Dear Lord, please stop this before I puke.
“Hey, Aurelia,” Seb greets the other woman who came in with Kaeli and Andie, the Spanish lilt in his tone more evident than ever. Everyone at the table locks their eyes on him as he sits there with a grin on his face.
“You know her?” Levi questions what all of us are curious about.
Ezra shakes his head and sips on his drink. What’s that about? Why do I feel like I’m missing something?
“Hey, Casanova,” Aurelia—as Seb called her—responds to Seb, both ignoring the rest of us, the tension between them making itself known.
Oliver sprays his drink on the table and then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, looking at her with eyes wide as a saucer. “Wait! I know you. You’re his girlfriend!” He practically leaps out of his seat, pointing at heras if his words make any sense.
Aurelia rolls her eyes at him, waving his observation like it’s not important. “Whose girlfriend?” Levi tilts his head, wondering what is going on here.
Same boat, pal.
“Jackson’s! Jackson Davis, the goalie for the New York Falcons,” Oliver elaborates, and when my gaze swings to Seb, I find the most murderous expression I have ever seen on his face.
Screw that!
I’ve never seen anything but a smile on the rookie’s face. So, the energy wafting off of him right now is definitely out of the ordinary.
At the mention of the Falcons, I also feel Ezra stiffening beside me. Kaeli catches onto that too because she gently rubs circles on his back where no one can see, whispering something in his ears.
For Ezra, I understand. Though I’m not aware of the whole backstory, I know there’s bad blood between him and Falcon’s center, Cillian O’Neill. He used to be Ezra’s best friend in college, but they had a falling out and now they’re ready to bury each other whenever they’re in the same room.
Andie sighs and formally introduces the woman. “Everyone, this is Aurelia, my best friend. Aurelia, you’ve already met Ezra and Sebastian, it seems like. This is Oliver, this is Levi, and this is Noah,” she says, pointing out everyone but passing over me so quickly and without even a glance that even Aurelia cocks an eyebrow at her friend’s reaction, though she wisely chooses to stay quiet. “Though I’m sure you do know their names,” Andie adds, chuckling at herself.
When no one picks up the conversation, ruminating awkwardly in silence, Kaeli is the first one to break the intense stare off all of us seem to be caught in—Seb at Aurelia and her at him, while Oliver and Levi stare at her too. Me at Andie, because where else would I look? She seems to be my center of gravity, my true north, or whatever one would call it. While she does all she can to avoid my eyes.
Kaeli claps her hands and informs, “Alright, I need a drink. Let’s go. I’ll be back, darling.” She pecks Ezra on the lips and steers the women to the bar, while the man practically melts beside me.
Talk about awkward. Well, that’s nothing newwhen you are surrounded by men who speak before they think half the time.
Unbothered by the tension, I do all I can to not overtly stare at the sway in Andie’s curvy hips as she sashays away. The extra sway ignites the heat in my chest, bringing a smirk to my lips, which I hide behind the rim of the glass, sipping on my beer.
I love the confidence she’s wearing tonight, even though she hates my guts.
I can’t do much to rectify it, because honestly, she’d be better off without me. I can’t offer her shit, and all that comes to people closest to me is pain. I’m a dark hole of sadness, hurt, and loneliness. She doesn’t wanna end up anywhere near me.
What Icando is soak her in because who knows, it may be my last time.
* * *
We’ve been in the bar for a couple of hours now, and I’ve never wanted to kill anyone more than I want to kill that douche bag who has been talking Andie up for the last hour.
I knew it would be torture—watching Andie move on.
Butfuck, I didn’t think it would be this unbearable to watch her merely laugh with someone who’s not me.
It’s taking all of me not to march up right there and lay a claiming kiss on those lips that are spread too wide in a smile for a man who’s not me.
I’m perfectly aware that I sound deranged and that what I want to do is impossible.
So, I stay rooted to my seat, crushing the glass in my hand and wishing it were the dude’s neck instead. Who does he think he is, flirting with her with his dark hair, charming smile, and perfect fucking teeth?
I grind my teeth, clenching my jaw so hard that I’m amazed it hasn’t snapped yet, when Andie throws back her head in a laugh, her cheeks flushing with how much she has laughed in the last hour.
“Just a little more force, and I’m sure that you’ll crush that glass with your bare hands,” Kaeli throws at me, nudging her shoulder lightly into mine as she sits in Ezra’s seat.