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“You alright, Ava?” he asked, flashing me a charming grin.
I darted a quick look at Jack and watched as his eyebrows knit together as he eyed Mark’s hand gripping my shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Mark. Just made my drink a little too strong,” I replied lightly as I took another sip and shrugged my shoulders, hoping Mark would get the hint and remove his hand.
He did not get the hint. Instead, he took my cup and put his mouth on the part of the cup that still held the residue from my lipstick, and took a sip. Oh, Jesus.
Mark had invited me to this party, and although I didn’t have any interest in him romantically, he flirted with me pretty hard. I had only accepted his invitation because I’d heard it was going to be a big party and, being new, I wanted to meet people. I figured he would forget about me in the crowd. Well, he was really making his intentions clear now.
I took a deep breath, frantically trying to think of a way to diplomatically tell him to leave me alone without damaging his ego and creating a scene.
As if sensing my distress, Jack gave Mark a hard look and asked, “Where’s Delia, Cassidy?”
Mark threw Jack a quelling stare, but slowly removed his arm from around my shoulders.
“Who?” I asked.
“His girlfriend,” Jack deadpanned.
My brows jumped in surprise. I hadn’t been interested in Mark, but he’d hit on me so aggressively, I just assumed he was single.
I threw Mark a side eye. “You have a girlfriend?”
Mark sighed and shot Jack another dark look. Jack, unfazed by Mark’s aggravation, instead focused his intense stare on me. “Jealous, Ava?”
I snorted. “Hardly.” I held Jack’s eyes for a moment, so he could see that I truly wasn’t into Mark Cassidy, but Jack’s expression gave nothing away. Instead, I swung my disapproving gaze back to Mark. “So?”
He shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Technically, yes.” I raised an eyebrow. “But we’re heading towards an open relationship, I swear.”
“Is she here?” I darted a look around, half-expecting a furious banshee to jump out and start swinging at me.
“No, she’s at The Dells with her parents.” Mark started smiling at me again, as though my only issue with him having a girlfriend was her possible presence at this party. “So, Ava–”
I put my hand up to halt whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “Oh my god, Mark, no. Don’t even say it. I wasn’t interested in you to begin with, but I’m definitely not interested now.”
Mark’s expression morphed from cajoling to furious in the span of a second. “What the fuck, Ava? You’re here, aren’t you? I invited you and you came. That seems pretty interested to me.”
I rolled my eyes. This was something I had wanted to avoid. “Wow, Mark, you have a pretty healthy ego. Did you invite Jack?” I asked, nodding my head at Jack, who had stepped a foot closer to me at Mark’s outburst, and his fists opening and closing in anticipated violence. “Did you invite Dylan Grayson? Did you invite Rachel Pratt? Are they all interested in you, too?”
Mark face flushed red with embarrassment as he pointed his finger one inch from my chest. “Fuck you, Ava. You’re just pissed that you found out I had a girlfriend.” I shrank away from him instinctively, shocked at unexpected vitriol in his response. “You–”
Suddenly, there was a body between me and Mark. Jack placed his hand on Mark’s chest and pushed with enough force to knock him a few steps back. “Cassidy,” Jack gritted softly. “You need to settle the fuck down and back up.” Mark started to step towards Jack, but quickly reconsidered as he scanned Jack’s muscled forearms folded over his chest. Jack had at least three or four inches and many pounds of muscle on Mark’s far slighter frame.
Mark looked between us with impotent fury, then stormed off.
I stared at Jack’s back, waiting for him to turn around so I could thank him, but instead he marched over to the keg to get himself a beer without saying a word. I stared at him, a tangle of emotions twisting inside me; gratitude and attraction, rejection, and confusion. I was going to follow him, but Hannah was suddenly at my side to give me a consoling hug.
“Jesus,” Hannah whispered, her violet eyes wide. “Are you okay, Ava?”
I shook my head, incredulous. “What is going on tonight with the guys here? Did someone put testosterone in the beer?” I asked Hannah.
Hannah burst out laughing. “I know, right? That about killed my buzz. Let me make you a drink–yours are terrible,” Hannah teased good-naturedly, turning to the counter so she could make us some much-needed drinks. “No more rum and Cokes! How about rum and orange juice?” Hannah asked quizzically.
Both Nikolai and Jack responded with an expression of disgust, but it sounded fine to me. “Sure!”
“Great.” Hannah started whipping around the kitchen grabbing ingredients for our drinks. “Wait! Let’s do a shot!” Hannah cried out as she handed me one of two solo cups filled a quarter full of Bacardi.
“Whoa, Hannah, I think you’ve had–” Nikolai popped off the wall to reach for Hannah’s cup.
