SOMETIMES I WONDER if I could write a chapter without any sex. I have a decent outline, but sometimes the characters and story exit the busy interstate and wander around the back roads (like my life is a highway metaphor?).

"Lauren, sweetie, I need two more pitchers of beer!"

She gritted her teeth and started filling a pitcher for the annoying flirty voice that agitated her all night. With the Raven's fourth consecutive win earlier in the day, the fans crowded the bar earlier than and stayed even longer.

The high level of noise, broken glasses and pitchers, and demanding drink orders weren't even close to making Lauren almost lose her temper at least a dozen times during the night. No, that honor belonged to the fourth bartender, Jodie fucking Barrett.

When the owner called in for reinforcements for the predicted super crowd before the surge, Jodie agreed on the condition she could leave an hour before closing time. Tristan, Everett, and Lauren had no problem with her demand, they just had a problem with her lack of productivity.

"Thanks for the pitchers, sweetie," Jodie said, flashing a fake smile and tossing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders.

Lauren stepped away from the counter, desperate to escape the pretty demon. The night could not end soon enough for her.

"Less than two hours, pretty girl," Everett said, standing next to her with a dish towel in his hand.

"Thank god," she replied flatly. "There was a good chance I was going to kill her."

"And I would've let you because I'm way too pretty for prison."

Lauren laughed and surveyed the crowded bar of drunk students. A high pitched giggle sounded like nails on a chalkboard to her and made Lauren want to slap the fake flirtatious smile off Jodie's pretty face.

Instead of cleaning tables or serving drinks behind the bar, Jodie unabashedly showed off her ample cleavage and constantly flirted with the guy patrons. Lauren hated working with her because Jodie was the laziest bartender who was always the first to leave when the bar was slow.

And drunk guys fell for her highlighted blonde hair, pouty red lips, slender figure, and long tan legs, slipping her cash for a deeper peek or even a feel at her heavy breasts. Unfortunately, Jodie had a massive following on social media, and her stupid followers crowded the bar and tipped well any time she worked.

"At least she didn't have time to suck any cock," Lauren murmured lowly.

Everett smirked at the comment. "The night's not over."

She groaned, hoping she wouldn't catch Jodie sucking off some guy in the storage room in the basement for the umpteenth time. Although Lauren had repeatedly requested Jodie to give a signal or even a code word or something that she needed some private time in the storage room, Jodie always replied, "It's a spur of the moment thing." Or "it just kinda happened, ya know?"

Tristan, Everett, and Lauren considered several theories on why Jodie wasn't ashamed of getting caught in sexual situations. Lauren guessed Jodie wanted to prove how much and how many guys wanted her. Tristan believed the thought of someone watching or catching her excited her sexually. Everett suggested it might be an invitation to join the fun.

None of them didn't judge Jodie for using the storage room because all of them had used the basement for the same thing on numerous occasions. The guys made sure the giant box of condoms – for the vending machine in the bathrooms – and the drink napkins were within reach of the only spot clean enough for a quick romp.

"When was the last time you used it?" Lauren asked, grabbing two glasses and filling them with ice for an order.

Everett scratched the fuzz on his chin. " Last Saturday with the little jealous fly."

"Is that why you were cool with locking up the bar and letting me and Tristan head out?"

He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Is the little jealous fly someone special?" Lauren asked, pushing the fresh drinks to a customer and accepting the cash in return.

"Too soon to say. All we do is fuck."

"Well, take her out on a date, dumbass."

"But that's so much work," Everett whined like a small child asked to clean his bedroom.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "I think you have your answer. Dating her would be too much for work."

"Yeah, I suppose. When was the last time you went down there?"

"A month ago with April."

"That's fucking sexy as hell."

She batted her eyelashes at him. "I know. One of the many advantages of being bi and having a bi roomie."

"Gaines!" A deep voice yelled excitedly from the end of the bar. Hearing his last name, Everett and Lauren instinctively turned to find a group of guys standing around and talking to one another.

A face familiar to both of them stared back, and Lauren's heart immediately dropped near her nether regions between her legs. She wanted to play cool and distant, but the stupid wide smile on her face viciously betrayed her.

"Montgomery?" Everett asked in disbelief, walking toward the group and holding out a hand for the bro handshake. "It's been too fucking long."

"Good to see ya, man," Josh said enthusiastically, clapping Everett's back with one hand.

"What brings you here?"

He boldly winked at Lauren. "Just heard it was a good place to hang."

After sobering up and replaying his time with Lauren, Josh foolishly realized she wasn't going to call or text him. What would she say? "Hey, wanna come over and have sex?" No, a girl like her had her choice of partners; she didn't need to call anyone.

He had tried to brush off the weekend romp as nothing special, but images of a naked Lauren flooded his mind, especially at bedtime. The urge to be with her again was oddly overwhelming; something Josh rarely felt for anyone.

Fortunately, Mikey remembered she was a bartender at some dive bar but didn't know the name. Through process of elimination – checking out bars within walking distance from her apartment – Josh and Mikey found success after entering the third bar.

To prevent himself from literally throwing himself at her, Josh texted his location to his network of friends and breathed a huge sign of relief when he recognized his freshman year roommate behind the bar. Josh found his opening to Lauren.

Everett studied Josh for a second and then gazed at Lauren, figuring out their very short history. Even the drunkest person in the bar could detect the magnetic attraction between them.

"We were roommates last year," Everett explained.

"Asshole left me for off-campus housing," Josh said, pretending to scowl.

"Evie," Jodie purred seductively, rubbing her boobs against one of Josh's muscular arms. "Introduce me to your friend."

Lauren bit back a laugh at Jodie's flailing efforts to catch Josh's attention and make Everett help her. Everett hated being called "Evie" as much as Lauren loathed being called "sweetie" all night. With a naughty sexy grin on his face and a devilish glint in his eyes, Josh couldn't focus on anything or anyone else but Lauren. Jodie could've stood next to him stark naked, and he probably wouldn't have noticed. Probably.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure you know him," Everett said, with a scowl. "Leave him alone, Jodie."

She stuck out her lower lip to pout and ran a perfectly manicured finger up and down Josh's muscular arm. "You're no fun, Evie."

Fuck this shit, Lauren thought darkly, marching over to Josh and standing on her tiptoes to lean across the counter. Cupping his handsome scruffy face with both hands, she pulled him in for "we're so going to fuck later" kiss.

She wasn't the jealous type, but Jodie's attention-seeking behavior annoyed the fuck out her. Lauren couldn't fake being nice to people that she truly disliked, and she sure as hell wasn't going to watch Jodie flaunt her big tits in front of a bunch of guys.

Ignoring the hoots and hollers from his friends and other customers and Jodie's loud huff of disapproval, Josh responded to the heated kiss with the same of intensity, loving the feel of her tongue wildly exploring his mouth.

Lauren pulled back with a grin, feeling foolish for believing the kiss was for show. She thought she could maintain some semblance of control if she saw him again, but her entire body burned for him. She wanted to feel him inside her now.

Hello, storage room.

She easily slipped underneath the hinged counter, grabbed Josh's calloused hand, and bounded down the rickety wooden stairs to the storage room with him close behind.

"Seriously?" Jodie whined indignantly. "What a fucking slut."

Josh's hand tightened around Lauren's and started to pull her back up the stairs to confront Jodie, but Lauren frowned and shook her head. "Don't worry. Everett will take care of her."

Josh glanced up the stairs before feeling Lauren tugging his hand. His cock twitched at her urgent grin. His protective stance amused her, but the huge bulge in his jeans aroused her even more.

In all honesty, Lauren was aroused the moment she saw recognized his dark blonde locks and dark blue eyes staring at her.

As soon as she flipped the light switch on for a bare single bulb to shine, Josh pushed her back against the closed door and hungrily claimed her mouth again. His hands traveled down to her thighs and easily lifted her into his arms as she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

"You feel so fucking good," he muttered in her mouth, squeezing her ass.

"I need your cock now," Lauren demanded, unwrapping her legs around him and unbuttoning and unzipping her ripped skinny jeans. "Condom box on the shelf to your right."

With her jeans pushed down to her ankles, she turned around, bent down a bit, and pressed her hands against the door. The sight of her bare ass ready for him made his long, thick shaft painfully harder, and Josh tore open the condom wrapper with teeth and rolled it on in record time.

One hand gripped her hip, and the other reached around to flick her incredibly wet clit. Lauren moaned at the simple touch, arching her back and sticking her ass further for him.

Josh leaned forward onto her back and whispered in her ear. "Is this for me?"

"Yes," she gasped as his finger circled the swollen nub harder.

She whimpered when his finger disappeared, but the hard shove of his cock penetrating her wet pussy soon made up for its absence. His thrusts were hard and fast, and Lauren wondered if he could read her mind because she craved this level of intensity.

How did she survive the week without his beautiful dick inside her? She had imagined Josh fucking her over and over when she used her toys to pleasure herself because that was easier than debating whether or not to text him.

The way he slammed into her over and over and groaned with appreciation with each thrust, Lauren knew her release was close. When her fingers found her slick clit, Lauren felt herself on the brink.

"Josh," she sighed.

"Cum for me, baby," he encouraged, picking up the pace and pushing even harder.

"Holy fucking shit!" Lauren didn't care if the entire damn bar heard her screams of ecstasy because her personal euphoria completely filled her body.

She shook her head to ward off the delirious haze of satisfaction threatening to overcome her senses. Lauren felt his body tense for a few seconds and then heard a guttural sound of relief. His grips on her hips loosened, and Josh fell onto her back, his lips in her hair.

They stood in silence for a moment before Lauren spoke up. "Uh, could you hand me a napkin or two from the shelf?"

Josh pulled out of her, and she already missed the presence of his cock. Lauren stood up, stretching out some kinks, when he handed her a wad of white cocktail napkins.

"Thanks," she muttered, cleaning herself up before pulling her panties and jeans.

Realizing he never said "hello" or even "how are you doing" since walking into the bar, Josh pulled her close by gently grabbing the back of her neck.

"Hey," he said, leaning his sweaty forehead against hers and tangling one his hand in her hair.

Lauren smiled, feeling sated for the time being. "Hey."

Her night looked much, much brighter now.

DEDICATION: BSWilliams made me smile and gave me confidence with her compliments and praise. Thank you!