Wes, Eliza, Jules, and I collectively rolled our eyes.
“What can I say? I wanted to hang out with my favorite people tonight and not worry about a date. Now, let’s get a game of pool going. Teams? And warning that Wes has been rusty lately.”
“No, I haven’t,” Wes argued, taking the bait. He pressed a kiss to Jules’s temple before grabbing a cue. “Who else is in?”
“I’ll play,” Eliza chimed in, and Gabe nodded, too.
Wes nodded at Gabe before grunting, “You’re with me,” which left Eliza and Cooper on a team.
“You better not cost us the game with your big mouth,” Eliza said to Cooper, elbowing his side.
Jules and I looked at each other and immediately grinned. “Dance floor?” she asked.
I quickly nodded in agreement. We linked arms and started to make our way toward the bar and then the dance floor.
“I’ll meet you two out there soon!” Eliza called after us.
Luckily, there was no rush. We had all night.
39
GABRIEL
I didn’t think losingthe pool game got me any points with Wes, but at least it was fun and a chance to get to spend more time with Lily’s brother and the people in her inner circle.
Wes and Cooper were competitive, but it was good-natured. It was amusing, especially because growing up, my father’s competitiveness was nothing like this. He always wanted to win—no matter the cost. For a while, I had that same mentality. I wanted to be the best at anything and everything. If I wasn’t, then I needed to spend time getting better.
But that quickly took the fun out of things.
Tonight, it felt good to be bad at pool. It felt good to let go and get to know Wes, Eliza, and Cooper better. I’d had a chance to talk with them during Christmas dinner, but this felt more casual. It was also amusing to witness the banter between the three of them.
Once we finished playing best two out of three—which Wes and I did win one of the games—I looked around for Lily, who was no longer on the dance floor. She’d been there a minute ago. My eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on her, and myshoulders relaxed a fraction. She was standing by the bar…but who was standing next to her?
Trying to be casual, I asked Eliza, “Who’s Lily talking to?”
Eliza glanced over. “Oh, that’s Reid. He must be back home visiting his parents. He’s had a crush on Lily for years.”
Nope. Didn’t like that. A pain radiated throughout my jaw, making me realize how clenched my teeth were.
An amused snort left Eliza. “Huh, the vein in your forehead is throbbing. Does that happen often?”
“What?” I brought my hand up to my forehead and quickly shook my head. “No, it’s not.” At least, I didn’t think it was. That’d never happened before.
She grinned at me, and I couldn’t tell if she was messing with me or not. “Interesting,” she commented slyly, tipping back her drink and finishing it.
“I’m not jealous or anything.”
Eliza shrugged. “Didn’t say you were, but if youwerelooking for an excuse to go talk to Lily, one of the dart boards opened up. She loves to play.” With that, Eliza walked away, getting caught up in another conversation as someone stopped her.
Not wanting to waste more time, I started to close the distance to the bar. My first instinct was to saySorry for the interruption, but I held back.
Because I wasn’t sorry. Not one bit. He’d already taken up too much of her time. I tried to relax my face as I approached the two of them. “Hey, mind if I steal Lily for a game of darts?” I asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in toward my chest. I normally wasn’t so possessive, but…I didn’t hate the idea of letting everyone think Lily was mine.
“Oh, uh, we were just—” Reid rubbed the back of his neck as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“I’d love to play!” Lily chimed in, and my grip on her waist tightened. “I’ll catch up with you later, Reid. It was great to see you.”
Over my dead body was she catching up with him later.
