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“She okay?” One of the security men asked as we reached the entrance.
“Don’t worry, Shane, she’s a friend. I’ll make sure she gets home okay.”
“I bet you will.”
Xander tensed beside me, and I was sure I heard a muted cuss slip from his lips, but everything was spinning so fast I couldn’t be sure of anything.
“Jase is going to lose his shit when he—”
“No.” I gripped Xander’s arm tight. “You can’t tell him. Please, you can’t… I just need to sober up and then I’ll be okay.” I pulled on his arm and his hard gaze found me. “Please, Xander.”
He loosened a breath. “Come on, I have my truck around back.”
Keeping his arm tight around my waist, Xander led me around the back of the bar to the small parking lot. He opened the door and bundled me inside. My eyes felt heavy, much like my limbs.
“Thank you,” I whispered as he leaned over me to get the buckle. He looked up, his eyes darting to my mouth. Heat flashed through me, tightening my stomach. Sometimes, like right now, and when we’d been down at the lake, I swear he looked at me like he wanted to kiss me.
And I wanted him to. God, did I ever.
The air was nonexistent as Xander stared at me, but I could feel the warmth of his breath tickle my face. He inhaled sharply, shaking his head, as if to break the tension between us. Pulling away, he slammed the door shut and went around to the driver’s side, folding his body inside.
“An hour,” he grunted. “You have an hour to sober up and then I’m taking you home.”
“Well in that case, I need food,” I grumbled. “Lots and lots of food.”
* * *
Xander tookme to a drive-thru and ordered me a supersized portion of fries and a Coke. The sugar would stop me crashing, he said, and the carbs would soak up the liquor.
By the time he pulled into the shadowy parking lot, I’d already devoured half of my fries.
“What?” I said, licking the salt off my fingers. He just shook his head. “Want some?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“So who was that woman back there? Tash.” I peeked over at him. I already felt better, the world no longer spinning. But I had the makings of a gruesome hangover brewing.
“A friend.”
Okay. So he didn’t want to talk about her. It wasn’t my business who Xander spent his time with. But it didn’t stop it eating away at me. She was so pretty and put together and mature, exactly the kind of woman guys like Xander dated. The kind of woman they settled down with.
Suddenly, I didn’t feel very hungry. Closing the lid on my fries, I dumped the container in the brown paper bag.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I feel better, thank you.”
“Ready to tell me what happened tonight?”
I avoided his heavy stare. “I already told you, I was with Sean and his friends.”
“And they plied you with alcohol, got you wasted, and then, what? Abandoned you?”
“It wasn’t like that.” Shame washed over me as I remembered Sean’s advances when we’d first gotten to the bar. A hand on my knee. An arm around my shoulder. He’d broken his promise and I hadn’t taken too kindly to being ambushed. When his friend, his girlfriend, and her friend showed up, he’d backed away from me.
Now I knew why.
Xander snorted, the derisive sound making me flinch.
