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He nods and escorts the ladies into the club while I take a deep breath and prepare myself for whatever the conversation with Teagan brings. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little stab of fear that Brynn might have told him about our close encounter the other night.
“Dude, where have you been?” Teagan asks when I answer, sounding more curious than annoyed, which I take as a good sign. “I’ve been trying to call you the last two days.”
I pull on the back of my neck and stare out into the parking lot of the club, trying to ignore the guilt churning inside me like butter. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Kind of a crazy couple of days,” I say. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just got off the phone with Brynn.”
I tense, rigid as a steel beam. “Why’d you talk to Brynn?”
“I just wanted to check in on her, make sure she moved into your place okay and was coping well with this little roadblock.”
I swallow, sliding a hand down my face. So, she didn’t tell him?
“Oh, yeah. That makes sense. What else did she have to say?” I ask, digging.
“Just that she hasn’t seen you since Monday night and that you’re probably out whoring it up.” Teagan laughs. “You know, the typical.”
“Hilarious,” I deadpan.
Is that what she thinks I’m fucking doing?
I glance toward the entrance of the club and grimace because she’s not wrong. I came here on a mission to look for a careless hookup.
Teagan, oblivious to my quickly shifting mood continues, “Yeah. I think her exact words were, ‘he’s probably out spreading crabs all over campus.’”
“She sure has a sense of humor, doesn’t she?” I fake a laugh, but it falls flat. Brynn thinking I’m sleeping around doesn’t sit well with me, and I have to ask myself why.
“Can you blame her for assuming?” he asks with a chuckle.
“I guess I can’t.” My cheeks heat with indignation, but I can’t argue, so I don’t. He knows as well as I do, I had a reputation in high school, and I’m a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them. I fully intend on going inside and losing myself in the lips and curves of the girl I came here with.
“Anyway, I just wanted to call and thank you again. You have no idea how much better I feel knowing she’s away from her roommate and at your place where you can look after her.”
My guilt from earlier returns, doing the freaking backstroke in my veins. “Yeah, anything for you, bro.” I clear my throat and rub the tension knotting in my forehead. “Anyway, I better go. I have a tall brunette waiting for me inside.”
Teagan barks out a laugh. “Right. Good to know some things never change.”
I hang up and angrily shove my phone in my back pocket, staring at the doors to the club as a cluster of college students head inside.
My conversation with Teagan eats at my resolve to stay clear of Brynn when it should have the exact opposite effect. Her opinion of me has never mattered before, so why should it matter now?
I’m doing the right thing by taking a step back. I need to cool my heels and focus on something else—someone else—which is exactly what I intend to do here. If Teagan had an inkling I laid hands on his sister, I’d be dead to him.
It’s because of him that I push my shoulders back and step into the club, making my way through the crowd, strobing lightsfrom the dance floor flickering off the walls. The music grows louder the closer I get to the dance floor, vibrating the floor beneath me. While the bar is crowded, the dance floor and booths lining the perimeter aren’t, which makes our little group easy to spot.
They’re seated in a corner booth, and from the looks of it, Damon is already cozying up to a blonde, while Chris seems to be holding a conversation with two other chicks.
The urge to bail hits me like a wrecking ball. More concerning is the desire to head back outside in search of Brynn, so I can check on her and see if she’s feeling any kind of way after what happened the other night.
But those compulsions are dangerous. Which is exactly why I put one foot in front of the other and join my friends.
The brunette, Teresa, lifts her head at my approach, so I plaster on my most charming smile and slide into the booth beside her. A pitcher of beer sits in the center of the table and I help myself, needing something to take the edge off my thoughts. By the looks of it, the girls are already halfway finished with some kind of mixed drink, so I down half the frothy liquid in a single go, then top my glass up.
“So, what did I miss?”
Beside me, Teresa licks her lips. “Not much. Just waiting for you, so I can have a dance.” Her gaze drops to my mouth, a subtle hint at what she wants and an invitation I’ll gladly accept as soon as I’m another beer deep, but not yet. Not with thoughts of Brynn dancing in the back of my mind.
But that doesn’t stop me from grinning and eyeing her mouth. “Then let’s not keep you waiting.”
