“Sorry, Jas,” she waved over her shoulder with a laugh as he led her away. “Duty calls!”
I smiled and waved back but was thankful for the interruption. I didn’t want to talk about my family. I didn’t want to talk about myself. I didn’t want to answer any inane questions about when I might find Mr. Right or who in the hell he might be.
My reasons for being there were to support my friend, Muriel, at her cousin’s wedding, make up the numbers, and wish the bride and groom good luck.
And also, let’s be honest, for the free food and wine. That was a big draw, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it—at least not within the privacy of my own thoughts.
With Muriel and Poppy seemingly distracted, I wandered around the tables and tried to find my name on the little cards set in front of each seat.
And of course, I happened to look up in time to see Tanya Stevenson, the mother of my high school nemesis, glaring at me as she walked in a step ahead of her son.
Ugh.
Just... ugh.
Of all the people I didn’t want to see, Axel Stevenson—and his mom, for that matter—sat at the very top of the list. Yeah, they shared the top slot right along with his best friend, Micah Walsh. Numero uno. All three of them.
In fact, I was more than a little surprised that I didn’t see Micah right there next to Axel. They’d been attached at the hip since forever, but that might have changed in the years since I’d been gone.
I turned with a huff and started walking in the other direction. I didn’t want to have a confrontation with Axel or his rude mother, but if I heard either of them talking their usual shit, there was no guarantee I’d be able to bite my tongue, so... probably for the best if I stayed on the other side of the room.
Like, way on the other side.
At least the scenery over there met my approval. Broad shoulders and a nice ass were just exactly what I hoped to find to pass the weekend, and only a few feet in front of me. So what if I couldn’t see his face. With a build like that, I didn’t need to.
Still, I lingered a little too long, eyeing him up, placing bets with myself as to whether his face would actually live up to the rest of him.
The good news was once he turned to look back in my direction: Yeah, he was hot. Really hot.
The bad news: The broad shoulders, killer smile, and amazing ass belonged to none other than Micah Walsh.
Because, of course, it had to be him. That was how my life worked. Just when I thought I might have something good within my sight... it actually turned out to be shit.
In this case, a guy I might have considered hooking up with to pass a little time while in town turned out to be one of the worst high school bullies. If it hadn’t been for Poppy and Muriel, I definitely would have dropped out of school as soon as I was old enough, and this dude was reason number one.
And okay, we had all grown and matured since then.
Hopefully.
But those two guys spent so many years making my life miserable that never speaking to them again seemed the perfect outcome.
God, where were my girls when I needed them to bail me out?
Oh, right. One was talking to the town baker and the other with some long-lost acquaintance from our high school days.
Leaving me on my own to make the best of it.
I grimaced at Micah and turned back around again, hoping that Tanya and Axel had moved on, but no such luck. Axel’s eyes locked onto mine from the other side of the room, momentarily freezing me in my tracks.
So this is the experience a deer in headlights must go through. Great. Good to know.
My cheeks heated up as my fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. And since fighting wasn’t really an option...
I needed to find my name card and sit the hell down before I embarrassed myself. As long as I could just sit next to someone—anyone but those two guys—and make some polite inane conversation while I chugged two or three glasses of wine, I would be just fine.
Because honestly? Once I’d collected my thoughts enough to think about it?
Whatever Axel or Micah thought of me didn’t worry me one bit.
To hell with them.
So what if I’d been caught accidentally checking out Micah’s ass? Even if I’d cut my own tongue out before admitting it out loud. Objectively speaking, he had a fabulous ass, and I was a woman with perfectly good vision.
And Axel... well, to tell the truth, he looked pretty good too. Objectively speaking. But again, it didn’t matter because those words would never cross my lips.