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She had agreed to all that, and in return, she had gotten my loyalty and partnership. For what a farce our relationship was, I had fucked no one but Keira in the five years that we were together.
She’d kept me satisfied enough, and that was all that mattered to me.
Being just satisfied enough.
The arrangement served us seamlessly until a few months ago, when Keira confessed she hadn’t been okay with it for awhile. She wanted more. A real relationship.
And since history had proven that I wasn’t meant for that kind of thing, it ended.
“Okay, but back to what we were talking about,” Drew started as soon as the waitress left. And when he flashed that big, shit-eating grin at me, I barely tried to mask my annoyance, because it was clear that he’d been holding onto this topic, waiting to interrogate me about it. “If it isn’t Keira, who are seeing right now? Because you’re clearly seeing someone.”
“‘Clearly’?” I repeated dubiously. “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know? The fact that you met her at a hotel the other day? And you have no reason to stay at a hotel in the city because you’re a creature of habit who prefers his apartment?” Drew said. “Plus, you’re in a genuinely good mood today.” He paused and laughed. “Well, at least you were till now.”
“I don’t know, Drew. It could be the fact that I just finalized a major contract extension an hour ago.”
“Yeah, that’s not it,” Drew hit back fast, shooting me a dull look, as if I’d just insulted his intelligence. “Dude, I’ve been your client for how long? I know the difference between a just-signed-the-contract mood and whatever the hell this is now. Whatever this is, I’ve never seen it before. You just seem… baby, what was the word you used before?” Drew squinted at Evie, who went quickly from wiping Kai’s mouth to shooting him a death glare. She let it sink in with him for half a second before turning to me with a look of apology.
“Okay, first of all, he’s making it seem like I was talking behind your back, but I wasn’t, I just… casually observed that you seemed a little different today,” she said, her voice getting suddenly so high-pitched I had to suppress a smile. “Like, more relaxed than usual, but also more… lively than usual? Than we’ve ever seen you really, and I just mentioned it to Drew when you went to the bathroom—in passing—and that’s it. I wasn’t gossiping.”
“She was gossiping.”
Evie smacked Drew for the comment but I laughed.
“It’s fine,” I said, and judging from the way they both instantly quieted and looked eagerly at me, they were waiting for me to reveal or confirm something on the topic
of my dating life. But I said nothing further and Drew groaned to the skies.
“Oh, come on, just tell us who she is. I’m obviously going to have to meet her at some point so I can give my approval.”
“I assure you, if I were dating someone, Drew, I wouldn’t seek your approval on it.”
“The fuck? Well, that’s a double standard.”
Evie and I snorted. “Yeah, a necessary one,” she said, smirking at Drew and trying to shoot him a look. But instead of a look, she wound up giving him eyes so flirty I looked away to give them privacy. “We all know what Drew Maddox’s dating history looked like before Iain made you move me in.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Drew conceded, failing to feign exasperation through the sound of his audible content.
Across the room, the waitress motioned to ask if I wanted another beer, and I nodded. But from my peripherals, I could see Drew bouncing Kai in his lap as he leaned over to give Evie a kiss, and quietly, I berated myself for taking the moment as an excuse to think again about Holland’s lips.
It had been just this morning that she’d kissed me, but it already felt like ages ago.
I grimaced, pulled so immediately deep into the memory that I was almost grateful when Drew started talking again.
“Okay, so at least tell me this,” he persisted, holding his hands up like this was going to be his last question. “This girl you may or may not be seeing… is she the girl Watt was talking about in the training room awhile back?”
I paused, somehow forgetting entirely about Shane Watt and the fact that he’d spotted Holland before me that night.
“Oh, shit,” Drew said when I took more than a second to respond. “It totally was. Wait, so who is she? Is she the reason you broke it off with Keira?” he asked as I kept a stoic face, fully prepared to shut down this whole discussion.
But just then my phone started ringing and both Drew and my eyes dropped down to the screen. Upon spotting the name lighting it, I grabbed hold of my phone, swiftly ignoring the call and turning it face down on the table.
But judging from the look of sheer delight on Drew’s face, the damage was already done. His eyebrows were doing that stupid wiggle, and he looked beyond smug as he said her name in a drawn out singsong.
“Camila, huh?” he grinned. “So that’s the mystery woman.”
I said nothing in reply, only drawing my hand across my jaw and feeling it tighten under my palm.
