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“It wasn’t because I didn’t care about our friendship,” I told him. At least that much was true. “It was just too hard.” Too unbelievably hard.
“Right.”
The room once again erupted in a thunderous applause, cutting our conversation short. Stephanie grabbed both of my hands and dragged me right into the fray. Trivia had all but been abandoned in favor of popping bottles of champagne and throwing a dance party.
As Steph spun me around and A-ha’sTake on Meblared from the bar’s speakers. I tried to keep my eyes on Luke, but I lost him in the crowd. Pretty soon Maya grabbed one of my hands and twirled me around. I couldn’t find him over the sea of bodies dancing and singing all the wrong lyrics. I smirked, knowing that would piss off Luke. He prided himself on knowing all the words to every song.
I tried to keep my focus on the dance party and my sister and Maya, but I was distracted trying to find Luke. Maya twirled me around and I finally saw him. I stared at him until he locked eyes with me, and I shot him asorry this got interruptedlook and he shrugged before I was drawn back into the fray.
When I spotted him again, he was talking to the bartender. I paused for a minute to watch them. Luke leaned over the bar, talking with the young redhead with the glasses and the punky tattoos. The bartender said something and Luke laughed.
I felt antsy and too hot. Like I needed to get out of there. Now.
I tried to shake off the feeling. Luke could flirt with whomever he wanted. I had no claim over him. I twirled around with Maya and Steph, smiling wide, though secretly, it was like I was seventeen all over again, watching Luke and Emmeline dance together at junior prom under the twinkling lights while I slow danced with Roger Avery, pretending to enjoy myself.
The bartender ripped off a slip of paper from her notepad and passed it to Luke, along with her pen. I watched as he wrote down his number and slid it back to her. She smirked as she tucked the scrap of paper into her back pocket. I decided in that moment that I hated red hair, tattoos, and hipster glasses.
I smiled, grabbed hands with my sister and her new fiancée, and danced like I had something to prove. This moment was about us, not about Luke Kane. I’d gone ten years without seeing him. I’d reclaimed the part of myself that lived or died over what Luke Kane thought of me. I wasn’t about to undo all that progress.
A few more eighties pop hits passed and the whole bar crowd toasted to Maya and Steph. Eventually, the party died down and everyone started sorting out how they planned to get home.
Carter Kane approached my sister and Maya, a little bleary-eyed and unsteady on his feet. He wrapped his arms around them in a big three-person hug that quickly turned into a ploy to help him stay upright.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked Elias and Kieran.
“Yeah, he’s fine,” Elias answered. “We’ll hit a drive-through and make sure he drinks some water before he passes out.”
“Bastard keeps forgetting that he’s not twenty-one anymore,” Kieran added with a laugh. “The hangovers hurt a lot more now.”
“Tell me about it,” I replied.
“I’m gonna dance so hard at y’all’s wedding,” Carter said abruptly. “I think I can catch the bouquet.”
Everyone laughed, including Carter. But then he locked eyes with me and started shaking his head.
“No, actually I think Cindy should catch the bouquet,” he slurred.
I laughed even louder. “And who the hell am I going to marry, Carter?”
“My brother.”
“Elias?” I shoved my hands into the back pockets of my jeans, trying to hide my blush and play this whole moment off as a big joke.
“No. Luke,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “He never comes out for trivia night. Not once in, like, three years. But I texted him and told him you were here and… poof. Magic.”
Elias seemed to sense my discomfort and started to herd Carter toward the front door.
“What did I say? Come on, it would be so fucking romantic,” Carter exclaimed. “Plus, you know it’s the first time Luke’s hauled his grumpy ass down here. He wanted to see Cindy.”
Elias just shrugged and helped his brother and Kieran outside. I grabbed my jacket before Maya, Stephanie, and I headed to the door. But before we could step outside into the cool night air, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“You’re Cindy, right?”
I turned around and saw the bartender.
“Um, yes?”
“That guy you were talking to, the hot one with the beard…” The bartender dug through her pockets and produced a folded slip of paper. She presented it to me. “He asked me to give you this.”
