Because I’d been playing nice, but now it was time to go in for the kill.
FOUR
“I’m telling you, man, the blonde’s been eye-fucking you for the past twenty minutes,” Liam said, taking a swig of his beer and nodding toward the table across the bar. “And her brunette friend keeps looking at me like she wants to climb me like a tree.”
I glanced over at the two girls Liam was talking about. They were both hot, but the blonde caught my eye and gave me a smile that was pure invitation.
“Not bad,” I admitted, turning back to my own beer. “Though I’m pretty sure that brunette would eat you alive.”
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.” Liam grinned and stood up. “Come on, let’s go say hi. You need to get out of your own head.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve been weird since the auction thing. All brooding and shit.” He nudged me. “Look, I get that Harper gets under your skin, but you’ve never let her stop you before. And yet, I can’t remember the last time you left Murphy’s with a girl, which is not the norm for you.”
No, it wasn’t. And yet, despite my best efforts, I hadn’tbeen able to follow through on a hookup since the auction. And that block had only gotten worse since her recital last weekend. I’d never seen her like that before. Sure, I’d seen her play her violin plenty of times, but what she did on that stage was something different. It was like she was in a world of her own and I felt every feeling she did.
Which was probably why I’d felt the need to dig at her when she got off that stage, glowing brighter than the sun with warmth and happiness. Except I’d never expected for her to react the way she did—like I’d physically hit her. I watched her warmth evaporate faster than water on the sidewalk on a one hundred-degree day.
I’d struck a nerve I hadn’t known was exposed, and instead of feeling victorious for one-upping her, I felt lower than pond scum.
I didn’t understand it and couldn’t explain it to save my life. But Liam was right about one thing—I had never let Harper get in the way of me living my best life, and I shouldn’t start now.
He smacked my arm and nodded his head toward the girls, so I followed him, mostly because I didn’t want to sit alone nursing my beer while he charmed his way into someone’s pants. They looked up as we approached, and the blonde’s smile widened.
“Hey there,” she said, her voice overly enthusiastic in a way that felt unnatural. “I’m Tatum, and this is my friend Sienna.”
“Drew,” I said, sliding into the booth next to her. “And this is Liam.”
“We know who you are,” Sienna said, giving Liam an appraising look. “Hockey team, right? I was at the bachelor auction a couple of weeks ago. That was quite the show.”
My jaw tightened involuntarily. The fucking bachelorauction. Where it felt like all my problems had started—even though that wasn’t even close to the truth since Harper and I had been trying to one-up each other for years. Why the fuck was I still thinking about her when I had a hot blonde in front of me? I put on my most charming smile. “Hope you enjoyed it.”
“Oh, we did.” Tatum moved closer to me, her hand finding my arm. “Though I have to say, I was disappointed someone else snatched you up.”
“Well, lucky for you, I’m available tonight,” I said, falling back into the familiar rhythm of flirtation. This was easy. This was what I was good at.
The conversation flowed easily enough—Tatum was a business major, and Sienna was in education. They were both juniors who lived in one of the nicer apartment complexes off campus. Standard sorority girl territory. After about an hour and several more drinks, Tatum leaned in close enough that I could smell her vanilla perfume.
“So,” she said, her voice dropping to what she probably thought was a seductive whisper, “Sienna and I were thinking about heading back to our place. Want to come keep us company?”
Perfect. This was exactly what I needed—a night of uncomplicated fun with a girl who didn’t know about family feuds or have opinions about my character. A girl who wouldn’t challenge me or make me question every decision I’d ever made.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
“Let me just hit the ladies’ room first,” Tatum said, standing up. “Sienna, you coming?”
“Yeah, be right back, boys,” Sienna said with a wink.
I watched them walk away, admiring the view, while Liam leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin.
“See? Told you this was what you needed,” he said.
“And like always, you were right,” I said with a laugh. No one knew me better then Liam.
We talked about our upcoming hockey games while we waited for Tatum and Sienna. Liam frowned and I followed his sight line to see them making their way back across the bar.
But something was different. Tatum’s flirtatious smile had been replaced by a cool, distant expression, and Sienna looked downright uncomfortable. They stopped at our table, but neither of them sat down.
