Free Love Hurts by Holly Hood Page A

of the other stuff, you just want love.” He sighed.
     
    The brunette grew a little somber at Frankie’s solemn way. “Well isn’t that what you want to. Doesn’t everyone?”
     
    Frankie took a long swig of his beer, sitting it down empty. “No, I don’t want that at all. I’ve managed to live quite a long time without love.” Once he really looked at the brunette he was taken aback by her devious little smirk. And the laidback way she went back and forth with him.
     
    “ I imagine that is a very sad way to live. I would risk heartache over and over again to find the one.”
     
    “ What if the one is the one who breaks your heart over and over again?” Frankie injected, really staring at her now. Her unusual hazel eyes shifted around the bar trying to come up with an answer. He had to give her an a for effort. At least she wasn’t blurting out the first thing that came out of her mouth. She bit at her bottom lip, her eyebrows knitting together as if it was a struggle to find an answer.
     
    “ Love isn’t perfect. It’s the idea of love that fascinates me. I don’t expect love to be perfect because that would mean us as humans were.” She shifted in her seat. “What do you think?”
     
    Frankie watched the bartender crack open his next beer. “I think it sounds like you paid good money for that college education. You should thank your professors for teaching you how to use all that garbage you call truth.”
     
    The blonde rolled her eyes, touching her friends arm to make her feel better. But she wasn’t giving up so easily Frankie noticed. A part of him remembered that he had just listened in on the girl pouring her heart out about this Reggie and how horrible he had made her feel. But still, there he was beating her up psychologically.
     
    “ I’m a selfish prick,” Frankie announced to them both. They stared at him in awe.
     
    “ We see that,” the blonde said, shaking her head, her long blonde hair dancing around her arms. She was a great looking girl Frankie admitted, but he was more drawn to her friend.
     
    “ I’m selfish and an asshole one hundred percent of the time. But then I think that’s what most girls are drawn to so why should I change,” he rambled, tipping back his beer.
     
    “ Probably the reasons you’re not interested in love,” the blonde said. “I’m Regan by the way.” She extended her hand. Frankie didn’t accept, he held tight to the beer not wanting to make contact. He wasn’t in the mood to waste his energy on ending this girl tonight. She quickly returned her hand to the countertop, letting out a huff.
     
    “ See, why would you do that?” Frankie asked. He was a lot drunker then he thought he was. “I tell you I’m no good and you extend yourself to me.”
     
    The other girl, the one catching Frankie’s eye time and time again, stared at her friend, a giant smirk erupting on her face. She found this guy funny, funnier than anyone else in the bar. He wasn’t trying to pick them up, he was eagerly creating conversation. And she was intrigued.
     
    “ That’s because Regan doesn’t know when to shut up,” she pointed out, “I’m Dylan.”
     
    Frankie raised an eyebrow. “Dylan is a boy’s name. Why would your parents do that to you?” Even her name was interesting.
     
    She shoved her dark hair behind her ear, shooting him an exasperated expression. “They were pretty confident that I could handle it.” She had heard all the insults before in her life. But she liked her name and she liked that her parents were willing to live on the edge and do something bold. She liked bold.
     
    “ I see that,” Frankie responded. He took a quick look at her drink. “You can handle Jack Daniels too huh?”
     
    Dylan dropped her gaze, her fingers tinkering with the shot glass. She was going to show him. She picked it up, dropping her head back, her eyes squeezing tightly shut in response to the liquor coursing down the back of her