Max ditched me within seconds, going straight to Amy and sweeping her off her feet. Jealousy panged. It was a common feeling when seeing my twin with girls. What was odd was the reason behind it. It wasn’t because he was making out with a girl.
It was the ease of their connection. The surety and confidence he had to just be able to stroll through a crowded room and claim her as his.
Would I ever have that?
Tearing my gaze away, I searched through the countless bodies. I tried to tell myself I was looking for Josh or Craig, but even after I located them, my eyes kept moving.
The crowd parted and there was Dominic. Right in the centre of the room, the red bulbs illuminating the sharp lines of his face.
And the girl in his arms.
I couldn’t move as I watched them gyrate. They weren’t kissing, just dancing. Somehow that was worse. If his lips had been against hers, I wouldn’t have been able to see the heat in his eyes. The laser focus I was used to being aimed my way.
Max was wrong. Dominic wasn’t sulking or missing me.
He was just fine.
This is what you wanted, right? To have a way out of this toxic fuck-up without having a conversation?
It had been, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“Here.” I jumped as a cold bottle of beer was pressed into my hand. Max was beside me, Amy having been distracted by her friends.
My twin followed my gaze, giving a soft laugh. “Guess I was wrong. Whatever Dominic’s stressing about has nothing to do with you.”
His words pierced my heart. Because he was right. I might’ve been tearing myself into pieces over whatever had happened with me and Dominic, but I’d been the only one.
Evidently, Dominic didn’t give a shit.
“I’m gonna go,” I muttered, trying to give the bottle back to Max. “This was stupid.”
Amy popped up at Max’s shoulder, her eyes wide like a puppy’s. “No! You can’t leave, the party’s just getting started.”
Max shot me a warning look and I just rolled my eyes. I’d stay, but only because Amy was sweet and I couldn’t say no to her. Not when her lower lip was literally wobbling. “Okay, I guess I can stay for a bit.”
“Yay.” She clapped her hands together.
A new song started and saved me from further conversation. She gave a squeal, tugging a reluctant Max towards the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room. The volume was kicked up several notches as the hot and sultry beat beckoned others to join them.
Me? I retreated to the wall. I’d promised Amy I’d stay for a bit, and I would.
Precisely until I’d finished this drink. I didn’t even fucking like beer, but I’d take anything to numb the feelings rushing through me.
With one foot leaning on the wall, I took a slow drink of my beer.Don’t look at them. Don’t torture yourself.
Maybe I was a secret masochist, because that’s exactly what I did.
It didn’t help that they were now directly in my eyeline. The girl was Gabriella, I realised. Someone both Dominic and Max had talked about at length in the past. Exchanging sordid details about what they’d do to her if she ever gave them the time of day.
Looked like that time had come for Dominic.
Gabriella’s back was to me, her long, dark hair brushing against Dominic’s hands. The hands I’d drawn so often I could do so from memory alone.
The hands that spanned her entire waist.
Dominic hadn’t seen me. I was standing right in front of him, and I might as well have been invisible.
If that wasn’t a metaphor for my entire life so far, I didn’t know what was.
