“Hana. And you’re Jake, right?”
“Yeah, Jacob.”
We shake hands and then return to our silent observation. The dickhead says something supposedly funny, and the old couple chuckles. Gen does too, but it’s delayed, forced. She’s uncomfortable, and it’s obvious even from where I stand.
I don’t get it. She deserves so much better than a prick who can’t even appreciate her splendor. The idiot was never invested enough to uncover the sensuality within her, judging her as boring rather than questioning himself. And he had five years to do it.
I unlocked it in under an hour.
But what bothers me the most is that he’s nothing like me. We couldn’t be more different physically, and it’s clear that we’re nothing alike where lifestyle is concerned. He’s what Gen picked, what she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. A proper little posh like her, who comes from money and went to an Ivy League school. But me… I’m an anomaly, someone she stumbled upon because she was looking for a Jacob’s ladder.
I couldn’t be further from her type.
“What are we staring at?” Eli looks in their direction, having just joined us. “Who’s with Gen?”
“Her ex,” Hana and I answer in unison.
“Oh, shit.” Eli thinks about it for a moment, then carefully goes on to say, “And how are we feeling about it?”
“Not great,” I answer.
“I have it on good authority that Eddie never made her orgasm as hard as you do,” Hana says with a shrug, taking a sip of champagne and picking a mini club sandwich from the plate.
It helps a little. “Here, hold this,” I order Eli, shoving the plate into his hands.
“Oh, wait,” Gen’s friend stops me. “I’m supposed to tell you to keep your distance. But you’re old enough to make your own decisions.”
Idefinitelylike her.
As I leave them behind, Eli says, “That’s gonna be interesting.”
“I wish I had popcorn,” Hana replies.
On my way toward the couple, I adjust the collar of my red shirt and tug on my jacket to straighten it. She doesn’t want what we’re doing in the darkest hours of the night to be exposed, and I respect that. But I’m not about to watch her spend the evening with her ex and do nothing about it.
She still isn’t aware of me when I reach them, and I hear the ongoing conversation. “Vivienne told me you two had split,” the old woman says. “Are you getting back together, then?”
The ex rests a hand on the small of Gen’s back, and I fight the urge to tear it away. “You know how volatile love can be… We’re just figuring things out at the moment,” he says.
“Excuse me, miss?” I call, gently tapping Gen’s shoulder. She tenses, and I see the hairs on her arm rise. Everyone turns to me, so I put on my best poker face. Which isn’t easy when the beautiful redhead glares at me, warning me not to mess this up for her. “Sorry for interrupting you, but I have the uncanny feeling we’ve met before. Are you, by any chance, a friend of Hana?”
“I am,” she hesitantly replies.
“Then that’s it. We probably met at her…” Fuck, I should have planned this better.
“Engagement party?” Gen finishes for me.
“That’s it, yeah.”
“Right.”
This is such a fucked up situation. Twenty-four hours ago, we were getting started with our not-a-sexathon sexathon, and now we can’t even be acquaintances. For fuck’s sake, I licked this woman’s clit, fingered her arse, choked her… And she really expects me to sit back while she enjoys a pleasant evening with her ex?
“I was there, and I don’t recall seeing you,” her ex interjects.Stay out of this, prick.
“I don’t remember you either, which makes sense. But come on, mate. A six-foot-two handsome devil with tattoos? I’m hard to forget.”
“Sorry, but I don’t recall meeting you either,” Gen adds. I won’t lie, that one stings.
