Closing my eyes, I let out a long exhale. I’m not nervous about meeting his family, I’m nervous because I think he may have just put the final nail in our coffin if he hadn’t already.
“I’m not?—”
Nik grabs my arm. “Come on, before someone steals our table!”
My gaze flicks to Tucker, but he doesn’t say anything like he’s waiting for me to decide. The problem is, I don’t think I know what the right thing is to do in this situation.
I assume he’ll want to sit with his friends from his own chapter on the other side of the room. The different chapters don’t really mingle that much. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why they all get together at these things in the first place. Their club has its own bar, they could’ve just hung out there tonight.
Should I be sitting with him? I don’t want to. This ismyplace.Myfriends. We’ve been hanging out at the pool table in the corner since we all graduated high school.That’swhere I want to be.
“You can sit with us if you want,” I say, almost praying he says no but trying to hide it from my voice. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of it.
His mouth turns down, and his shoulders sink just a hair. “It’s fine. I owe one of my guys a beer.” He clears his throat, standing up a little taller. “I’ll find you later.”
Hesitating for only a moment, I chew the inside of my lip before nodding and kissing his cheek. As I rush off with Nik my lungs seem to expand a little easier with each step, and I finally catch my breath by the time we make it to our table.
I really am an asshole.
Hurting him has never been my intention, but that feels almost inevitable at this point. It feels like shit, quite frankly.
Determined to put it aside for the time being and enjoy the party, I pull a pool stick from the rack and beam, lifting a brow at the boys.
“Shane…?” I draw his name out, wiggling my shoulders.
From a nearby couch, he throws his hands up. “Fuck that! I’ve had my ass kicked enough.”
Nik chuckles, flopping down on his lap and tossing her arms around his neck.
“J?” I turn toward JT, who’s leaning on a high-top table.
“Alright.” He raps his knuckles on the surface before standing to his full height and lifting his baseball cap to sweep his chestnut hair back.
He puts the hat back on backward.
JT’s a big bastard—tall and built like a brick shithouse. His caramel eyes light, and he plucks the toothpick he was chewing on out of his mouth and tosses it on the table as his girlfriend approaches.
“No! Absolutely not!” Katie scolds, storming up to him. “The two of you do this every time.”
A mischievous grin appears on his face. “What?”
She hands him a beer, glaring like she isn’t a foot and a half shorter. “You and Lily! You’re too competitive, and you ruin everything for the rest of us. We don’t want to listen to it!”
I laugh, thinking about how our simple game of pool turned into a yelling match just last weekend, but that wasn’t my fault. He always accuses me of cheating, which just isn’t true. The big dipshit just can’t stand to lose.
JT places a hand on his chest indignantly. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m not competitive.”
She rolls her eyes, and he tucks a strand of her shoulder-length dark hair behind her ear before she smacks his hand away.
The two of them have been together since high school. They seem good now but give it an hour or two and they’ll be the ones shouting. They’re like oil and water—if oil and water also fucked like rabbits and forgot how to use condoms.
They only have two kids, but both pregnancies happened while they were broken up.
Whoops.
I put up three fingers. “Best behavior, I promise.”
“Liar,” Gabe barks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.