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“Aw, buddy,” Lex said, squeezing my shoulder and rubbing on it. “It’s your birthday. We haven’t even gotten started.”
Yeah. That’s what I was afraid of.
“She just noticed us,” Dane informed me. They could all see her behind me. “That’s the girl I was telling you about,” he filled Johnny in, his eyes glowing with joy. “She’s gonna be Shane’s stepsister in like two weeks.”
“Two and a half weeks,” I grumbled.
“Ah,” Johnny said, amused. “That girl.”
Fucking great. They’d been fucking talking about her behind my back.
“I have never seen you so happy,” I told Dane.
“Oh, she definitely noticed you,” he announced.
“Stop staring at her.”
“She’s coming over here…”
I turned, getting up to block her before she could get too close to these clowns.
Jolie stopped short, her eyes going wide as she gazed up at me.
“Hi,” she said.
I took her by the arm and steered her away from the table. Through the crowd, to an unoccupied table along the far wall.
“Uh, what’s going on?” she asked me along the way.
“I’m saving you.”
“From… your friends?”
I parked her at the table and sat down with her. “It’s my birthday. And they will be assholes about it. You’ll stay away from them.”
“Uh… well, happy birthday.” She looked confused. “Why didn’t I know it was your birthday?”
“Because I never told you. Did you know we were coming here?”
“No. I told you, we’re having a girls’ night. We’ve been coming to this club forever, like long before it was Champagne. How about you?”
“Yeah. We like it here.”
Her eyes moved over me, like she was trying to read my mood. Though it was marginally warmer now that I had better company. “Can I buy you a birthday drink?”
“I’m not drinking. I’m in training.”
“Oh. Right.”
“You want a drink?”
“Danica was getting me one.” She looked back through the crowd; her cousins were at the bar. She turned back to me. “I, uh, didn’t expect to run into you tonight. But, I guess this is… fun.”
“Yeah. Fun.”
She studied me. “You’re not enjoying your birthday?”
“Not particularly. Birthdays are fine. I’m just not into it right now.”
