Page 128 of Show Me

“Don’t do that.”

Her brows lift. “Do what?”

A muscle in my jaw twitches. “You know what I mean.”

“Dancing?” She flips her hair over her shoulder in a blur of bouncing curls. “In a bar?”

“With him.” I tip my head toward the dance floor. I know the guy. He’s not what I’d consider a friend, but he’s not a bad guy. Ruby could do worse. My hands ball into fists. Her stalker could be anyone—even this Derek guy.

“With someone who asked.”

The tips of my fingernails cut into my palms. “You think this is a good idea right now?”

Her head tilts. “Right now?”

“With everything going on,” I say. Her obtuseness is about to make me snap. “Someone’s been in your yard, your house–”

“We’re casual, remember? That’s what we’ve both said. I’m not yours to worry about,” she says.

“This is about your safety.”

“We’re friends.” Her gaze hits the wall behind me. “Nothing more.” Her brow furrows as she tilts her head. “Maybe we aren’t even that.” The lines go deeper. “Were we ever friends?”

The hallway feels smaller. Hotter.

“That’s bullshit. Of course, we’re friends. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand here and–” I cut myself off, jaw tightening.

She watches me, something flickering there she doesn’t let settle. “You don’t get to be angry. You don’t get to rewrite the rules because you don’t like how they feel.”

I don’t answer. Because she’s right. I don’t have a say in what she does, even with the stalker. If she wants me to go, there’s no argument I can give. And then, she’d be easier prey.

She shifts her weight, stepping toward the opening. I move without thinking. Just enough that she has to pass me.

For a moment, it looks like she’s going to brush my shoulder. Like she always does. Like it’s nothing. At the last second, she angles away. Not far. Just enough. No contact. It lands harder than if she’d shoved me.

“I’m going back to my friends.” Her voice is flat. Controlled. No underlying emotion. “You should too.”

She doesn’t wait. Doesn’t look back. She disappears into the music, the noise, the laughter of people enjoying themselves. I stay where I am. Hands still curled. Jaw tight.

The echo of that almost-contact sits wrong under my skin. I push off the wall after a second, slower than I should, forcing myself back toward the bar.

Back into the noise. Back into something I can pretend is normal. It doesn’t feel that way anymore.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Ruby

The music hits me the second I walk back into the bar. Louder. Brighter. Too much. And I have no desire to remain here. I love my girlfriends, but they’re in relationships. In love. I don’t belong here with them. Hell, I don’t belong with anyone.

Weight drags me down as I maneuver through the tables back to my friends. Being in another man’s arms when Xavier came into the bar shouldn’t have meant anything. But it did. I felt wrong. Guilty.

I thought he might march across the room and drag me away from Derek. He didn’t. Even when I confronted him and allowed him to change things, he didn’t.

Bella looks up first. “You good?”

Emily doesn’t say anything. Just watches. The EMT in her is always gauging things. Monitoring for symptoms as if my breaking heart will show up outside of my body.

I slide back into the booth, reaching for my drink. “I’m fine.”