His smile grows as if he likes my flustered state. “Or I’d settle for a squeeze of those pretty tits.”
I should slap him. I want to slap him, but I can’t seem to move. Just as my panic blooms into something ugly, covered with spikes that cut through my chest and shred my lungs, I spot a familiar face. Not Kiara and Sullivan, but Cosmos. He’s sitting a few tables over with a girl who has the most beautiful dark auburn hair I’ve ever seen, the tips dyed a bright fire-engine red, making her seem dangerous and alluring all at once.
I’m suddenly glad I cleaned myself up. It wasn’t much, but I took a quick shower in Mom’s bathroom, found the cleanest outfit I had with me, and did my hair, temporarily saying goodbye to the bird’s nest. At least for tonight.
Cosmos’ gaze travels from the hand on my elbow to my face, and everything stops. Everyone pauses mid-sentence, and I’m able to take my first deep breath since I walked in. The quiet is like slipping into a cold pool on a hot day. It wraps around me and immediately soothes my nerves. Lovely, lovely quiet. Even the intensity of Cosmos’ gaze feels calming right now.
“You okay?” he asks into the silence.
“Not exactly.” I pull my arm out of the stranger’s grip and rub at my elbow, trying to erase the feel of his clammy fingers.
“I take it he’s not one of your friends.” Cosmos gives me a casual smile that ripples my heart. “Need some help?”
“Yes,” I sigh. “Please.”
He looks away, and immediately my arm is back in the man’s hold.
“You look like the kind of girl who needs a good squeeze.” Smashed Foot Man puts some pressure on my elbow, pulling me toward him. “What’s your name, baby?”
Not baby, that’s for sure. After those few seconds of silence with Cosmos, my panic has shrunk back in on itself to that place where it hides between visits. My brain is functioning again. I’m about to tell Smashed Foot to let go of me when an arm slips around my shoulders.
“There you are,” Cosmos says, gently kissing the top of my head. It shouldn’t be so arousing. He’s kissing my hair. It’s friendly, safe, nothing more. But it’s also tender, familiar, and it makes something in my chest hurt.
Smashed Foot drops my arm and steps back, holding up both palms. “Sorry, man. Your girl should have said something.”
Cosmos looks right at Smashed Foot. “Apparently, she’s too nice to tell someone they’re being an asshole.”
Smashed Foot clenches his fist. For a moment I wonder how this is going to go. He takes a step back, looking me up and down with a scowl.
“Not worth it,” he says before backing up and dissolving into the crowd.
The words sting more than they should. I don’t want to be worth it to this man, but his comment echoes my own thoughts so perfectly that the bridge of my nose burns with trapped tears.
I fiddle with the strap on my purse, not looking at Cosmos. “Thanks.”
“Happy to oblige.” He drops his arm off my shoulder, and I immediately miss the warmth.
“I would have gotten rid of him… eventually.” Shifting my weight, I switch my purse from one shoulder to the other. “I just didn’t know what to say. Sometimes I… kind of freeze up. So, thanks.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” His hand settles on the small of my back as he guides me toward his table. “Fake dating is my favorite romance novel trope. I’ve always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress by pretending to be her boyfriend.”
“I’m not a damsel in distress.” Okay, fine, I was definitely in distress, so I guess it’s a lie, but that’s not how I want him to see me. I want to be stronger than that. Wish I was stronger than that.
He rubs his palm down his face and over the back of his neck. “That didn’t come out right.”
The girl sitting at Cosmos’ table jumps up when we get close. “Who’s this?”
She’s young, or at least, much younger than me, if I had to guess. She’s wearing a shirt with a silhouette of a drum kit on it, and she’s got almost every part of her face pierced—ears, nose, lip. I wonder if her tongue is pierced too. She’s pretty. Really pretty, but with a hard edge that makes it feel like she’s trying to cover it up, or scare people away.
She’s not the type of girl I imagined Cosmos dating.
“Ivy, this is Hazel Berton.” Cosmos gives noindication of who Ivy is to him, but it’s easy to see how comfortable they are with each other. He also didn’t say how he knows me, so I don’t volunteer the information. I don’t want to get him into trouble.
“Nice to meet you,” I say, looking between the two of them. I wish my cheeks weren’t so warm and my heart wasn’t so disappointed to see him with someone else.
Ivy bounces on her toes, tilts her head to one side, and studies me before bursting into light laughter. “I’m not his girlfriend, you know. I’m his sister. And he totally should have led with that, but sometimes Cosmos is clueless.”
Relief I have no business feeling washes over me. That’s right. He said he was hanging out with his sister tonight. I just assumed he was talking about Julia. I forgot he said he has multiple sisters.
