“Hotel bar, of course,” Wyatt said, glancing toward our door.“We can see everyone checking in from there.”
“Bigger party.That’s what I’m talking about.”
Wyatt’s gaze caught mine for a split second, and his mask slipped.Exhaustion flickered in his eyes, but the mask went back into place, and he jumped on Chris’s back and kicked his foot against his side like a horse.
“Giddy up,” he said, and Chris took off, bouncing while Wyatt twirled his arm in the air.
Cynthia and I followed, giggling at the show.It was funny.It was.But Wy was tired, and I knew by the end of the night he was going to crash.
I’d be there for him like I always was.But for now, I needed to figure out how to avoid drinking without raising concern.
Cynthia knew me too well.If I passed on a glass of champagne, she’d notice.I needed a distraction—something clever that would keep a drink in my hand and wouldn’t send up flares.
Club soda with lime?Ginger ale in a rock glass?Something that looked like fun but wouldn’t tip the scales.But what if she heard me order?What if she took a sip?
I couldn’t have her figure it out before I could tell Wyatt.
A whole different kind of anxiety flooded through me as Cynthia turned to me with a glass of champagne.A smile widened her face, revealing the points of her incisors.She always joked that in a previous life she was a vampire, which was why she was always Team Edward, no matter how much I tried to persuade her to Team Jacob.
Jacob was the warm protector, the one who stayed through it all, who burned bright and steady instead of lurking in the shadows.He wasn’t the bad boy, but bad boys were overrated.Guys like Jacob were reliable, kind… your best friend.
My gaze drifted to Wyatt, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.
“Hello?”Cynthia lilted as she dangled the glass of champagne in my face.
I took it and offered her a smile.I pretended to bring it to my lips, then paused, my gaze drifting back to Wyatt, who just high-fived Chris.
Wyatt’s eyes caught mine again, and a cute smile touched his mouth.Thoughts of what he was going to say before we were interrupted crowded my mind.My body felt unsettled, like when a commercial cuts in right when a life-changing moment is about to happen on a show.
Or maybe… maybe nothing was going to happen at all.Like he’d said, we wanted different things.
The more thoughts that floated in my head, the more I wondered if I really did.
“You still look at him like you did a decade ago,” Cynthia said.
“What?No.I mean…” Heat erupted in my cheeks, and I brought my attention to her.
“You do.It’s sweet.Sometimes I swear I look at Chris like he’s the most repulsive thing in the world.”
A laugh burst from my lips.“You don’t.”
“I do,” she said matter-of-factly.“But that’s love, no?You can be repulsed by them one minute and the next you can’t wait to rip their clothes off.”
I could never be repulsed by Wyatt, not when he made me laugh ninety percent of the time.
She held up her glass, and I followed suit, knots twisting my stomach in a fury of panic.“To the men we love for whatever reason.”She clicked my glass, and I slowly brought the glass to my lips.Maybe she wouldn’t notice if I didn’t take a sip.The liquid slid up the glass, and just as I was about to put my theory into action, Wyatt’s voice rang out.
“Ramon!”
Chris let out a roar of joy as he and Wy hurried over to their college roommate.Wyatt threw his arms up, and Chris stumbled behind him.Cynthia’s attention drew to the threesome, and I quickly dumped my champagne in a Monstera Deliciosa plant with beautiful green leaves.
Hugs and hellos were shared, and everybody made their way to the bar.Cynthia nodded at my glass.“Another?”
“I’m going to have water.”
Cynthia’s eyebrow raised.
“My stomach’s still not right since the plane ride.”
