I shake my head, pushing the thought away. Damn, I gotta keep it together. Can’t cross that line again.
No matter how badly I might want to.
As I watch her and the girls start to move across the bar, I’m all-too aware of the eyes following them. A group of beautiful women is bound to draw attention, but everyone here knows Rylee, Skyler, and Grace are off-limits.
They might not know that Sutton is too.
Proving my point, some tall guy with slicked back brown hair and a polo shirt approaches her, distracting her and pulling her away from the other three women. Gritting my teeth, I’m pushing away from the wall and heading straight toward Sutton and the guy chatting her up before I’ve fully comprehended that I’m moving.
I come up behind Sutton and the guy talking to her catches sight of me and freezes.
“Jayce Vaughn…” he gasps.
“Hey, babe,” I grin, slipping my arm around Sutton’s waist. She looks up at me, startled and momentarily tenses before relaxing into my touch. I shoot the guy a look, maintaining a cool exterior even while, inside, I want to knock his fucking head off. “Sorry, buddy. This lovely lady is taken.”
I lift her hand to show off her ring.
“Right,” the guy murmurs, his cheeks going pink. “Sorry.”
As he turns and hurries away, Sutton arches a brow at me. “Was that really necessary?”
“Gotta keep up appearances,” I wink at her, turning her towards the corner where the guys are. “Eyes could be anywhere.”
A decent excuse that I latch onto so I don’t dwell on how pissed off seeing that guy talking to Sutton made me.
When we reach the guys, Grace and Rylee are already there. Rylee has sidled up next to Zander, breaking up his and Wilder’s fried chicken talk, and Grace is stealing Jensen’s darts. I wave my hand over to the bartender and he nods. A few moments later, a waitress makes her way over to us and hands me a drink, which I give to Sutton.
She accepts it, blinking in surprise. “Is this…an aperol spritz?”
I nod. “It is.”
“I love those.”
She takes a sip and grins and I look up to find Rylee and Grace watching us with raised brows and little smiles. I do my best to ignore them, but they keep shooting us amused looks that I don’t think Sutton notices.
After a few more rounds of alcoholic drinks for most of us—and some fun mocktails for Rylee—I notice Sutton’s eyes appear to be growing heavy. She's at the table now between Rylee and Grace, her chin propped in her hand as she does her best to stay alert and pay attention to what they’re saying.
“Hey, Sutton,” I say, coming up behind her. “It’s time to go.”
It comes out more of an order than a request, which I didn’t really mean for it to, but she just looks up at me and nods. I’msurprised by her easy trust and willingness to let me look out for her, but I like it. A lot.
“Okay, sounds good.” Standing, she gives Grace and Rylee each a smile. “Good night, you guys.”
“Good night,” they reply. Rylee waggles her brows and Sutton rolls her eyes and chuckles as she turns to me. I wave at the guys and wrap an arm around Sutton’s shoulders as I lead her through the bar to the door, not willing to give any other guy a chance to intercept her. I catch sight of the guy who was fawning over her earlier and glare at him with a smile. He immediately ducks his head and turns away.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: BURGERS AND FRIES
JAYCE
We get outsideand head to my car, and as I open the passenger side door for her, I ask, “You hungry? I noticed you didn’t eat anything back there.”
“Huh?” Her slightly surprised expression is kind of adorable. “Uh…yeah. I could eat.”
“Good. I know a place.”
She slides into the seat and I move around the car and get in behind the wheel. I punch Billy’s Diner into my GPS — Zander swears by the meatloaf, and Carson loves their burgers. It’s supposed to be a chill, simple place where we can just relax for a while. Besides, the great debate over the best fried chicken never got settled, from what I could hear, so I’ll stick with a spot I’ve already heard is great.
I drive a few streets down and park. As soon as I turn off the engine, her stomach lets out a loud growl.
