I spin on my heel, turning to face the girls. To my surprise, neither of them is sporting a dirty look on their faces. No, they just look curious. Perfect. We aren’t dealing with mean girls.
“Hi, I’m Arden,” I say, reaching forward to hug the one with the shiny, black hair. She hugs me back, albeit a bit hesitantly. “I’m Carter’s girlfriend. Nice to meet you.”
Nina goes rigid. “Girlfriend?”
I nod, reaching over to hug her friend, who suddenly looks like a deer in headlights. That’s the look of a woman who knows far too much about where someone’s boyfriend has been recently.
I wave them off. “Don’t worry. No overlap.”
Carter chokes on his drink behind me. I glance down into the booth, where Declan and the girl beside him are watching with big, amused smiles. I flash them both a weary one in return. Declan’s girlfriend angles her head, eyes sparking with intrigue.
“Nice to meet you,” the brunette says.
“I’m going to get this lady home.” Carter steps forward to wrap his arms around my shoulders from behind. He presses his mouth to my head, and I ignore the urge to jab my elbow into his ribs. He’s overdoing this. He drapes his jacket over my shoulders and glances down into the booth. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Declan lets out a chuckle. “I bet.”
His girlfriend shoves him in the arm while the rest of the table gawks at me.
“Can we stop by my table? I have to grab my things.”
“Of course,Bub. Anything you want.”
It’s Declan’s turn to cough out his drink then. The big guy beside him with the long, dark hair is staring at Carter with his brow furrowed, like he’s not sure if this is real or if someone slipped something in his drink that’s causing him to hallucinate.
Bub.
He’s mocking me.
That’s what I get for saving his stupid ass.
Carter slides his hand into mine, and begrudgingly, I take it. I squeeze, though. Hard. I literally put all my force intoattempting to break his fingers. Unfortunately, that only makes him smile wider.
I guide him back to my table, feeling the weight of that phone being pointed at us the whole time. Every step is being documented, just like I expected. This might actually be the save of the century.
Whitney and Autumn look like they’re going to fall out of their seats when I walk back to our table with a six-foot-whatever rabid dog attached to my hand.
“Carter is going to take me home,” I announce, and their eyes flicker to him. He smiles big and nods. “I’ll see you at work.”
“Have fun,” Whitney chides.
“Somuch fun,” Autumn adds.
I shoot them a look, but they aren’t looking at me. They’re beaming up at Carter with big, round eyes and suggestive smiles as they sip their drinks, like they know exactly what is going to happen when I leave this bar with the ‘Big Boy’ they’ve been begging me to talk to.
I glance over my shoulder at him, and his grin is taking up his entire face.
“You know,” I mutter, turning my back to my friends so they don’t hear this next part. “Myboyfriendwouldn’t be smiling the panties off my friends, especially in front of me.”
Those pretty blue eyes slide to me, and unfortunately, that grin only grows. “You think my smile has the power to evaporate women’s clothing, Red?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumble. I turn back toward my friends, who are still looking far too eagerly at me. Likemypanties are going to be off in the next ten minutes. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Both of you. Without speaking about this.”
Whit snorts. “Oh, wewillbe speaking about this.”
“All day, probably,” Autumn says with a nod.
“We can make some good stories for your entertainment,” Carter promises them from behind me.
