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I nod. “Since college,” I agree.
“So you’ve been together a while,” says Cooper, prodding. His expression is all polite inquisitiveness, but I hear the hint of an edge in his voice. He knows something’s up.
Drew hears it, too. “What can I say? When it’s right, it’s right.” Drew puts his arm around me, shooting a hard look at Cooper and squeezing me tight to his side. Ignoring the tingling heat brought on by his hand on my hip, I focus on the wineglass in my hand, wishing it would magically refill itself. The mirror behind the bar is partly obscured by row after row of bottles I don’t recognize, but I can see our faces clear enough: Drew on my left, Cooper on my right. Wide-eyed, red-cheeked Bailey right smack dab between them.
A split-second fantasy of being sandwiched between these two men under slightly different —slightly naked— circumstances flashes before my eyes, making me suck down a sip of wine.
“You okay?” Drew asks, pounding my back as I cough.
Cooper hands me a napkin, concern in his eyes. I wave them off and wonder if jumping out the first-floor bathroom window would be enough to kill me or if I’ll just have to die of embarrassment where I sit.
At least Drew’s not holding onto me anymore. Which is good. No need to go overboard with the touching. Definitely no need to be imagining anybody naked.
Drew is silent again, glaring at the room at large—the glass in his hand, the mirror. Cooper. Back down to the glass.
“Where did Mila go?” I ask tentatively.
Drew shrugs. Cooper shifts to prop his arm on the bar, stepping a little closer to me and turning to face us both.
“She’s back behind the sound booth talking to somebody,” Cooper says, jerking his chin in that direction. “You want me to flag her down for you?”
“No,” Drew and I both say sharply. Cooper gives me that same crooked half-grin.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” says Cooper.
“I can’t say the same for you,” I say, unable to stop the smile. “For a lab rat, you’ve filled out pretty nicely.” Back in school, he’d been talking about medical research as a career. But Coop shakes his head.
“Turns out med school and I weren’t a good fit,” he says blithely.
“Shocker,” says Drew.
“Drew,” I say, floored by his rudeness. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him be deliberately rude to somebody before.
Cooper lays a hand on my arm and squeezes gently. “Don’t sweat it, Ross,” he says. “Typical needle-dick jock response. I’m used to it.”
The bartender does a double take a few feet away. I hide behind my wine glass, eyes on the mirror, watching Drew’s face get redder by the second.
Damage control, Bailey. Get on it.
I should probably intervene but God help me, listening to them harass each other feels like foreplay. Yep. I’ve lost it.
“I have no desire to debate the size of my dick with the likes of you, Lawson,” says Drew, his voice pitched low. The bartender’s lips twitch anyway. I suspect he’s enjoying this at least as much as I am.
“The likes of me,” sneers Cooper, no longer masking his irritation. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know,” says Drew.
“Spell it out for me, teach,” says Cooper. He’s not loud, but people nearby can hear. At least they’ve moved on from dick sizes. The bartender notices my empty glass and nods in question.
“Oh, yes,” I say, handing back my glass. “Maybe I should come back there and hang out with you instead.”
“I’d let you if I could,” says the bartender. His name tag says Beck. Drew and Cooper are still exchanging insults, leaning around behind me to snipe at each other. “But I’m a little afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.”
“You and me both, Beck,” I say, raising my fresh drink in thanks as he walks back to the end of the bar. In the mirror I see a woman approaching—lithe, lovely, perfect hair. I already hate her.
She stops right in front of Drew, interrupting the guys’ argument.
“I swear to God, I’m going to get you two matching muzzles if you don’t knock it off,” she says in a sweet, light voice. I snort at that, turning around to get a better look. The voice is a direct contradiction to the fierce expression on her face, a look that softens when she turns her eyes on me.
