Read Firebird (The Firebird Trilogy #1) for Free Online Page A

into the bouncer’s gut. Other men rushed over to restrain him and Tyler until the cops arrived.
    Perfect.
    At the station, they booked him despite his being able to post immediate bail. Mug shot, fingerprints, and a full body search, which did not humiliate so much as infuriate him. Probably some asshole wanting a peek. Seven inches, mudak . Suck on that.
    Hours later, once the booking process had ended and the sun was on the verge of rising, he posted bail and walked out of the county jail. His phone was already ringing. He’d get a disciplinary lineup scratch for breaking the midnight curfew, but he ignored it. He had to get back across town to his car.
    “Need a lift?”
    The cocktail waitress. He smiled. “Yeah, I do. My car is at the club.”
    “Follow me.”
     
    ***
     
    She slid her mouth up and down his shaft and stopped to run her tongue around the tip. Then she wriggled out of her shorts and panties and straddled him despite the confines of her Chevy Cavalier. Even with the passenger seat pushed all the way back, his long legs once again proved incompatible with compact cars. No way in hell were they having sex in his Mercedes, though.
    She leaned in for a kiss. He seized her upper arm, and she flinched. “If you use your mouth, you use it to suck my dick. But you do not kiss me. Do you understand?”
    She nodded, her eyes wide. He let go, and she rubbed her arm. “What do you have against kissing?”
    “Nothing.” He closed his eyes for a moment. Could feel Stephanie’s silken, downward-turned Natalie Portman lips on his. “Forget it.” He dug a condom out of his pocket, tore open the wrapper, and rolled it down his cock. He shifted so he could slide into her, his hands on her hips as she bounced. He laid his head against the headrest.
    If he kept them closed, he could almost pretend.
     
    ***
     
    Stephanie
     
    Two Hockey Players Arrested in Altercation at Strip Club: Tyler Long and Aleksandr Volynsky of the Seattle Earthquakes were arrested last night at a local strip club, according to police reports. Andrew Gagne was also present but not arrested. Police say Long and Volynsky provoked a physical confrontation with one of the club’s bouncers, Michael Johnson, when Long allegedly violated the club’s no-touching rule. Both men posted bail and were released. Assault charges were later dropped at Johnson’s request.
    “It’s over now, the charges were dropped, and they’ve paid for it—literally,” the Earthquakes’ general manager, Pat Mason, said. “Coach has decided both Volynsky and Long will be scratched for the next game. The commissioner has fined both players but will not be pursuing hearings and/or suspensions.”
     
    “God.” Stephanie rubbed her temples. She had her work cut out for her with the poster boy for everything wrong with professional sports. She picked up her phone.
     
    Stephanie: Coworkers are doing karaoke after work. Gonna tag along. Meet up later?
     
    Joe: Nah, lots to do. Have fun. Shawn going?
     
    Stephanie: No, he never goes if I do. I ruin his fun :)
     
    Joe: Ha ha, good. See ya later.
     
    ***
     
    The group arrived at the Den, a sports-and-karaoke bar with a small stage and a DJ in the back room. The bar was charming in its squalor, the cocktails cheap and stiff, and the staff sociable. After flipping through the karaoke binders and putting in their requests, Stephanie and King County Today ’s receptionist, Rhonda, ordered burgers and fries. They ate their delicious dive-bar meal as one by one, karaoke singers vacillating between amazing and horrible warbled from the room behind them. There was already an hour-long rotation wait.
    “Heard things didn’t go so well.”
    “Hence the booze.” She clinked her glass with Rhonda’s.
    By the third drink, aware of her tongue’s increasing clumsiness and the slur on the last word of each sentence, she’d told Rhonda the entire wretched story. Rhonda offered a sympathetic nod or tsk in all the right