Yet another sign that love turned the most level-headed of people into fools. It was enough to make a man want to hunt Cupid down and string the bastard up using his own arrows.
Aggravation expanded in my chest. “Don’t start with me. At least I didn’t give up my company to follow a girl around for a year in hopes she would spare me a second glance.”
“Yet I have the girl and you’re sitting on a couch arguing with her friends’ significant others,” Alex said mildly. “If you don’t have feelings for Stella, you wouldn’t be so worked up over it.”
“Exactly.” Josh nodded like he knew me even though we’d exchanged a total of five words prior to today.
My smile was pure ice. “I would spend more time improving your chess skills and less worrying about other people’s business, Josh. I’ve beat Alex in chess. Have you?”
Josh’s smile disappeared. “What do you mean, you’ve beat Alex in chess? When did you play chess together?” He whipped his head toward Alex. “You’ve been playing chess with someone else?”
Alex closed his eyes briefly before he opened them and glared at me, his expression filled with frost-tipped venom.
My smile widened. “We have a standing chess date every month.” I swirled my drink in my glass. “Didn’t he tell you?”
Josh looked stricken. “You have another, secret best friend? But…I’m your best friend! I bought you a banana float for your bachelor party!”
“I don’t want a banana float, and he’s not my best friend.” Alex’s glare intensified.
I shrugged, my meaning clear. What can you do? C’est la vie.
It wasn’t my fault he was so antisocial that his best friend freaked out at him spending time with someone else.
“I can’t believe it. Standing chess date,” Josh muttered furiously. “Was that why you wouldn’t watch the latest Marvel movie with me? Because you know I’ve been dying to see that movie for weeks…”
Rhys was too busy laughing to pay attention to the drama unfolding less than three feet away.
“Wait till I tell Bridget. She’s going to love this.”
My temporary good mood evaporated. “You won’t tell her shit.”
“Sure I won’t.” His big frame shook with mirth.
My back teeth clenched with aggravation.
If there was one thing I despised, besides incompetence and Valentine’s Day, it was people digging into my personal business.
Once upon a time, Alex and Rhys would agree. Now, they were too whipped by their other halves to conduct themselves with a modicum of self-respect. Alex making a joke? Rhys giving up his privacy for a lifetime of paparazzi and ribbon cuttings?
It was nauseating.
Stella and I were different.
I didn’t love her, but I wanted her with an intensity that left the flimsy, overused concept of love in the dust. It wasn’t sweet or saccharine. There were no rainbows or unicorns, only desire edged with roughness and darkness.
Hot June days. Secret smiles. Turquoise.
I’d waited a long time.
Eventually, I would catch her, and once I did, I was never letting her go.