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I try to focus my attention on Gwen as she chatters away, but I can’t. She doesn’t feel right in my arms at all. She feels foreign and unnatural. My body aches to get away from her, to wrap myself up in Claire.
“You know, you can shift your hands a little lower,” Gwen purrs in my ear. “I don’t mind.”
I’m about to tell her I’m good here and that maybe we should take a break, when her hands drop to mine, pressing them flat on her waist, dragging them over her hips, settling them on her ass. Naturally—because I really fucked myself here—this is the exact moment Claire’s roaming gaze lands on us.
I rip my hands off Gwen. She grabs my face and pulls down, smashing her lips against mine.
I bounce backwards, hands in the air.
“Claire! Claire, come back!”
“I’m leaving,” a broken voice chokes out.
I spin frantically, watching Claire hurry past us.
Charlee halts in front of me, jabbing a hard finger into my chest. Charlee’s usually so happy and friendly. Right now, she’s anything but, probably because, above all, she’s fiercely protective of the people she loves. “You’re acting like a jerk! What the hell are you doing, Avery? Do you get pleasure in making her cry?”
“Cry?” I turn, searching desperately for Claire. I can’t find her. “I didn’t mean…I mean…” I tug at my hair. “Fuck, I was just trying to get her to realize that she has feelings for me.” I gesture at Gwen haphazardly. “I was just trying to make her jealous.”
“What?” Gwen fumes.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize sincerely. “I’m so sorry. It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have ever asked you to come here tonight.”
Charlee shoves my chest with both hands. “She doesn’t need you to do this to make her realize it! She already knows exactly how she feels about you! Newsflash: she feels pretty fucking seriously about you.”
I blink. Once. Twice. “What?”
Charlee throws her arms up in the air and makes an irritated, furious noise. “Are you kidding me? First of all, it’s plain as day how she feels about you. Second of all, she talks about you all the time. All. The. Fucking. Time.” She punctuates each word with the sharp jab of her finger. “She’s just been terrified that you’re going to hurt her!” Charlee gives her head a soft shake, her voice dropping to a heartbreaking volume. “And it looks like she was right all along. Congratulations, Avery. You hurt someone whose heart was already broken.”
“No, Charlee, I didn’t mean to.” I shake my head rapidly. “Please, I—”
“You didn’t mean to?” One hand on her hip, the other rubs at her temple. “How did you think this was going to play out, Avery? I mean, really.” Her unrelenting disappointment in me right now has me more ashamed than I’ve ever been. I deserve it all.
“She told me…I mean, you heard her. She told me she didn’t want me. She told me to see other people. I don’t want anyone but her.” If I sound destroyed right now, it’s because I am.
“For the record, Avery, she came here tonight to tell you how she feels and that she wants to be with you. She was so excited. She was going to tell you last night, but she had—” she coughs, looking slightly guilty, “—a little too much to drink. It might’ve taken her a while to get here, but all things considered, I think she did pretty well. She knew she made a mistake, and she wanted to make it right, own up to her feelings.”
“She really wants to be with me?” I grab Charlee’s hands, feeling hopeful for the first time since Claire walked in here. I pull her in, her gaze drifting over my expression, assessing me.
“Is this really happening right now?” It’s Gwen. She’s still standing here, listening to everything. “Avery’s with me, not her!”
Charlee rolls her eyes at her. “Oh, fuck off, Gwen. Haven’t you heard a single word of this conversation? He’s taken.” She yanks her hands free from my grasp and pops two fists on her hips. “You want her, Avery, you better fix this. Fix it now.”
“Yes. Okay.” I nod about a hundred times. “I will. I’ll fix it.”
I spin, looking for the exit. We’ve got a bit of a crowd gathered around us now, most of them looking anxious. Wyatt’s jaw ticks while he scrubs the back of his neck. I point at him. “Worst advice you’ve ever given me. I don’t know why I listened to you.”
He throws up his hands, managing to look both guilty and innocent all at once. “Man, I don’t fucking know! I don’t have a girlfriend! I don’t know how this shit works.”
Sophie chuckles and pats his arm affectionately. “It’s true. He doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body. Avery, go get your girl.”
Dex wraps his hand around my arm, his expression and tone laced with warning. “You better fix this, Beck. I warned you.”
“I will.” A promise I have every single intention of keeping. I look to my date. “I’m truly sorry, Gwen. What I did was wrong. Wyatt, can you make sure she gets home tonight?”
I catch Wyatt’s curt nod while Gwen seethes, “Don’t you dare think about coming back to the restaurant unless you’re ready to grovel at my feet.”
Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, but I’m not about to keep this conversation going and longer than necessary. “Understood,” I throw over my shoulder, heading for the door.
