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She gave me a big smile and waved it off. “Anyway, it’s Suzi’s last day, so we’re out celebrating and saying ’bye.” She faked a pout in Suzi’s direction, or in what I assumed was the direction of whoever the hell Suzi was. I didn’t know any of the females currently drooling over Ryan.
“Where were you ladies before this?” Ryan asked them.
Thankful for the distraction, I tried to pull myself together and failed miserably. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, unable to breathe, every second feeling like the life was being choked out of me.
How the hell was I going to get out of this? How could I explain this to Claudia? This wasn’t how I wanted her to find out.
When Shelby said, “We were at Don Tequila’s, the Mexican place down the street,” I almost lost my dinner. She and her friends had just been three doors down from where Claudia and I had been eating dinner.
What the hell had I been thinking? My heart made me careless, foolish even.
“Let me guess. Pitchers of margaritas?” Ryan winked, his tone flirty as he chatted with the group. They all laughed as Shelby made her way behind the bar and tugged on my arm.
I looked down at her and forced a smile. “You okay?”
“Yeah, but I might be a little drunk,” she admitted before covering her face with her hands.
“That’s okay, babe,” I said as she fell into me, wrapping her arms around my middle and pulling me tight against her.
“I still love you, you know,” she said, her breath warm against my chest. She tightened her grip and I hugged her harder in response, but didn’t say anything. “I know things are weird between us, but I still want to be with you.” Her tone was desperate, as though she knew I didn’t want this anymore, as if she’d sensed it somehow but had been keeping it all inside.
I swallowed hard, everything around me blurring. I didn’t want to say the words back to her, fought them from coming out of my mouth, the lie bitter on my tongue. So I kissed the top of her he
ad, absentmindedly rubbing the length of her back as I stayed silent.
“You don’t.” She pulled back slightly to look me in the eye. “You don’t feel the same anymore, do you?”
Her slightly unfocused eyes reflected her sadness, and my stomach twisted. This was a worst-case scenario, not at all how I wanted any of this to go down. Yes, a conversation about our future needed to be had, but not in the bar, and not while she was drunk. And most certainly not with an audience.
I opened my mouth to say something, but I had no idea what.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Claudia moving toward us. I hadn’t looked at her since that first time, too scared that her hurt expression might tear me apart. But I couldn’t stop myself this time. She was too close. And while I worried for only a second that she might cause a scene, something inside me trusted that she wouldn’t.
I looked directly at Claudia, and my breath caught. I half wondered if Shelby felt me stiffen as she followed suit, staring at the woman I’d been secretly falling for behind her back. Claudia’s eyes were tear-filled but furious, shooting daggers. She paused for only a moment before she all but sprinted from the bar.
Shelby looked up at me. “Who was that?”
Thank God, Ryan immediately jumped in.
“Be right back.” He slapped me on the back and handed me the drink shaker before bolting out after Claudia to handle what I so clearly couldn’t. If there was a Brother of the Year award, he should win it for how he handled that moment.
“Another of Ryan’s groupies, I guess? She looked really upset. I wonder why?”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t.
A Girlfriend?!
Claudia
Squeezing my eyes shut, I repeated the word no in my head at least twenty times. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way that I had fallen for a guy who wasn’t available. Frank hadn’t just deceived me. There was no way he had a girlfriend . . . was there? Everything had been going so well, until . . .
I shook my head and wiped at my eyes as I stumbled through the night in search of my car. Alone. Because that woman who had come into the bar with her friends had definitely been Frank’s girlfriend.
I’d watched as she wrapped her arms around his waist like he belonged to her. Seen her press her lips against his like they were hers to claim. And I’d definitely taken note of how Frank had refused to look at me after she arrived, knowing that he’d been caught, knowing that I’d need answers.
I fought off the sickness that threatened to rise from my stomach at the memory of it all. Had it been cowardly of me to race out of the bar instead of confronting him? The thought had only crossed my mind before I realized that I’d only be making a fool of myself. And Frank had done that enough for both of us already.
“Claudia!”
