a devious calm. Jack was newer to the group, and he watched with his eyebrows raised. But Lu’s smile showed that she knew what was starting up. The ball had been volleyed into my court and I was going to play … with Jameson’s balls.

“What are you doing?” Jameson asked with warning in his deep baritone voice.

“God, Jamie-Boy. I love how I can hear your disapproval growling at me.” Inhaling deeply, I pushed my chest out, wanting to see his eyes drop. I wasn’t disappointed, even though it was only a quick flick before his control snapped them back up to my face. “It makes me so hot.”

When I reached the empty chair between us, I kicked it out of the way. It’s loud scrape across the wooden floor vibrated between us before I closed the gap, stepping into his space. He placed his feet flat on the floor under him, as though bracing for whatever I would dish out.