“Hurry up, lovers,” Marlee called from where she and the others stood just outside the door and I linked my arm through Cooper’s, both because I didn’t want to let him go and because I needed some sober support if we were going to get to that dancing.
CHAPTER 29
Cooper
At her drunken amble, my laugh betrayed me loud and clear, and everyone paused to look back at us. Evy was watching me from behind glassy eyes, and it took serious amounts of control not to take those plush lips against my own. As it was, we were supposed to be freshly engaged and the touches were meant to sell the lie, but instead they were starting to unravel me instead and making me do things which were out of character. I wanted to tell her what I was thinking at random times of the night, like how I found it easier to sleep since she’d come to stay or how much it pissed me off when the guys in the box next to us kept fucking staring at her tonight. I wanted to ask her if she noticed, if she wanted to speak to them too. The thought making my fists clench until my nails left crescent tattoos on my palm.
As if sensing my growing discomfort, she’d leant into me, and I’d immediately pulled her closer and breathed in the lemon drops of her shampoo. The anger had dissipated until I once again forgot everything other than her. She was like my own brand of weed, mellowing my emotions and reminding me there were other ways to do things. Other ways to manage my anger. I just needed to work out how to do that when she wasn’t around.
Because the alternative was exactly as she’d so aptly put it - a tantrum.
I’d raced home the second she messaged to ask if she could have someone over. Thoughts of her and her boyfriend blurring my vision until the hours of work I’d planned were pushed aside and I was roaring out of the drive dangerously fast.
It had taken every ounce of self-control not to show him how I usually dealt with heated emotions when I came home and saw them eating together. Only he wasn’t even her boyfriend. This whole time I’d assumed rather than simply talking to her and could have easily avoided a week of misery. A week where I was in the ring twice, still sore in places from the rare punches my opponents had managed.
I was out of line and neither of them deserved my coldness.
I would apologise, which was the least I could do, only I wasn’t ready to open that conversation. Wasn’t ready to explain the jealousy without scaring her.
Thankfully, she’d given me a reprieve for tonight, and the more she drank, the more I realised a few things about myfiancée: she definitely didn’t drink a lot, she was incredibly blasé when it came to noticing the number of men who blatantly fucking ogled her and she was, without a doubt, the best person I’d ever known. She made me laugh, surprised me and held me accountable - all with that calming, supportive demeanour I’d come to need.
And now we were going to spend the night at her brother’s club, where we were required to maintain the facade of an engaged couple who were very much in love, with Sebastian standing by watching and trying not to rip my fucking head from my shoulders. I had no clue how drunk Evy would be and whether I hoped she would be overly affectionate or not at all - or which I would prefer for that matter.
All I knew was that with Evangeline, nothing was ever as expected with her and that was unnerving.
Nexus was bustling when we arrived and when the girls all headed to the bathrooms, I went straight to the table where the owner himself was waiting with his head of security, Wayne.
“Got a crowd in tonight,” I said, greeting both with a handshake. “They’re in the bathroom.” I added quickly, knowing the next question before he even asked.
He nodded, grabbing onto my shoulder and giving it a brief squeeze. We hadn’t spent much time together since I admitted Ilikedhis little sister - understatement of the year - and this was him again acknowledging we were okay. I nodded subtly, my own reminder I understood how protective he was, and I wasn’t going to hurt her. I didn’t tell him how she took up most of the space in my mind, from the moment I woke up until the moment I exhausted myself into sleep. I didn’t tell him how the thought of anyone else touching her, ever again, made me want to rip skin from bones and I definitely didn’t tell him how when I had her underneath me, moaning my name, every voice inside my mind silenced until she was the beginning and end of everything.
No. Those thoughts would remain tucked away from her older brother.
“Hey Sebby.” Speaking of my gorgeous fucking fiancée, Evangeline barrelled into her brother, arms locking around his neck.
“You’re drunk.” He said, his gaze darting to me accusingly.
I threw my palms out. “She’s had four and a water in between each, although I'm not her keeper,” I clarified, my lips twitching at how adorable she was when she shot me a sloppy wink.
“Don’t worry, Sebby, my man has taken very good care of me,” she agreed exaggeratedly before she came to stand in front of me, intentionally pressing her arse firmly against my groin. The others arrived shortly after, Seb’s icy glare softening the second he saw Marlee while Arna, Felicity and Winter all grabbed seats around the circular booth table.
“What do you want to drink?” I asked Eva, preferring she not even try to push through the crowd to get to the bar with the number of bodies filling the packed club. A waitressappeared with a tray of purple drinks for the ladies and Evs pointed excitedly towards them, pushing up and down on her tiptoes. I seized her hips in my hands, the grind of her plush arse doing things which would put me as number one on her brother’s hit list.
“Maybe we should sit down before you get me in trouble.” I leaned in, voice low, and when she glanced back knowingly with that grin, it unravelled me. I couldn’t touch her again or I was going to lose myself and forget this whole thing wasn’t real. That she wasn’t mine now, despite our confessions earlier at home, because this part right here was for show.
A performance. A lie with an end date.
“Maybe,” she agreed, but I heard the challenge in her playful tone. Saw the dare in her eyes courtesy of the drinks streaming through her blood.
“I’m going to get a drink,” I stated and Seb, who also heard, inclined his head indicating he’d join me.
I was going to need something to take the edge off or I would lose more than my mind tonight with Eva testing my patience and my willpower.
“She still doesn’t drink a lot, does she.” I stated, my inflection making it sound more like a question.
“Rarely. Always said she hated the smell of beer and would rather have tea.” I watched him move around to the other side of the bar while I grabbed the only spare stool. “She seems happy tonight though, and not just from the drinks.” He commented, avoiding eye contact.
Before their father took off, old man Micallef was far too familiar with the bottom of the bottle, and it had altered his children in different ways. Sebastian became hellbent on controlling everything he damn well could, making sure he was two steps ahead of everything and everyone so no one could take him off guard. Whereas Evangeline asked questions. Wanted answers laid out as clear as day so she could determine whether things were worthy of investment. Because investing in someone who left forwork one day and never came home had left its mark. Consequently, she found comfort in numbers and adding things up because when feelings didn’t make sense, numbers always did.
