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I pour a whiskey for myself, and right as I’m about to suggest we head over to the couches to join our friends, I spot Roxy coming our way. I quickly put my head down, turning back to the table and fiddling with the arrangement of bottles to make myself look busy, as if that’ll somehow put her off from approaching me.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
It’s not me she’s coming to greet, though. It’s my girl.
“Hey Sloane, I heard you killed it today!” Roxy exclaims, grinning and slapping her palm in Sloane’s. “Congrats, girl. Rumor has it that initiation is no joke.”
“Eh, it wasn’t so bad,” Sloane chuckles, glancing up at me with her lips resting on the rim of her cup, a coy smile tugging at the corners of them.
“Psh, stop being modest. I know you’re a secret badass.” Roxy grins, holding her cup out, and Sloane taps hers against it with a smirk. They each take a sip, then Rox slides her gaze to me as she swallows. “I hear congratulations are in order for the two of you, also?”
I cough to clear my throat, nodding.
What the fuck am I supposed to say?
I glance down at Sloane, feeling awkward as fuck, but she just smiles at Roxy like they’re old friends, not missing a beat.
“Guess you were right,” she winks, bumping her shoulder against Roxy’s. “Both about us being mates, and the other thing.”
“What other thing?” I ask, suddenly irritated that I’m feeling left in the dark.
Sloane tosses her hair over her shoulder, turning her gaze on me. “That you were too stubborn to admit you still loved me,” she replies easily, folding her arms over her chest. “Even when you were hating me.”
Guilty.
I can’t help but crack a smile, rolling my eyes as I sling an arm around her shoulders and pull her into my side.
Roxy sighs, a wistful look in her eyes when her gaze lifts to meet my own. “I’m happy for you,” she says quietly, giving me a little nod. “You deserve someone who makes you smile like that.”
“So do you,” I say. I mean it, too- Roxy’s a good girl. It’s not her fault she got tangled up with me when my heart already belonged to someone else.
Roxy rolls her shoulders back, lifting her chin confidently. “I do, don’t I?” she asks rhetorically, looking to Sloane again with a smirk on her lips. “I’m still waiting for you to put in that good word with your brother, y’know.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” Sloane laughs, tossing Roxy another wink as she gives her a little wave and turns away to disappear into the crowd.
As soon as she leaves, Sloane spins around to face me, plucking my cup from my hand and sliding it onto the cocktail table along with her own. Then she steps in close, pressing her chest flush against mine and looping her arms around my neck.
“You good?” she asks, tilting her head in that adorable way of hers that gets me every fucking time.
It’s not lost on me that I’m the one at fault for that awkward encounter, yet she’s the one checking up on me. I settle my hands on her hips, breathing a sigh.
“I’m sorry about that,” I murmur.
Her brow furrows in confusion as she gazes up at me with those wide, moss green eyes. “About what?”
I nod in the direction Roxy departed. “Her.”
“Who, Roxy?” Sloane scoffs, shaking her head like I’m being ridiculous. “We’re cool.”
“I know, but I’m sure it makes you uncomfortable,” I grumble. “I never should’ve gotten with her. I just thought…”
“What, that I’d ghosted you and was never coming back?”
“Pretty much.”
Sloane heaves a sigh of her own, sliding a hand up to my face and cupping my jaw. “Madd, we’re together now,” she says, gazing into my eyes earnestly. “That’s all that matters. Not what happened before. I don’t wanna look back.”
I draw a measured breath, nodding. “You’re right,” I say, though guilt still gnaws at me, a tight feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. “For the record, though, I can’t promise I’ll be nearly as cool about this if I run into anyone you’ve hooked up with. I’m a possessive fucker.”
