“I am clueless as to who this Olivia person is, and I don’t care. Bad manners are bad manners from where I’m standing. You all need to leave,” he said.
One of the women got out her phone.
“You go on and do that and see how far it gets you,” Nash growled.
“You’ll see who wins this war!” one of them called from a safe distance as they ran away.
“You all right, Luna?” Mandy asked.
“Sure. I’ve had worse.” Luna shrugged free of Nash’s grip. She did not need that man touching her now in case she burst into flames.
They’d made out in an alley.Her cheeks flushed just thinking about it, and she never blushed.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, but thanks for supporting me,” Luna managed to get out as articulately as she could. “But it’s best you don’t going forward. It just makes things messy.”
“That’s not how this thing called friends works,” Charlie said, her eyes still on the women.
“I’m used to it, you’re not.” Luna felt uncomfortable. “What are you all doing here anyway?”
“Mallory said she saw those women talking to you and felt like they weren’t being friendly, so she came to tell us,” Maggie said. “And good thing she did. I think things were about to get ugly.”
“They really weren’t. I would have handled it.”
“Does that happen often?” Nash asked her.
“Just part of who I am. No big deal.” She couldn’t meet his eyes, so she spoke to his left ear. “I’m going back to the Lodge.”
“No, you’re going to the chocolate place, and it’s a huge fucking deal. Those women wanted a piece of you.” Nash grabbed her wrist again.
“Let me go,” she whispered as they fell in behind the others.
“Stop fighting me. I’m not letting you go in case those women come at you again.”
She shot him a look; his jaw was clenched, muscles bunching.
“They won’t, and I don’t want you touching me,” she hissed.
“You didn’t say that when I had my hand up your skirt.”
“Shut up,” she hissed. Shaking free of his grip, Luna walked into the chocolate shop feeling a hundred different emotions. She was humbled that these people had come to her rescue. Embarrassed and yes aroused over what she’d done with Nash. Worried that she was in fact losing her mind.
Luna had always thought the life she’d created for herself was exactly what she wanted it to be, but right in that moment, she wasn’t sure. Yes, she didn’t have to deal with the messy emotions that came with relationships, but she also didn’t get the warmth and love that came from belonging.
She had Charlie, and Hugo and Lilly, but not a group of people like these ones. Her head hurt from all the conflicting emotions assaulting her. Maybe she should just head back to Chicago to what she knew.
“You’re not the asshole I thought you were,” Charlie said from behind her. Luna turned to see she was talking to Nash.
He grunted something back, his eyes on Luna.
“Actually, Charlie, I might—”
“If the next word out of your mouth is leave, Luna, that’s not happening.” Her friend took her hand and pulled her along behind her.
“I don’t want any more trouble,” Luna said.
“There won’t be in here.”
Luna wasn’t so sure. In fact, she had a feeling something large was about to go down in her life. It unsettled her that she had no clue what it was.