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I didn’t care about fitting in, but I had a feeling it might make the others uncomfortable. I opened up the group text to see they were already here. I asked where they were, and they stood up and waved, having just found a table for us, which was shocking given the amount of people here.

I joined them just as two pitchers of beer were delivered, and they jumped in with the million questions they had about my new place. Mostly, they wanted to hear about the new apartment and wondered if I had any gossip as to what happened to my old roommates. I didn’t... We’d never been friends. It wasn’t like they were gonna keep me up to date on who their new roommates were or if they were moving.

“It’s pretty cool there. It’s more like a neighborhood than an apartment building, if that makes sense.”

Paul downed his beer. “And by neighborhood, do you mean, like, picket fences?”

“How many beers have you had?” Oak asked.

“Are we counting beers now?” Paul poured himself another.

Great. Now we were going to have to babysit him because this wasn’t the kind of place to get sloppy drunk.

Chris ignored our drunk friend and continued with the interrogation. “You told us about the old guy. You told us about the kid. You told us about the banana bread. But what we really need to know is… are there any hotties, and are they single?”

My mind went to Radley. He was beyond hot, and each time I saw him, the attraction was greater. But he also had no interest in me, so bringing him up was only going to remind me that I wasn’t worthy in his eyes.

“Yeah. We’re all good-looking,” I teased.

Oak tapped the table in front of me. “There is a hottie, and you don’t wanna share, isn’t there.”

“I never said that.” Which wasn’t a lie.

“But you wanted to.” Oak saw too much. Ugh.

“Fine. There’s one hottie, and he’s, like, very hot. I don’t know if he’s single or not because he doesn’t talk to me.”

“As in you haven’t had a chance to have a conversation?” Chris asked.

“More as in he avoids me.” I looked down at the table, not wanting to see the pity in my friend’s eyes.

“Oh, that sucks,” Oak said.

And, of course, that was when I saw Radley out of the corner of my eye. He was here, sitting at a table not too far from us. How long had he been there?

“We’re moving on to a new topic.”

“What? What do you mean?” Oak turned behind him. “Wait. Is that him?”

“What do you mean, is that him? There are a thousand guys over there.” Had I been that obvious?

“If you say so, but there’s one that keeps looking at you, and he’s in the exact direction you were just staring at.”

He wasn’t looking at me. Or maybe he was. But it wasn’t for any reason other than recognition. He was sitting alone nursing a beer. How did I miss him coming in? Was he waiting for a friend? Was he looking for a hookup? He was free to do what he wanted, but I did not want to witness that. As much as I knew he didn’t like me, I never gave up hope that one day he would look at me differently.

“He’s all alone. We can go get him.” Paul started to stand, and I pushed his shoulder down.

“Paul. I... Drop it.”

The server came back with another pitcher, which was good because it distracted the guys. I finished my beer and half of another far too quickly. I usually didn’t drink this much, but it was easier to avoid answering questions by bringing my mug to my mouth than thinking of new ways to deflect. At this rate, the evening wasn’t going to end well. At best, I’d have a headache in the morning. At worst, I’d do something really stupid on the way home.

“Hey.” An alpha dragged a chair over to our table. “I was thinking about buying you a beer.”

“We’re good,” Paul said.

And the guy growled, like growl growled. What the fuck?

“I wasn’t talking to you, omega.” And then his eyes locked onto mine. “I was talking to you.”