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“This isn’t your place, Carter, remember.”
I took my brother’s advice. Sitting back down, I tried hard to turn my attention to what the guys were talking about, but my mind and focus were only on her. I watched her walk into the washroom, her eyes red and her face streaked with tears. I kept my eyes on him: Trent King. We had grown up together, but now he was just a conceited, rich boy instead of my best friend.
“Carter? Carter? Are you going to join the people at this table tonight?” Derek said, snapping his fingers in my face.
I turned my attention back to the guys and smiled. “Sorry, guys. I guess I have other things on my mind tonight.”
Derek and Phil looked at one another and smiled then excused themselves from the table to go and talk to a couple of women at the bar. Hunter sat there staring at me. “Carter, don’t do this to yourself, man.”
“Do what?”
“I can see it written all over you. You want her.”
“Nope, you’re wrong, but I’m not going to sit by and watch her be treated like shit either.”
“Just admit it to yourself. Stop fighting it. If you want her, go get her.”
I looked over and saw that Trent was now standing. He said something and then slammed his fist on the table again, but this time he took off toward the door, leaving her there crying.
Hunter looked in the direction of her table and then back at me. I watched Trent as he shoved his way through a few people that were in his way and pushed the door open, shoving two more girls to the side who were on their way in.
“Are you going to go make sure she is okay?”
I looked over. Tears were streaming down her beautiful face. “You guys good?” I heard Mike ask.
“Bring me two beers, please.” I kept my eyes on her. She wiped her cheeks and looked around the room, one of the waitresses stopping to check on her and make sure she was okay. I watched as Hope nodded, grabbing her hand and giving a weak smile, the waitress finally leaving her. Mike set both beers in front of me, clearing off the few empties we had accumulated already. I excused myself, taking both beers with me. “I’ll be back.”
As I approached her table, I tried to blow off the anger that was inside of me. I stopped beside her table. She had kept her head down so she hadn’t seen me coming. “Want a beer?”
She didn’t look up. “No, thank you,” she mumbled.
“I think it may be needed.” I sat down across from her and held the bottle in front of her, waiting for her to take it.
She looked up. Her blue eyes were bloodshot. “Carter?”
“You all right?” I asked.
She slowly reached across the table and took the bottle from my hand, her fingers grazing mine. “Thank you. I’ll be fine.”
“Care to tell me what that was all about?”
“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.” I took a drink of my beer, watching her.
“He’s an asshole,” she mumbled, and I watched as the bottle met her lips. “Thank you for the beer.”
“I’m going to agree with you on that. What happened?”
“We broke up before I moved here. He wanted me to go back with him to speak with my parents. I have nothing to say to them or to him, so he got angry.”
Relief washed over me now that she had verified they had split. “I see, well since you aren’t going to follow him, how about you stay and spend some time with me and my friends tonight?” I nodded in their direction. I already knew they were watching us. I could feel their eyes on the back of my head. I glanced at my watch; it was already seven. “We’ll grab some food and then we can spend the night dancing. Could be a fun night.” I winked at her.
“I guess.” She smiled.
“All right, well wipe those tears away. Let’s go. I’m not going to dance with a mess. You’re much prettier when you smile.” We stood, and I placed my hand on her lower back, guiding her over to where the guys were sitting.
Hope
