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CHAPTERNINE
Kate
Asalty sea breeze wafts through the sports bar we’ve been hanging out in for the last two hours. Big-screen TVs hang from the center ceiling, shuffling through reruns of baseball games from the States—courtesy of the owner who was once a US citizen.
“Can I get you anything else?” our waiter asks.
Aakesh, already drunk, manages to clap the man’s back. “We’re all good, buddy.”
The round table we’re sitting around is piled high with discarded food baskets and empty beer bottles. It’s a good thing I’m not trying to watch my figure, because after an evening of vigorous volleyball, all I wanted was to eat and then eat some more.
Damon—no longer bleeding—sits to my left, keeping the hands and limbs I got a little too familiar with today to himself, while Walter occupies my right.
For all my blustering about needing a vacation free of the male species, here I sit surrounded by them.
It’s actually kind of nice chatting about nothing important and just living in the moment.
Vedant and Bryce chat idly about something I can’t quite make out, while me, Walter, and Damon argue over a heavily debated topic.
“Cold, gloopy, jelly honestly just ruins the entire thing,” I say, scrunching my nose.
Damon slaps the table. “Gloopy isn’t even a word. And you’re really trying to convince me that smashing two pieces of plain bread together with only peanut butter between them is enjoyable?”
I smile, casually rolling my beer bottle in a circle on the table before raising it to my lips. “Very.”
Damon’s eyes follow the swallowing motion of my throat when I take a sip. He’s been doing that ever since we sat down—just… watching me.
Not full on, like he’s staring through my soul Edward Cullen style, but in a subtle way that spreads warmth along the buzz flitting through my veins.
He slides his unfinished basket of fries toward me, not bothering to spare me a glance as Walter carries on.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree there, Kate.”
I jab a stolen french fry toward his empty food basket. “You ate an entire steak sandwich with zero condiments!”
Aakesh leans across the table, shamelessly interrupting our debate. “So, Kate. You don’t happen to have a man hanging out around here anywhere, do you?”
He quirks an eyebrow suggestively, and I snort when Bryce smacks the back of his head.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What?” He shrugs before falling back into his seat. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
I laugh lightly before turning to Damon.
Careful curiosity lies in his gaze.
“Nope. No man for me.” I take another sip of beer. “In fact, after my last relationship, I needed to get so far away from men that I left the country.”
“It’s going well, I see,” Damon drawls.
Think I’ll blame the shiver crawling up my spine on the chill from the beer.
Walter nods at the TV hanging over the center of the bar. “Aw, shit.”
I glance up, smiling wide at the start of last year’s World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros.
“What a win by the Braves,” I say, tipping my drink to the screen.
