“Actually, my driver’s licence says I’m twenty-one,” Darcy said flatly, glancing sideways, then his turned his attention back to the screen.
“What, are you saying you are actually twenty-one, Darcy?”
“No, I hacked in and changed the year before they printed it, it’s simple,” he said, taking few chips out of one of the two glass bowls full of chips on the coffee table, popping them in his mouth.
“You hacked in and changed the date, so now all your files say your twenty-one?” I asked, gobsmacked.
He swallowed the chips down. “No, Aims,” he spoke a little slower so I, with my lesser intelligence, might understand. “I hacked in right before I had to go and get my picture taken and changed the dates. I got my licence, then hacked back in and put the correct date in.” He turned his eyes back to the screen, taking a loud sip of beer.
“Well you still shouldn’t be drinking, Darcy.” I raised my brows. “Ethan.”
Ethan smiled wryly at Darcy. “Someone’s a little cranky.”
Darcy nodded. “She’s got her period, or about to get it. When women get those their oestrogen and progesterone increases, which affects the amygdala in their brain, lowering serotonin and the neurotransmitter GABA which makes them all stressed and quite irritable.”
“I don’t have my period,” I said, exasperated.
“Okay, well it’s coming then,” Darcy said soberly, his eyes not leaving the screen.
Ethan sat forward with a broad grin. He jumped up, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
“I think someone needs to go out and relax instead of moping around. Why don’t you call your friends, and we’ll meet them at the bar.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to go there.”
“Karson is away, Amy.”
I didn’t need to ask where he would be, or what he might be doing. The thoughts hit like pins-pricks in my mind, stabbing me over and over again. Would he just be drinking blood, or more? Would the redhead be there? Suddenly, alcohol with my friends held some appeal.
“Fine,” I relented. I climbed the stairs, and I muttered under my breath. “And I haven’t been moping.” But that was a lie.
Chapter 68
I’m Sorry
We entered the bar an hour later. I’d spent a considerable amount of time doing my hair and makeup in an attempt to make myself feel better. It didn’t work. I was miserable, numb on the inside, even if I managed to plaster a smile on my face.At night my dreams were filled with him, my days were full of heartache. No amount of training could fill the void of Karson.
I smiled at Darcy, his smile lit up the night. It was his first time at a bar.
“After you,” Ethan said, holding the door open and gesturing with his hand for us to walk through.
I stepped through the door, glanced up and locked eyes with Karson. A volt of electricity shot though me like a power cord that’d just been placed in a socket. My breath caught in my chest.
His exquisite face was veiled by detachment.
Not only was Karson here. But seated beside him was Rebecca. Was he on a date? Had he moved on already?
An arrow pierced my chest. My throat burned. Every beat of my thudding heart, hurt.
He just stared, no emotion in his eyes. No acknowledgment that the girl he’d held so tenderly in his arms a little over a week ago ever even mattered.
Every sense screamed at me to turn. To run.
“Oh fuck me, really?” Ethan gave me a look of apology. He thrust a hand through his hair and sighed. “Do you want to leave?”
I glanced at Darcy, his eyes shone, his grin was so wide it filled his whole face. My eyes drifted automatically back to Karson. He wasn’t looking at me, he was talking to Rebecca.
My foolish heart broke, splintered apart, lightening fractured through the hope we’d reunite. I thought he cared. I thought I’d finally found ‘the one,’ the kind of love story I’d only ever read about in novels. The kind of love, no one, and nothing could break. If I was the instrument, he was the song and together, we created beautiful music.
