I’m out
Out where?
Ellie, don’t play with me.
Why? You jealous?
You’re my girlfriend. Of course I’m jealous if some dude named Jake is trying to hit on you.
You know, I might consider dropping the fake part for tonight
You won’t be able to unless you tell me where the fuck you are.
Fine. We’re at Nova’s, new little nightclub downtown
I’m coming.
I shouldn’t have come.
I’d told myself that twice in the car, once more while I sat in the parking lot gripping the steering wheel so hard, my knuckles burned, and then again in the elevator, breathing through the kind of jealousy that didn’t simmer—it fucking boiled.
I pushed through a sea of sweaty finance bros and girls covered in rhinestones to find my girl. Neon lights pulsed overhead. Someone bumped into me and muttered something—didn’t hear it, didn’t give a single fuck. Nothing existed except the singular, brutal need to find her. My eyes were locked on the table near the back, where Ellie sat like a goddamn flame in a room full of moths.
She was curled up with her legs tucked beneath her, drink in one hand, phone in the other. She was glowing like a goddamn spotlight in a short black dress that clung to her curves as if it had been stitched in place—bare shoulders, too much leg, not nearly enough sense.
Rachel was next to her, equally loud, equally drunk. I got closer and slowed. She hadn’t seen me yet, so I stood there, watching her talk to some dickhead with a mustache, leaning way too close for a girl with a boyfriend.
He wasn’t touching her, not yet, but he was close enough, whispering something that made her laugh.
I didn’t know if I wanted to fight him or fuck her. Maybe both.
Definitely both.
Rachel spotted me first. “Oh shit,” she cackled, tapping Ellie’s thigh. “Daddy’s here.”
Ellie blinked up at me like I’d crawled out of a hallucination. “Sawyer?”
I kept my tone even.
“Ellie baby,” I said, the nickname sliding off my tongue.
Rachel grinned. “I think he came to claim what’s his.”
Damn right, I had.
My jaw clenched as I scanned the guys around her. “Which one of you fuckers is Jake?”
Ellie blinked. “Who?”
“Jake,” I repeated. “The one who tried to hit on you. Where is he?”
Some idiot raised his hand. “Uh…I think all of us tried, my dude. I mean, look at her.”
Wrong fucking answer.
“You’ve got three seconds to leave before I knock your teeth in.”
“Whoa, chill, man.”
