“Pres?” Kane jabbed his elbow into my ribs. “Earth to Preston.”
“What?”
“Isn’t that your arch nemesis?”
I turned to look where he was pointing, just in time to see a group of women walking through the doors. They were all laughing and wearing bright-pink sashes. In the center of the group, wearing a white sash that, even from my distance across the room, I could see was bedazzled with the wordBride,was the one woman who’d been occupying an unreasonable amount of my thoughts lately.
Jess.
“Looks like they’re celebrating a stagette.” Kane tossed back the rest of his beer. “And you know what that means?” He wiggled his brows.
I knew exactly what that meant.
Jess was going ahead with the wedding. I swallowed hard, my jaw clenching.
After everything she’d told me, the concerns she had. Asking whether I believed in love. She’d never outright said she had doubts, but it didn’t take a mind reader to see she wasn’t happy.
Dammit.
“Horny bridesmaids,” Kane answered his own question when it was clear that I wasn’t going to play along.
I shook my head and downed the rest of my beer. “You do know that most of those women are married or in relationships, right?”
“But some of them aren’t.” My friend laughed and nudged me again. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Ten
Jess
Ineeded another drink.
I needed to dance.
I needed to forget.
The moment we stepped into the bar, the music thrummed through my veins.
Perfect.
“Shots!” I called. “We all need shots.”
“I don’t know if?—”
“I know we do.” I cut Charli off before she could shut down my idea. I probably should have regretted confessing the truth of my upcoming marriage to her, and maybe I would have if I weren’t comfortably numb from the drinks I’d already consumed.
The alcohol had helped. But not enough. I needed more.
“Come on.” I grabbed Harper’s hand and hauled her toward the bar, along with Kat andLauren, who didn’t resist my efforts. “We need shots!”
The bartender was happy to oblige, and soon we were raising up tequila and sucking limes.
“Another, ladies?”
I spun around, a little too quickly, judging by the way I wobbled, to see Kane Nelson and Preston standing behind us. My heart flipped a littlewhen my eyes met Preston’s. That was ridiculous. We were friends.
And we were only barely friends.
But we certainly weren’t any more than that.
