Page 97 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

He looks at us, hesitates for a beat, and stands. I don’t follow him. My attention is already back on the beautifully feral woman in my lap.

“You having fun?” I ask her.

“Absolutely,” she says and kisses me.

My hold on her tightens as I bring my other hand up to her jaw and pull her closer to me. She smiles into my mouth.

“You’re cute,” I say when she pulls back.

She tilts her head. “You sort of are too.”

“Katie?”

A male voice behind her. She turns in my lap, then—

“Oh my god!” She jumps up. “Trenton!”

She crashes into him, arms around him as he pulls her tight. My jaw ticks.

“Michael,” she says, still wrapped around whoever the fuck Trenton is. “Come here. I want you to meet someone.”

I push to my feet, setting my drink down, already over it.

“Trent, this is my boyfriend, Michael.”

He offers his hand. I let it sit there for a beat before I take it.

“Nice to meet you, man,” he says.

Katie doesn’t let go of him.

I nod once. “How do you two know each other?”

“Trent and I went to middle school and high school together,” she says, smiling up at him.

“Yeah,” he says, laughing. “Katie is the sole reason I passed senior lit.”

“Stop,” she says, hitting his chest. “I’m pretty sure your speech on mustaches through history really put you over the top.”

“Oh, shit. I forgot about that.”

They laugh like I’m not standing right here. I want to knock his fucking teeth in.

“Sounds like you two knew each other pretty well.”

They glance at each other and laugh again.

“Katie and I dated junior and senior year.”

There it is. Katie flips her ponytail, shrugs it off, and moves back to me, sliding her arm through mine.

“Clearly I have better taste now,” she says, smiling.

“Ouch,” Trent says, pressing a hand to his chest, laughing.

Fuck you, Trent.

He looks between us, then over his shoulder. “I better get back to my group,” he says, still smiling. “It was really great seeing you, Katie.”