“That’s true.”
“Then go. Grab life by the balls, and all that stuff you’re always telling me to do.” She gave me a meaningful look.
I glanced across the room at Dane. He was still sitting there, talking to Shane.
“So, when are you going over there?” she pressed.
“I can’t do it. My legs won’t work.”
My best friend smiled. “I have never seen you like this before.”
“It’s the hatred. It’s paralyzing. I’m afraid if I open my mouth, bad things will come out.”
Also… it felt weirdly unnerving, the idea of approaching him in public. Different than at the office. He was still my employer. But it felt like the lines were looser here. Plus, there was now tequila in my system.
Like, I might just feel a little too free to say whatever came to mind?
And if I did, I really didn’t want his BFF as a witness.
“Okay,” Katie said. “So let’s talk about that. Why do you hate him so much?”
“I don’t know. I just do. Didn’t you ever just despise someone right out of the gate?”
“Hmm. No.”
“Of course not. Because you’re you. I’m… just…urg. It’s complicated, okay? I can’t go over there right now.”
“Why?” she challenged.
“Okay, fine. Because you know the guy sitting with him right now, with all the bruises?”
“Uh-huh…”
“He was my grad date.”
“Oh, shit.” Katie’s eyes went wide. “The hockey player?”
“Yeah.”
“The plot thickens,” she said, clearly intrigued.
“Yeah.” I sighed and took a generous slurp of my margarita. “Unfortunately, it does.”
Chapter Twelve
Devi
Before I could fill Katie in any further, the love of her life appeared through the crowd, flanked by bodyguards. Katie instantly smiled in that flustered, blushing way she did whenever her husband showed up, like they’d only been together for a month or something.
“Hey, babe,” Jesse said. Then he tossed a grin my way. “Devi.”
“Hey, Jesse.” I finished my margarita while I waited. I knew the routine.
He slipped his arms around his wife and kissed her. For a while.
Jude, Jesse’s biker best friend and bodyguard, had stopped a few feet away, talking on his phone, and greeted me with a nod. Another biker type hung back with him. I didn’t recognize him, but there were so many guys on Jude’s crew, I didn’t even try to keep up.
Finally, Jesse and Katie tore themselves away from each other and he slipped off his jacket. “What’s going on?” he asked, like he smelled juicy girl talk in the air.
