The line of his mouth softens. “If it’s too much, we can always bail. A bottle of wine and a cheesy movie at my place sounds just as good.”
God. Of course he’d offer an exit instead of getting offended.
I shake my head. “I’ll let you know.”
“So, this is Jacob.”
Oh fuck.
Ryan strolls over with a leggy blonde in tow, eyeing my date like he just tasted something particularly bland even as he holds out his hand to shake Jacobs.
“You must be the stepbrother I’ve heard so much about.”
Jacob’s face pinches when Ryan squeezed his hand too hard and I want to die on the spot.
“Saw that limo you pulled up in,” Ryan comments. “Overcompensating for something, or…”
“Don’t,” I warn in a hiss, nails biting into my clutch. “You don’t get to vet my dates.” Then to Jacob. “Don’t mind him, he’s drunk.”
“No,” Ryan argues. “I just don’t like strangers putting their hands on what I—” He cuts himself off at the look of horror on my face and clears his throat. “On people I care about.”
As if.
I roll my eyes.
Cat leans over, interrupting the conversation. “Want to brave the bathroom line with me, Pips?”
I breathe a sigh of relief at the perfect excuse to get away from my perfect date and as far from Ryan as I possibly can.
We excuse ourselves, and I flag Nate on the way past, telling him with my eyes to get Ryanawayfrom my date. He picks up on the hint and wraps an arm around Ryan, dragging him away while I let Cat pull me toward the restroom.
We have a tough time navigating through the tight crowd of partiers, especially since Cat only comes up to most people’s shoulders. Midway through, we have a momentary freakout when Cat thinks she’s spotted The Hemsworth. It ends with us accosting some poor Sequel executive just trying to enjoy a nice date with his boyfriend.
After some profuse apologizing, we giggle our way into the bathroom line.
“I’m so glad we came,” I tell her. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.”
She sighs. “I know, there’s been so much travel recently. I love it, but I miss you.” She tilts her head suddenly, peering curiously at me. “Is everything okay with you?”
Something clenches in my chest. Am I that transparent, or is there some best friend radar that lets them peer into your brain and see all the emotions that you’re trying to suppress spilling out of their little box? “I’m fine, Cat, why?”
“I don’t know. You just seem a little guarded. Maybe I’m reading too much into things, though.”
Okay, best friend radar is definitely real. In a second, Cat’s going to start telling me that she knows I’ve been keeping a secret from her, and that I’ve obviously had a bunch of orgasms over the past week.
“Work has been pretty stressful,” I tell her. The truth, albeit a teeny, tiny part of it. “New promotion, big expectations. And lots of beingonfor dates, you know?”
“I get that.” Cat leans her head against my shoulder. “If you need extra support, call me any time. I’m jet-lagged half the time I’m in another time zone, anyway.”
“I will. I promise.”
We’re stuck waiting to pee for another twenty minutes, and it takes another ten for us to make our way back through the crowd. When we get to the table, Jacob is downing what’s left of his champagne. By the slight glaze in his eyes, the servers have been able to bring him a few more. He smiles when he sees me.
“There you are! I’m so sorry, but I have to go,” he says.
I frown. “You’re leaving?”
“God, no. Beau and Luke signed us all up to sing some One Direction song in the karaoke room. I don’t know any of the words, but those two are hard to say no to.”
