His eyebrow lifted, amused. “Is that a bet?”
“What’s the wager?”
“If I get Paisley to give up her crusade, you give up on Kaylor for good. No more ogling her ass. No more comparing every girl to her. No more fantasizing about sleeping with her. You let it go and move on.”
My jaw worked. “What are you giving up if you lose?” Which he definitely would. There was no way in this fucking lifetime Paisley would give Mason the time of day. It seemed like a sure bet from where I stood.
“Then I won’t say another thing about your obsession with your brother’s girlfriend.” He held my gaze. “No more interventions. No more lectures. I’ll let you self-destruct in peace.”
“I’m not obsessed.”
“Uh-huh.” Mason’s expression didn’t change. “And taking pictures of her when she’s not looking isn’t considered stalking.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “That was?—”
“Obsessive,” he finished. “Creepy. Pick your adjective.”
“You’re such a dick.”
He laughed, genuinely this time, and reached for his door handle. “Come on. Try to have fun tonight. That’s all I’m asking. One night where you’re not brooding in corners thinking about girls you can’t have. You’re starting to remind me of Kreed.”
Snorting, I took off my seat belt and sat for a second longer than necessary, staring at the church through the windshield.Light spilled from the broken windows, making the church less nightmarish, but something about the night felt off, like threads were tightening instead of loosening.
“You coming?” Mason called from outside the car, door hanging open.
“Yeah.” I pushed my door open and stepped out into the warm August night, the air smelling of pine, dirt, and the faint metallic tang of beer already being spilled.
Mason headed toward the entrance, hands in his pockets, confident stride never faltering, and as I followed him toward the noise and the chaos he thrived in, I couldn’t shake the uneasiness in my gut or clear the face of the new girl from my head. It had been months since another girl other than Kaylor entered my thoughts. What was it about this girl I couldn’t rattle free?
Hudson shoved a red cup into my hand when I crossed the threshold. “About time you fuckers showed. You’re behind. Gonna need a few to catch up.”
“Not a problem.” I lifted the drink to my mouth and slammed it back in three swallows, the liquid burning down my throat. Cheap vodka mixed with something sweet. I didn’t even taste it really, and it didn’t do a damn thing to quiet my head either.
Seeing Hales with Paisley tonight struck a nerve. I didn’t like it, but I also couldn’t figure out why.
I swore under my breath, the words lost in the pulse of music vibrating through the stone walls.
Maybe Mason was right. Maybe I needed a distraction. A real one. Something that would shove Kaylor and Hales both out of my head and give me room to breathe.
I scanned the church, eyes cutting through bodies packed too close together and the haze of smoke and vape clouds hanging in the air, looking for someone who could make me forget not justKaylor but Hales too. Two different problems that had somehow taken up residence in my skull.
I wasn’t sure how the hell that had happened, but I didn’t have the mental bandwidth Mason did to juggle multiple girls. He thrived on the attention and attraction. For him, it was fuel.
For me, it was drowning.
I pushed through the crowd toward a folding table stacked with bottles, red cups, and crushed beer cans. Grabbing another drink without looking at what it was, I turned to find three girls had materialized near the table. They smiled at me, reaching for a drink. One of them brushed their breasts against me deliberately, the invitation obvious.
Well, isn’t this just convenient as fuck.Turned out I didn’t even have to try. They came to me.
Hell, Mas could have sent them over. Regardless, I didn’t care anymore.
The blonde with glossy lips and a low-cut top came closer to me, her hand landing on my forearm, fingers trailing up toward my biceps. “Hey,” she said, voice pitched to carry over the noise. “You’re Maddox, right?”
I should probably know her name, but I honestly couldn’t recall ever seeing her at Public before, but that wasn’t saying much. I downed the second drink in one long pull. “Yeah.”
“I’m Jessica.” She smiled, showing a set of perfectly pearly white teeth. “We had chemistry together last year. Third period?”
I had no idea who she was. Didn’t recognize her face and didn’t remember seeing her in any class. But it mattered little to me whether I knew her or not. Hell, it was fucking better if I didn’t. I reached out and grabbed her hand, the one still touching my arm, and laced our fingers together. “Come on,” I said, already pulling her away from her friends, away from the noise. It didn’t matter which one I chose, not to me.
