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“Well, you’re talking to the guy from the goat-fucking farm,” A.J chimed in. “That kind of thing’s not weird for him at all.”
Dwyer frowned in confusion at the guys teaming up on him. I braced myself for him to hit back and argue till my cover was sufficiently blown. Instead, his brows pinched as he blinked. I could see the poor guy questioning his own brain before finally shrugging.
“I’m shitfaced. One more whiskey and I’ll be kissing A.J.”
Everyone laughed, including Riley. Forcing a grin onto my lips, I watched her, trying desperately to read her. My pulse spiked for a second when she caught my eye and held my stare, but in a second, she was back to shrieking with laughter, fantasizing with Dwyer about their married life on a goat farm.
“Don’t mind me, just having a heart attack here,” Aria came over to whisper in my ear.
I exhaled. “Tell me about it.”
“Bright side is we’re all a couple rounds away from not remembering this night.” Aria held up her glass. “Here’s to alcohol poisoning, right?”
“Totally.”
“By the way, tell Liam to stop undressing you with his eyes. I know to look for it, but eventually, Riley’s gonna notice too.”
“Noted. Thank you.” Trying to relax, I gave her a grin. “By the way, Aria Rutkowski sounds nice.”
“Let’s be real, it does not. Sasha Cage, however…” she smirked as I shook my head at her. “Can you imagine the fuckery that would be our weddings?”
I bit back a dorky grin. I was drunk, so I let myself entertain the fantasy. “It would be this madness times a hundred,” I said as I leaned back into Aria’s hug, both of us gazing out at our boys and their general ridiculousness. We snorted as A.J officiated an arm-wrestling match at the bar, which ended with Max pounding Dwyer’s hand down so hard their shot glasses fell over.
“You got this, baby!” Aria cheered as Max and A.J then went at it for a solid minute before Dwyer slapped Max’s ass to cost him the win.
With Liam and A.J up in the final round, I chewed my lip, wishing I could openly root for my man the way Aria was. It actually hurt to hold back the drunken love and pride bursting for him in my chest as I watched Liam dominate the whole three minutes, his bicep flexing desperately against his sleeve, the outline of his muscled lats showing under his shirt. The view sparked the visible lust of even the married girls in the room, and it had me absolutely dying with the need to just jump on Liam’s powerful body and proudly claim him as mine.
When he finally slammed A.J’s hand onto the bar, I burst off my chair to cheer. A victory snarl ripped from his lips before he turned his gleaming eyes to me and grinned. Surrounded by our raucous friends, I tried to convey the millions of emotions I felt for him in with just my eyes, but before I knew it, he was flanked by the single girls in the room, the three of them sidling up, flirting and helping themselves to long strokes of his muscle. Once again, Aria pretended to retch.
“The single ones always turn this place into a petting zoo after enough booze,” she snorted, watching with me as Liam graciously removed one of the girls’ hands as she tried to give him a massage. “Good lord. Even I kind of hate watching this. I don’t know how you do it, girl,” she murmured just before A.J whisked her off somewhere.
* * *
By midnight, we were set to head off to Muse Room, the downtown lounge we continued the party at every year. I excused myself to the bathroom as the guys did their usual dance of calling cars and figuring out who’d go in which. Taking a deep breath, I flipped my hair in the mirror. I needed a minute to cool off, having spent the past four hours dodging Liam’s touch despite craving it like a drug. Resisting him had to qualify as an Olympic sport because it physically tired me like nothing else. My body ached from defying itself, from forcing itself to obey my brain. I had thought that over time, it would get easier for Liam and me to live our lie, but that wasn’t quite since every day, I just wanted him more.
It didn’t help that tonight his attention never left me. I thought that as he drank and hung out with his friends, it would naturally fade. And I wouldn’t be hurt. Booze with your boys was generally an easy recipe for mildly neglected girlfriends.
But not with Liam.
Throughout the night, I kept turning to find his gaze already lingering on me. And whenever I caught him, there was no repentance. He didn’t grin sheepishly or look away. He adjusted his dick or let his eyes dip to my legs or did something to remind me that if it were his choice, he’d have his arms around me – all over me. Right then and there. So many times, I was mid-sentence when I looked over to find myself being stripped naked by those emerald eyes. It pissed me off and it turned me on. In short, it drove me insane.
“I fucking miss you,” Liam murmured in my ear when we found ourselves both at the bar. “The second we’re alone tonight, I’m wrapping those beautiful legs around my neck.”
“Fine,” I smirked. “When we’re alone.”
His response was a wicked grin that I recalled as I fixed my hair in the bathroom mirror. There was a hot little twitch under my skin telling me that right at this second, Liam was outside looking for me. I chewed my lip, both hoping and fearing that he’d find me in the bathroom.
“Alright, first car’s here!”
From the dining room, I heard A.J’s voice start directing our friends into cars. The restaurant was emptying out. I bit my lip. I knew I should go outside, but another part of me feared opening the door.
Because now, I knew in my heart and my bones Liam was waiting behind it.
Only his presence was magnetic enough to be felt through the walls. Only he cast such a spell on me that my body could sense when he was near. I wanted to tell myself I was crazy – that I was overestimating our connection. I wanted to tell myself that Liam wasn’t there at all.
But I knew he was.
“Hurry up, guys! Let’s go, let’s go!”
