AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Five
Kaia
––––––––
“Well, fuck.” Remi dropshis pool cue onto the table with an audible groan after not one but four of his buddies who joined us shortly after we finished dinner beat him.
He’s lost his tie and his button-down is now half open, revealing the fitted white tee underneath. Even intoxicated, he’s still the most attractive man I’ve ever seen. Which, in my experience, isn’t always the case. Alcohol does something to people.
“I think maybe no more pool for you,” Aspen tells Remi from her spot next to me.
“What? No way! I’m just getting warmed up,” he tells her, cracking his knuckles as his gaze slides to me. “What do you say, Kaia? Wanna play?”
“Because you haven’t been beaten enough tonight?” I cross my arms in front of myself.
“She’s got you there, Rem.” One of the guys who just beat him chuckles, clasping him on the shoulder.
“You guys wound me.” He flattens his palm against his chest as his gaze once again slides to me, making me feel weirdly off-kilter. “Come on, one game. It is my birthday, after all.” He pouts out his lower lip in a way that makes it impossible to contain my smile of amusement.
“I think I’m just gonna hang here with Aspen,” I tell him, mainly because I’ve had a bit much to drink myself and think my safest bet is to stay put.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been this intoxicated. And while no, I’m not stumbling drunk by any means, I still don’t fully trust what might come out of my mouth if I’m forced to interact with him directly.
“No, go. I’m good here,” Aspen tells me, leaning further against her husband, who’s standing behind her backless stool, his arms draped around her shoulders.
Remember when I said how good-looking Sutton was in the picture on Aspen’s desk? Yeah, well, take that and multiply it by a hundred because he’s even better looking in person, which I didn’t know was possible. And while he and Remi have some familiar characteristics, they also look completely different at the same time.
Sutton has dark hair and blue eyes and is clean-shaven and very well put together. Remi has dirty-blond hair and green eyes and has that just-rolled-out-of-bed look, even in a suit. Their build is similar, both equally tall and muscular. I think it’s safe to say they come from quite the gene pool.
The differences don’t stop with their appearances, though. Where Sutton is more serious and reserved, Remi is boisterous and loud, not the least bit concerned if every person in the building can hear him.
“Maybe you should play him, babe,” Sutton tells Aspen. “He could use a win.”
“Is that your way of saying I’m bad at pool?” She gives him a shocked look over her shoulder.
“Never.” He smiles at her like she is the beginning and the end of his whole world and the action is almost painful to watch because I know deep down that it’s unlikely I’ll ever find someone who looks at me the way Sutton looks at Aspen.
I don’t think I’ve ever met a couple like them before. Like opposite sides of a magnet, they’re drawn together in a way I can’t say I’ve ever witnessed. It’s hard to be in their presence and not feel envious of what they have.
My mind briefly wanders to Blake, a ping of something unfamiliar hitting me square in the chest. It’s hard to see two people so in love and not wonderwhat if. Though, what Blake and I shared was not even a whisper of what Aspen and Sutton clearly do. That much is painfully obvious.
“Aspen’s too easy.” Remi laughs at the wild look she gives him. “No offense, Pen. You know I love you. I need someone who’s going to give me a challenge. Please...” He juts his lip out even further in my direction.
“I never took you for a beggar, Rem,” another guy says, dropping down on a stool at the round bar table next to ours.
