AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nope. Fine. Thanks.” She turned back to talk to Lucas, leaving me feeling dismissed.
The cold shoulder hurt. I stood there for a few more seconds. She must have wanted to make sure there was no hint of us being close at all.
I greeted everyone else, handing out bro hugs to Sean and Brian and giving Nicole a side hug. I was caught off guard by a full-body hug from Anna. She’d thrown herself into my arms, her breath already sharp with alcohol. She smacked a kiss onto my cheek. I resisted the urge to scrub at my cheek with my fingers.
“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she said. “Everyone else is so boring.”
If I could have brought myself to be a little more of a dick, I would have pointed out that even if I hadn’t been in a relationship, I would never have been interested in her.
She was the exact type of woman that would cause trouble. The type of woman I’d avoided since Katelyn.
“Hey, man,” Brian said, coming up beside me. “Wanna go halves with me on a round of shots?”
“Yeah, I’m okay with that.”
Brian made an announcement and rounded everyone up by the bar. Everyone ordered what they wanted, and Anna stayed glued to my side. I hoped Sav would come over, stake her claim even if she couldn’t say as much, and discourage Anna from flirting with me. But she stayed close to Lucas.
She glared in my direction every few minutes, glares I thought were directed at Anna but I couldn’t be completely sure.
Brian made a toast to the happy couple, wishing them a successful wedding and a happy life. We raised our drinks and took the shot. My whiskey went down smooth, and I licked my lips to savor the taste.
“A whiskey man,” Anna said. “Rugged. I like that.”
She kept leaning too close and bumping into me, forcing me to take little steps away. I didn’t know if she had a drinking problem or just couldn’t take a hint, but I was in no mood to be pawed at.
She put her empty shot glass down on the bar. “Butterscotch schnapps for me.”
I tried to make actual conversation with her since she obviously wasn’t going away anytime soon. “I don’t know how you can drink that,” I said, my mouth puckering at the memory from when I was nineteen and tried it for the first time. “Too sweet.”
“I know I am, but what are you,” she said with a giggle. She ran her fingertip down the line of buttons on the front of my shirt and leaned toward me, lifting up on her toes like she might try to kiss me.
That was enough for me. I grabbed her hand, gently but firmly. “Stop.”
Nicole turned her head toward us, but I held onto Anna’s hand to keep her from grabbing at my shirt or moving any closer.
“Sorry,” she said, finally realizing that she’d overstepped. She looked like she might cry.
I looked toward where Sav and Lucas had been talking, but he stood there alone.
“Just . . . drink some water, okay? It’s early yet.”
That was as much comfort as I could muster for her. I made my way to Lucas through the crowd. “Where’d she go?”
He gestured over his shoulder. “Outside.”
I found her behind the bar in a seating area filled with picnic tables. Sav was seated alone at one of them, scrolling through her phone.
“Sav? Everything okay?”
She glanced up from her phone but didn’t answer.
I didn’t think she could glare harder, but she did. She would have set me on fire with those eyes if she had the power. I wanted to make her feel better, but I needed to know the problem first. I couldn’t fix it if she didn’t let me in.
“Sure, if by okay you mean how I’m starting to feel like a dirty little secret.”
I sat and took one of her hands. “I don’t like keeping our relationship a secret, either. You know that, don’t you?”
She wasn’t glaring anymore, but she didn’t answer me, either.
