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“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask defensively. “You sure seem to have made an impression. Guess all those college dorm parties finally came in handy for you.”
He releases a laugh at the floor, stepping closer and leaning his hand on the counter next to me. My breath catches in my throat when I realize how close his face is to mine. He leans down closer, whispering right next to my ear so I can hear above the party noise.
“Why do you always have to tease me? Why can’t you ever play nice?”
My heart thuds against my chest as he pulls back, meeting my gaze. “What fun would that be?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood.
His intensity doesn’t waiver, and he’s so close I can smell the alcohol on his breath. Mack doesn’t usually drink that much. There’s been a few exceptions over the years like birthday parties or celebrations where he’s gone too far, but for the most part, he stays at a reasonable level. He’s always the one taking care of me.
“I’m not having fun now,” he says. His words aren’t meant to hurt, and he almost sounds sad.
I can’t look away since he’s boxing me in still. I swallow, giving myself a second. “I don’t want to be your friend,” I whisper, looking into his eyes. “I want to be your muse.”
“Thea-”
“There you are,” John interrupts. “Sorry, Dave asked me to help grab more ice from downstairs.”
“No problem,” I say, giving him a smile and stepping away from Mack before he thinks there’s something going on here.
Before my own delusional ass thinks there’s something going on here.
???
Mack
“I have to go.”
Thea looks at me surprised. “What?” she asks.
My eyes fall to his hand on her back, and I practically lose it. “I uh… I’m gonna go.”
“Is everything okay?” she asks, still confused.
I take a few wobbly steps backward. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll uh… I’ll check in later.”
My back hits the counter, and I whip around, trying to get away as fast as possible before I do something I regret. My thoughts are scrambled like I’m in a dream. Fuck, I shouldn’t have had that many drinks.
They wouldn’t stop bringing them. Every game we won more shots were passed around, and I tipped back every single one of them trying to numb myself. It didn’t help. I desperately tried to keep my attention in front of me, but no matter how hard I tried, my eyes gravitated to her again.
It was worse every time I looked over. She looked more comfortable with him with each passing moment. And worse, she looked happy. The one thing that was supposed to give me relief, did the exact opposite.
I never should have entertained the thoughts I was having about her. That was a stupid fucking mistake. It doesn’t matter though. No matter how many times I repeated to myself that the only thing that matters is her happiness, it didn’t help.
I need to get out of here.
Trevor is in the main area, talking to the same girl he was last time I found him. “Hey man, you good to watch over the girls?” I ask, already ordering a car on my phone.
“Yeah, is everything okay?” he asks, looking ten times more sober than myself.
“Yeah, uhm… yeah. I’m good. My car… I’m good.”
He whispers something to the girl that I can’t make out before following me toward the door. “You sure you’re good?” he asks again.
“I can make it to the… I can make it to the car. I’m just going home.” Not sure that was any more convincing, but after giving me one more concerned look, Trevor finally nods, letting me leave.
“Text me when you’re home,” he says before heading back to the living room.
It takes me way too fucking long to find my car. How many fucking black sedans have to be picking people up right now? I didn’t even splurge on the expensive ride, so not sure how I got assigned one. Fuck, or maybe I actually did do that?
