Page 33 of AJ’s Fire

I waited for the “one” to return his “Happy New Year,” then … then I leaned in, bringing our faces close together, unsure what I meant to do until I chickened out, kissing him on the cheek and saying again, directly in his ear, “Happy New Year.”

My hand was resting on the bar, close to his phone, and I felt it vibrate next to me at the same moment mine buzzed in my pocket. Jackson used the distraction to snap his phone up, hop off his stool, and move back a few steps. I pulled mine out.

Jamie had texted both of us.

“Guess he’s leaving, then,” he shouted at me because we really wouldn’t have been able to hear each other over the celebration since he’d put distance between us.

“Yeah,” I shouted back “We should find the girls.”

He nodded as if making his mind up about something, then chugged his drink, slamming it on the table even harder than I had before storming off, heading down the stairs and into the sea of partygoers.

Chapter Ten

Jackson

We were being jostled by the throngs of people dancing and cheering, the pulse of the club having become chaotic with the onset of the New Year. I could feel AJ reach out for me. He grasped my arm, but someone plowed between us, so he came around and wrapped his arm around my waist instead.

It was at least the third time he had touched me that evening, and it was driving me crazy. It had been so hard to be around him that night, looking the way he did, so effortlessly attractive, a rugged handsomeness that was only enhanced by his gray-on-black wardrobe. I knew him well enough to know that he had no real idea about the effect he had on others. That bartender at the restaurant really had been eyeing him. And I was sure he had no idea what effect he was having on me. Leaning in, all the fucking time to be heard over the noise of the club, so close I thought, almost, for a brief second, that he was going to kiss me.

I had escaped him for a bit after the restaurant by ending up in the other cab, using the time to try and get my shit together. When AJ gave me my phone back I saw that Newbie1164 had replied, and I had a date, or a hookup, or whatever, planned for the following night.

It was time to get over AJ and under someone else. But how the fuck was I supposed to do that when we were walking arm in arm, and his fucking perfect face and his whiskey-spiced breath were right there?

“We’ll never find them. Let’s just find a quiet corner and text them.”

I leaned back, as far as I could with his arm, warm and muscled and secure, wrapped around my waist, and gave him a look. “We can try. Not many quiet corners, though. Jamie wasn’t wrong, joking about the fire marshal. This place is packed.”

He maneuvered me until we found ourselves in a darkened corner of the club, still surrounded by people but using our firemen bulk to work our way to the wall. A waitress came past and offered champagne flutes, and I downed one immediately and took a second. AJ eyed me as the waitress handed one to him, and he thanked her.

Our phones buzzed in unison again, and I let out a harsh laugh. Casey and Emily had sent a picture of the two of them in the back of a cab.

Just to me, Emily also texted:

Ems: We’re heading out. Don’t overthink things, just have fun. Who knows, we might do the same.

AJ flashed his phone at me. “Looks like we’re the last men standing. Just you and me, like old times.” He looked like he was going to say something else but shook his head instead.

“What?”

“Bro code? If you want, we could …” He looked around as we would have any other time we were in a club full of scantily clad women. “If you wanted. But no, forget I said that.” He was bumbling and flustered, his face turning visibly splotched. I could see it even in the dark corner we had found ourselves in. “I know you’re not interested … You’re not doing that anymore. I didn’t mean to … to put pressure on you or whatever. It just came out; It’s like I’m on autopilot. Sorry, man.”

This was a version of AJ I had never seen. He was all nervous energy and darting eyes. I hated it.

“Bro code, bro,” I returned, though the bro felt odd on my tongue. “We could see what’s out there for you.” I hesitated before saying, “I don’t mind,” because I really hated lying to my best friend. But it wasn’t wholly untrue; I didn’t want to mind, and I didn’t want AJ not to find a hookup if that’s what he wanted. I just hated the thought of him with someone else.

He thought about it. Like, I could see the cogs turning before he finally said, “Fuck that. Let’s get out of here.” I took the lead, and he grasped my bicep this time as we worked our way back upstairs to collect our jackets. I inquired about the bill for our table though I hadn’t ever sat there and was told that Emily had taken care of it. I closed my tab with the bartender and clocked his look when he saw the generous tip. He nodded at me appreciatively and smiled before looking back and forth from me to AJ, after which he quickly went back to wiping off the counter.

We worked our way back downstairs and out of the club, AJ holding onto me the whole time. I glanced over my shoulder and saw he had his phone out. The thought of what was on mine burned a hole in my pocket. Here we were in a new year; it was definitely time, well past time, that I tried a new thing. Maybe it was time to come clean to my friend as well.

The cold hit me immediately as the doors of the club opened out onto a frigid night. It was a harsh change from the heat of the packed club. AJ dropped my arm as we walked through the frame, but the sidewalk was so crowded with revelers that he grasped me once more, his big hand forming a strong grip on my upper arm as we stood side by side, me looking down at his hand, him looking at something on his phone.

“Do you want to crash at mine?” When I didn’t respond right away, I sensed him looking up first at my face, then down to see what I was staring at. He retracted his hand like I was a four-alarm blaze and tried to play the move off like he needed to type on his phone.

“A cab or rideshare might take a while, but I think the subway would be insanity right now. What do you say?”

I nodded absently, and he tapped on his phone.

“Not too bad. Twenty minutes. Blue sedan.”