And from my understanding, Stone’s got a one-year-old.
I blink, the alcohol hitting me harder than it should. Or maybe it’s the heat.
Which would mean…
“You’re having an affair?”
“It’s not like that, Trey, I swear, I—”
I feel hurt but also strangely relieved. Suddenly so many things make sense, but before I can say anything, Alex bumps into us, handing us both drinks. I don’t know what it is, just that it’s not beer. The glasses are small and filled with blue liquid.
“What’s this?” I ask as he toasts us.
“Blue Balls.” He laughs. “That’s what it said on the menu anyway.”
I take a sip as Mandy lets go of me.
Reid and the guys come up behind Alex, dispersing onto the dance floor.
“Hey, Mandy, you have a minute to talk about that endorsement deal?” Stone asks, trying to appear nonchalant, but he’s been drinking just as much as the rest of us, so it is quite apparent how thinly veiled his excuse is.
Part of me wants to shove him away, tell him to fuck off, but then I see the vulnerability in his eyes. The way he looks at her.
Like he’d do anything just for her tolookat him.
I know that feeling, too.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it for the moment.
I look at Alex, and the words make it out of my throat, resting on my tongue.
There are so many questions in my brain, questions he could help me answer.
Or maybe it would just be easier to tell everyone else if I tell Alex first.
If I can trust him with my secret.
Something tells me I can, but it’s still terrifying to think about.
“Alex, can we, uh…. Can we talk?”
Alex looks at me with a raised eyebrow as he texts someone.
“Yeah, sure,” he says, holding his phone up.
“Smile, Kelly,” he says.
Click.
“Maybe later,” Mandy says.
Stone looks hurt and I have half a mind to offer him a deal of my own, but… I won’t.
Mandy’s my friend. And as much as I could use the commission, because landing Stone would be huge for Nutri-Go,I realize as I stand here with my friends how the idea holds no value to me anymore. Not really.
This—this world of travel and parties and contracts, and dollar signs, it’s… it’s not who I am anymore.
Later never comes, though. For Stone and Mandy, or for Alex and I.
