“Alex is coming?” My blood runs cold.
“Yeah.” She won’t look at me. “He has an SUV.”
Tag grumbles under his breath, packing his guitar back up. “Yippee. Can’t wait to be on the receiving end of death stares and backhanded insults all night.”
“He’ll behave,” Annie insists.
“Whatever. But if you invite him to my birthday party, I’m cutting all familial ties.”
I blow out a breath.
Part of me can’t comprehend why she’d invite him to my birthday outing.
Then again, part of me understands completely.
A black SUV rolls up ten minutes later in the form of a hulking Kia Sorento with tinted windows. The horn blares.
Annie whooshes past me, gripping her purse strap, practically hugging the edge of the garage as she moves, putting as much distance between us as possible. A warm breeze steals her hair, wrapping multicolored ribbons around her face as she hightails it over to the vehicle.
She slips inside the passenger seat as the guys and I climb into the back.
Alex smirks, taking her hand in a firm grasp and smacking a kiss to her knuckles before planting it on his knee. “Hey, baby.”
Her head bows. “Hey.”
The car reeks of familiar cologne. Something cheap but meant to smell overpriced and provocative. I slink lower in the seat and latch my buckle.
“Comfortable back there, birthday boy?” Alex’s eyes snag mine in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah. Thanks for the ride.”
“Absolutely. It’s nice to finally be included in these after-hours get-togethers.” He shoots Annie a look, pops the lever into Drive, then slams on the accelerator.
It’s a torturous fifteen-minute drive to Sand Bar.
Nobody speaks.
Nineties jams spin on rotation from the Bluetooth, “If You Could Only See” by Tonic a scoffing soundtrack to my discomfort. I watch Annie fidget in her seat, plucking invisible threads from her ruby-sequined cocktail dress. Her hand hasn’t left his knee, and his finger hasn’t stopped tracing little designs across her knuckles. He has her on a goddamn leash.
She peeks back at me every now and then, her chest inflating with stiff breaths, her floral perfume the only antidote to the spicy cologne plugging the air.
Closing my eyes, I tip my head against the headrest and zone out until we curve into the parking lot.
“I’ll find parking,” Alex says, dropping us off at the entrance. “Save me a seat.”
I leap from the SUV as if my legs grew wings. Fresh air rushes into my lungs, doing what it can to filter out the stubborn cloud of lingering disappointment.
Annie calls my name, though I’m already charging ahead, toward the bar lights. The reprieve.
This is fine. Preferable, even.
I’ll have a few drinks, socialize, and maybe meet a woman who isn’t borderline betrothed.
Unfortunately, she’s determined to follow like an all-consuming shadow, darkening my plans. And now she’s right behind me, hot on my dirty, black boots, refusing to let me chase the light I fucking crave.
“Hey. Wait up, will you?”
The rest of the guys shuffle around us, entering through the main door. Tag sends an ambiguous look over his shoulder that I decide not to read into. “What’s up?” My hands slide into my pockets, fingers curling.
