AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She's a person,” he says icily.
“A rock star groupie?” He laughs.
“I am not!” I snap.
“Avery is not a groupie.” The room quiets as Bryn's voice rises. His building anger is obvious and I try to hold Bryn's hand to calm him, but he drags it away.
“Right. Sure. Of course she’s not.”
“I think you should be quiet now,” says Bryn stepping closer to him.
Liam appears and tightens a hand on Bryn's shoulder. “What's going on, guys?”
“They're fighting over the girl,” says another woman Cas stands with.
For the first time, I take in the other people around, the woman’s strong Essex accent reminding me I've seen her on a reality TV show. Her brown hair extensions and thick orange make-up, coupled with the over the top, tight, shiny blue dress makes Mia’s fashion sense look subdued. To be honest, and if I'm really bitchy, she looks like a transvestite.
Nobody introduces us but she strokes a French-nailed hand along Cas’s grey shirt sleeve. “Darling, maybe you should slow down.”
I gape. Are they a couple? She may have a perfectly smooth brow and expertly applied make-up but this woman is older than Cas’s early twenties. A lot older. Look at a woman's hands—always a giveaway.
I wait for a Bryn throwaway comment to diffuse the situation, but it doesn't come. Silence falls so heavily it drowns everything else around.
“What happened to the hot chick you were with?” continues Cas. “The heiress. Weren't you an item?”
“No, and I think you should shut the fuck up, now.”
In his drunken state, Cas appears oblivious to Bryn’s growing anger. “I don’t understand why you guys keep choosing ordinary girls. Unless they have talents I’m unaware of. Maybe I should follow your example.”
Cas winks at me and instantaneously Bryn shoves him in the chest. “I said, shut the fuck up.”
As Cas stumbles, I grab Bryn’s arm, pulling him back from his attempt to move closer to the obnoxious dickhead. “Don’t.”
“Bryn, man, keep things calm,” says Liam and the concern on his face worries me.
This is a side of Bryn I didn’t expect. I suspected something deeper and more emotional ran below Bryn’s surface, but not a quick temper. Warily, I pull Bryn closer and he looks around, mouth tight. “Bryn. It doesn’t matter.”
Bryn steps back and winds his arm around my waist. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fine. Honestly.” He pulls me closer and I almost stumble, before detaching myself. I may be shy but I don't need this turning into a ‘big man protecting the little woman’ situation.
And I can't be here; look what I caused.
“Please don't make this worse. I'm not bothered,” I whisper to Bryn. “Can we go?”
“We just got here. Don't let him spoil our night.”
“I'm not in the mood anymore. This was a mistake.”
Cas stares past us, confrontation forgotten in the haze of his drunken evening. “Gonna use your facilities,” he says to Cerys and walks unsteadily out of the room.
“Dickhead,” I mutter. “Excuse me.”
Aware everybody in the room witnessed the incident and is watching me, I stalk out of the room and back into the kitchen. Bryn follows and hovers behind me as I fill a glass of water. I turn and drink with shaking hands. The anger remains on his face until he notices the stress on mine and he switches to concern.
“Cariad…” Bryn's term of endearment, the way he looks at me in the way Cerys mentioned, the experience of the last few minutes, conspire and I’m hit me with tears. Annoyed at my reaction, I blink and hope Bryn doesn't see.
“Shit.” Bryn crosses and catches a tear with his forefinger. “Don't let that fucker upset you.”
