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As soon as we reached the top of the stairs it seemed like we were surrounded by a horde of guys dressed in varying costumes. Lucy laughed as someone told her she looked hot and pushed her long, straightened hair back from her face. It was crazy that the chick didn’t understand just how beautiful she really was.
Slowly, we made our way toward the bar. We would leave a group of guys only to be surrounded again by a new group, each one a little more daring than the last. Marcus kept his distance, but I could almost feel his tension even from the ten feet that he kept between himself and Lucy.
There were five guys in the newest group who wanted to tell Lucy and me how hot we were. Again Lucy laughed at the compliment, and taking that as a sign that she was flirting with him and wanted more attention, one of the guys took a step closer to her.
“What’s your name, beautiful?” the guy to my left asked as he moved closer to me.
“Holly,” I told him with a smirk. There was no way I was telling this tool my real name. I gave him a tight smile before turning my attention back to Lucy. The guy who was now only a few inches from her was eyeing her chest like it was a Christmas present he was dying to unwrap.
I was about to say something to send the guy and his four friends packing, when Lucy’s new ‘friend’ suddenly paled and stepped back. Turning my head in the direction he’d just glanced in, I realized quickly why he had been ready to tuck his tail and run.
Seeing Harris, Lucy forgot all about the guys calling her ‘hot,’ and hugged him. All five guys silently disappeared and I couldn’t help but laugh at how easily one deadly glare from Harris Cutter had gotten rid of the wimps who had been trying to get into our pants.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Lucy told Harris as she stepped back and did a little twirl, showing off every detail of her costume. “You like?”
From the look in his aquamarine eyes I was pretty sure Harris was about to have an aneurism of his own at the sight of Lucy all dressed up. “How the fuck did you get out of the house in that, Lu?” he demanded. “Jesse Thornton is going to kill me dead if he finds out you’re dressed like that in my club.”
Lucy grinned and hugged him again. His arms tightened around her and I saw him close his eyes as he breathed her in. “Kin helped me sneak out. As far as Daddy knows I’m dressed like a nun.” She pulled back, still grinning up at him. “Please, can we sit down? I hate these damn boots. My feet are killing me.”
Harris looked relieved that she wanted to sit down. He took her hand and held on tight as he led us to a leather couch in a back corner. My excitement for the night drained when I saw Jace was already sitting there.
Great.
I knew I would have to deal with him that night, but I’d thought he would be off finding a hookup and I wouldn’t have to see too much of him. As we grew closer I saw Jace’s eyes narrow when they skimmed over me, and I felt each touch of his eyes like a physical caress.
Harris took his place on the couch and pulled Lucy down beside him. Reaching for the zipper of her boots and pulling them off, he pulled her feet onto his lap and started rubbing her arches. The first moan of pleasure that left Lucy’s lips nearly killed him. I saw the look that crossed his face and knew it was taking everything in the poor dude not to kiss her then and there.
I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t. Was he scared of messing up their friendship?
Or was he scared of Jesse Thornton?
Either were good reasons not to touch Lucy, especially when the latter could get the dude ugly dead. Still, I knew that if he wanted Lucy he needed to man up and
just tell her or he was going to lose her. Lucy might not talk about how she felt for Harris, but she couldn’t hide it from a blind man—let alone me. If Harris cared, Lucy cared just as much if not more. I was pretty sure they were both in love with each other and, while I was happy for them, it was kind of like a kick to the chest to see them together and happy.
I’d had that once. I’d had a guy look at me like I was his everything, like I made it easier for him to fucking breathe. I’d had the soft touches and the whispers in my ear. I’d had the passion and the love.
And he’d walked away from me when I’d needed him most. Like it had been the easiest thing for him to do.
Sure, I understood why he’d done it. And sure, I agreed that he should have followed his dreams. I hadn’t wanted him to give them up for me. To have even asked him to do that would have been selfish and proved to him that I was too immature to take our relationship seriously.
I’d just wanted to mean a little more to him than anything else, and have him there to hold my hand when I buried my mother.
Now, I had to sit beside him on a leather couch like none of that had happened.
Yeah. Sure. I could do that.
Not.
Jace shifted and turned so his back was in the corner of the couch and he was half turned toward me. His left hand went along the back of the couch and I felt one of his fingers stroke over my hair. “I haven’t seen you in here much lately.”
“I had better things to do,” I lied and pulled my phone out of one of the side pockets of my cop utility belt. I brought up my messages, saw that I had missed a few from both Angie and Caleb and turned my full attention to returning them.
I was missing the twins like crazy. Talking to them and Carter every day was bittersweet. I needed to hear their voices, to share what was going on in their day-to-day lives, but it hurt every time I got off the phone with them. My entire body ached from the pain when I had to end a call. The goodbyes felt just as raw now as they had when I’d left them waving at me outside the airport as I’d gotten on the plane that had taken me three thousand miles away from them.
“I’ll have a ginger ale, please.”
My head shot up at Lucy’s voice and I realized a waitress was standing beside Harris. “Beer,” he told the girl.
