“I’malwaysfucking hurting!” Her voice slices through the music like a serrated blade. She tears away, tilts her head back and inhales deeply. “Sorry. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t have to be.”
I expect her to explode or, at the very least, ignore me again. What I don’t expect is for her to gape at me like it’s the first time she’s ever heard me speak.
And time stops. Just like it does every time Andrea Sinclair gives me her attention. I’m hyperaware of everything— down to the muscles stretching around my bones, the pressure on each joint, the weight of this unintended secret pushing me to the point of breaking.
Cade takes advantage of her pause and hooks an arm around her waist. He locks eyes with me over her head and tips his chin at the exit.
I don’t need it spelled out.
Once she realizes where we’re going, she wakes up from the trance.
“I’m fine! You two crab-apples don’t know how to have a good time!”
“Oh, we know how to have a good time, church girl,” Cade snickers. My brows lift. Did he just insinuate what I think he did?
She trips over her platform boots as we exit the club. The alcohol has to be catching up with her. “You stale ham sandwiches are killing my vibe and I’ve McFuckin had it!”
I bite back a laugh. Cade chuckles, “That’s a new one.”
She smacks his stomach. He bows forward. “Easy. I’m not a tree trunk of solid muscle like this douche,” he coughs, nodding at me.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Andrea scowls. “Stop flirting with each other.”
“Who said we were flirting?” Cade asks.
She squints at him. “I’m drunk, not stupid.”
The second I pull my keys out, she reacts like a feral cat getting forced into a carrier.
“Oh hell no! You’renotkidnapping me!”
The security guard glances our way.
She notices.
“HELP!”
Fucking lovely.
Cade groans, wrestling her hand into his. “And people say I’m a menace.”
“You are,” I point out.
He scowls. “Not helping.”
I throw my hands up. “She’syourgirlfriend.”
His scowl deepens. “Ourgirlfriend, dickhead.”
Oh?
“I am NOT his girlfriend,” Andrea seethes.
That’s more like it.
