Page 29 of First in Line

“Why?”

“I realized I’d marry her the first time we met. Well, the second time, really. I was a little busy the first time.”

Evie’s gaze remains on the discarded menu before her, brows twisted with conflicted thoughts.

Nathan laughs at my admission, like it’s a joke, and says, “Teenage hormones are wild, aren’t they? I remember my first girlfriend. I thought she was the love of my life, too. But boy, was I wrong.”

I can guess that he lays a hand on Evie’s thigh, under the table, and I have to physically restrain myself from reaching over to rip it off before breaking it.

Instead, I empty my glass and pour myself another one. I’m done by the time the waiter hurriedly approaches to do it himself, so he takes our orders instead.

“Where did you meet?” I ask once he’s gone again.

“The Halloween party at our office building. We work for different companies on different floors, but I already had my eye on her. She was dressed as Uma Thurman in that movie, you know…Pulp Fiction.”

“She was?”

“Yes, she looked great. She had a fake syringe sticking out of her chest and everything.”

“It’s a very simple costume to whip up,” Evie explains. “And I had that hairstyle back then, so I thought, why not?”

She squirms in her chair, and while Nathan has no idea what’s happening to her, or even notices her discomfort, I do. A few months into our relationship, I took her on a movie date, and we watched a rerun ofPulp Fiction.

We sat all the way up in the back of that old screening room, and I’m surprised she remembers anything about the movie. Ikept her focused on me nearly the entire time. To this day, I still can’t hear the music they dance to without getting a raging erection.

When our eyes meet again, I know she’s thinking about the same thing.

A little too hard, she slams her napkin on the table and says, “I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

She gives Nathan a peck, which looks more like a reminder for me than an actual act of tenderness, and gives me one last glance before standing up. I watch as she makes her way through the busy restaurant, her figure a perfect ode to female beauty.

My phone buzzes in my chest pocket, like fucking providence, and when I check the notification, I see it’s some random news about the race in Suzuka next week. “Sorry, I have to take care of this,” I lie to Nathan. “It’s one of my sponsors.”

“Oh, of course, no worries.”

I nod and extract myself from my side of the table. Once I’ve made sure Nathan isn’t paying me any mind, I walk the same path Evie did. It leads me to the hallway where the bathrooms are located.

This whole dinner is bullshit, and I’m not letting her leave without admitting it.

I’m done fucking waiting for her to open her eyes. I’ve waited seven fucking years. It’s enough.

CHAPTER

SIX

Evangeline

The movie posters don’t really inspire me. This is the old theater, where they never have the new stuff. But at least it’s cheap, so Jax and I often come on dates here.

“Jaws?” he suggests, pointing at the poster with a woman swimming and a shark coming at her.

“Eh …”

“How aboutDie Hard, then? ’Tis the season.”

“Not another action movie, please.”

“Then our only option isPulp Fiction, because I’m not watching a black-and-white movie.”