“Nothing.” I cover it up with another gulp from my beer. “Hey, just wondering, you know… Her ex-boyfriend hasn’t shown up again, sniffing around, has he?”
“No. Why you asking?”
“Nada. Just curious.” And seeing Seth in pain brought it all back—the phone call I got from him, his slurred, gasping voice asking me for help, finding him beaten up and bleeding on the sidewalk… Yeah, I was the one who found him. No wonder I feel kinda responsible for his recovery.
“Talking of chicks…” Shane shakes back his dark mane and winks, then glances over his shoulder.
What the fuck is he doing? And who’s talking of chicks anyway?
Then I see her.
Not Amber, unfortunately. God knows I’ve pictured her so often in my mind’s eye lately that I wouldn’t be surprised to see her appear out of thin smoke. No, this girl is blond and curvier. Pretty, I guess.
“Cassie,” Seth says, and there’s a strange note in his voice that makes me turn to look at him. Only he hides his expression by taking a long swig from his beer—an old trick—and before I have time to analyze it, based on my expertise on human emotions, har har very funny, Cassie is making a beeline toward us.
Toward me.
Talk about awkward.
“What a coincidence, finding you here,” she says and gets into my private space without missing a beat. Her blond hair is caught in a swinging ponytail, and she has silver loops hanging from her ears. She’s dressed in a red top that isn’t much bigger than a bra and a mini skirt that’s showing off her shapely legs. Dressed to kill.
“Yeah, I bet ya didn’t expect me,” I drawl as her warm flesh presses against me. I take a step back, trying to discreetly put some distance between us. “Whatcha doing here?”
“Oh, sorry, did I bust into an only-boys evening?” Her smile is anything but repentant. She knows damn well what she’s doing, this girl, and normally it would have turned me on like nobody’s business.
But it’s not working, not tonight. Somehow, not anymore.
“Is Ev with you?” Micah asks, whose mind is so stuck on one girl only, it’s kinda funny.
“She said she’ll be by in half an hour. I came with Manon, but she’s at the bar over there, chatting up the bartender.” She bats her lashes at me.
Crap.
Cassie is here on a mission, time frame calculated and target set. Realizing the target is me isn’t too big of a leap. I mean, she’s still advancing on me even as I’m retreating. I’ve always attracted people, both chicks and boys somehow. I learned to take advantage of it, work with it. Own it.
I had no other choice, and on certain days I forget I now do.
“Hey, Cass, you’re going to Asher’s wedding, right?” Seth asks, momentarily distracting her.
She glances at him, her eyes gleaming below lashes that seem long like a rail. Can’t be natural, right? “Yeah, I guess.” She turns back to me. “If Jesse’s going.”
Holy shit. I also glance at Seth, hoping he can read my mind and get her off my hands, but he’s staring at her with a heavy frown, his neck reddening.
No good.
So I turn to Shane, who catches my eye, lifts a brow, and then nods.
“I’m going out for a smoke,” I mutter and back away, into the crowd.
“Um, I think I’ll join you. I’m—”
“Tell me something, Cass.” Shane steps around the pool table and inserts his tall body smoothly between her and me. “Do you play pool? Wanna bet I can beat you with one arm tied behind my back?”
What the hell, is that line supposed to work? I walk away quickly, before she sidesteps him and comes after me, but a look over my shoulder shows her with a cue in one hand.
What do you know… Maybe she’s shifted her focus to Shane? Chicks often seem fascinated by his long hair and exotic features.
Feeling sorry for Shane, I shove between people, earning a few shoves back. I make it to the back entrance of the bar and step out, onto the street, patting my pockets for my smokes.