Iron Cross: The Dartmouth Cobras #6 by Bianca Sommerland Page B

Chicklet again. He kept his eyes locked with Raif’s. “Thanks for your help. See you Monday.”
    “If you’re determined to leave, you will at least have one of your friends drive you. Practice tomorrow—optional, but you will be there. And you will call me when you get home.” Raif glanced over to where Scott was still talking to Mason. “Mr. Demyan doesn’t appear to be busy.”
    Tyler g ritted his teeth as he followed Raif’s gaze away from Scott, to the dance floor. Pearce and Becky were dancing to a slow rock song, surrounded by other couples who’d finished playing for the night. He let the bitterness he couldn’t help feeling practically drip off his tongue. “Yeah, I’m sure you’d love Scott to drive me home. Get him out of your way.”
    Raif rubbed his hand over his face, releasing a sharp laugh. “I apologize, Tyler. I thought I could help you, but I haven’t, have I?” He shook his head, staring at the ceiling when Tyler didn’t answer. “Go. And try to keep out of trouble.”
    Grabbing his clothes, Tyler headed to the other side of the room to put them on by the bar. He wasn’t playing, so he might as well have a drink before he took off. A petite, dark skinned Domme who’d become a regular since last fall and usually manned the bar after midnight on the weekends, came over. Her dark red lips curved as Tyler slumped onto one of the stools.
    “What can I get you, hon?”
    “Vodka and OJ. And no, I’m not playing.” He tongued his upper lip at her level stare. Right, no need to be rude. “Sorry, Ma’am. Tonight’s been all kinds of fucked up.”
    “Call me Deisha. And I’ve had nights like that, so I understand.” Deisha placed a clean glass on the bar. Hesitated. Tyler was sure she was gonna ask if his Mistress would mind hi s drinking, but instead she held out her hand. “I’m all for letting loose, but you gotta hand over your car keys first.”
    Fair enough. Tyler plucked his keys from the pocket of his jeans and passed them to her. “Not a problem. I’ll catch a cab or something.”
    “Or something. I’ll get you home, pal.” Scott slapped Tyler’s shoulder, rolling his eyes when Luke came over and grabbed the drink Deisha had just fixed for Tyler. “Looks like I’m the designated. Where’s Ramos, Luke?”
    “Amia was being fussy and Jami didn’t want to ruin Silver’s night out, so he went to see if he could help get her back to sleep.” Luke handed Tyler the glass after having drained half of it. “He let me stay to make sure Tyler was all right.”
    “I’m fine.” Tyler brought the glass to his lips, sipping even as he looked over at the dance floor. Raif wasn’t there, but Becky and Pearce still were. Good . “Hey, Scott, how come your man’s hogging your woman?”
    “They missed their last date night because Casey got sick. We all got to play together, but I told them the rest of the night is for the two of them.” Scott smiled fondly at the couple, who both looked pretty goofy dancing to the harder techno music now playing. Then he turned to Luke. “What about Casey? Jami’s watching her too , and Becky was worried it would be too much.”
    “Casey ’s sleeping real good, last I heard.” Luke winked at the bartender as she slid a glass of vodka and OJ across the bar to him. Without being asked, he handed her his keys. “Guess this leaves the three of us free to do whatever the hell we want.”
    “Which means staying here and getting drunk?” Tyler kinda liked that idea. Except for the fact that Chicklet wouldn’t be too happy seeing him like that. She didn’t nag at him on the rare occasions he drank—not unless he did something stupid. She just didn’t wanna see him messed up.
    Luke shrugged, eyeing Scott. “Pretty sure our boy won’t wanna go anywhere.”
    Scott frowned at Luke, then at Tyler when he nodded. “How do you figure?”
    “Zovko’s here,” Luke said, looking around, likely trying to spot him. “So’s Pearce. Pretty