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“Hey, man, what can I get you?” The bartender, Decker, stops to stand in front of Spencer.
“A refill for the ladies and another round for the table,” he tells him.
“Coming right up.” Decker’s eyes flow over to Adeline, and he winks at her before he gets busy filling Spencer’s order.
“Maybe you should focus on making sure your best friend gets here and less on buying me a drink.”
“He’s on his way.” A dark look passes over his face.
“That.” I point at him. I’m a little buzzed, but not so much that I didn’t notice the change in him. “What’s that about?”
“Nothing.”
“You can’t bullshit me, Spencer. What is that look?”
He sighs and leans his elbows on the bar. His dark brown eyes study me, and I can see what appears to be a storm brewing. “He should fucking be here. He should have been the first one of us to arrive. I hate that Audrey is doing this shit on her own.” His tone of voice, although low, is just for the two of us. I can hear that he truly is pissed at his best friend.
I’m not sure what to do with that. I don’t know this side of Spencer. He’s never let me see this part of him before in all the years I’ve known him.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I agree with you,” I mutter before downing the rest of my drink.
He leans in close, his lips a breath from mine. “Just the beginning, beautiful Charlie.”
“What?” I pull my head back. He’s close. Too close.
“I’m wearing you down. First, it’s you agreeing with me, telling me I’m right. Next, it will be dinner and drinks, and then, maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get to pet your kitty,” he says. His deep voice is low and husky, and damn him, my panties are ruined.
“You have a cat?” Liam asks, walking up to join the conversation. “I thought you were allergic?”
Spencer stands to his full height and, if I’m not mistaken, takes a step closer to me. “How in the hell do you know she’s allergic to cats?” he asks. His tone is different, commanding. “And what are you doing? I told you I was buying us another round.”
“You took too long,” Liam replies easily. “And Audrey told me she was allergic.”
“Here you go.” Decker is back with our drinks. He serves Adeline and me first, then slides four bottles toward Spencer as he hands over his card to pay.
“Thank you for the drink, Spence,” Adeline says with a kind smile.
“You’re welcome,” he tells her, but his eyes are on me.
Ugh. I hate the thought of having to thank him for anything, but I do so begrudgingly. “Thank you for the drink, Spencer.” I refuse to shorten his name. That admits that there’s a level of familiarity between us that’s not there. We’re acquaintances at best. College rivals, who’ve been thrown into this situation by my sister and his best friend. That’s all that we will ever be.
“Your pleasure is mine, Charlie.” He winks, grabs his bottle of beer, and follows Liam back to their table.
“Damn,” Adeline mutters.
“What?” I turn to look at her, thankful that it’s dark in the bar and she can’t see the flush on my pale cheeks, and if she does, hopefully, she chalks it up to the alcohol I’ve consumed.
“I could feel the sparks from here.”
“Sparks?” I raise my eyebrows like I have no idea what she’s talking about. It’s lies. All lies because I felt those sparks too. I still feel them deep in my core, but I refuse to acknowledge them. I’m shutting this shitshow down.
“He’s into you.”
“He’s into women.”
“Last I heard, you were a woman,” she teases.
“You know what I mean. There is nothing special about me to Spencer Pennington. I’m a challenge for him. Everything always comes easy to him. I turned him down the first day of freshman year, and he’s been a pain in my ass ever since.”
