I’d rather remove my eyeballs with a Q-tip, light them on fire, and shove them back in my head than sit across from Alex in those pants.
Mo pulled me close, but instead of giving me the noogie I’d been prepared for, he laid a loud, smacking kiss on the top of my head and whispered for me to be nice tonight.
“I’m a boss!”
Maeve laughed. “You’ve been whoopin’ my ass for too long. I concede.”
“No, you can’t. One more round.” I batted my lashes, to no avail. Maeve abandoned me to go sit with her husband, who’d been keeping one eye on her the entire time we’d been playing darts. As sweet and adorable as Mo and Michaela were, Maeve and Santi were smoldering, even a couple years into their relationship, and I loved that for them. I also loved them both enough not to be jealous, even though I could use a little smolder in my life. Or a lot. I wasn’t sure I’d ever had any.
Haven handed me her drink to hold, then lined up her shot. “I’m determined to take you down.”
“Just picture the board as Scott Porter’s face.”
Her shot landed sure and true in the middle of the board. She grinned at me, taking her drink back. “Whose face are you picturing when you throw? The ex? Or someone more current?” When I didn’t answer as quickly as I should have, she kept guessing. “I think I know who it is.”
I brought my drink to my lips. “You don’t.”
“Would it be the man in vinyl you’ve been bending over backward not to look at all night?”
“Sure. Throwing darts at Alex brings me great joy.”
She cocked her hip, studying me. “You are a closed book, Yael.”
Surprised at her statement, my brow pinched. “Am I?”
“Mmmhmmm.” She took a drink of her beer. “You are. First, you were nearly engaged, and neither Maeve nor I had ever even heard of the guy. And this grudge or bad blood or whatever you call it that you have with Murray...you’re not exactly forthcoming about the cause. We’re friends and I love you, but I barely know anything about you.”
She was right, even though I’d never really thought about it. Maybe because I was constantly surrounded by people who knew every little thing about each other. Or maybe because I’d grown up with a mother who took oversharing to the next level. Whatever the reason, I was fairly self-contained. Moses was my closest confidant, and while he knew a lot, there was a whole lot hedidn’tknow.
My wandering eyes drifted to Alex long enough for him to notice and give me a crooked grin as he raised his beer. Averting my gaze, I focused on Haven.
“Alex and I...we could have been friends. I thought we would be, but circumstances changed. Turned out he wasn’t who I’d desperately wanted him to be.”
Haven’s blink was long, her gaze assessing. “Was this when you were teenagers?”
“Yes.” I could have poured my guts out, but I didn’t. There was a lot more to my ill-feelings toward Alex than him laughing at an old picture of me, but even I didn’t quite understand it all. “That’s when it started. We’re oil and water. We’re bound to collide and separate. It’s just who we are.”
“All right, girl. I can see I’ll have to ply you with a lot more drinks to get you to spill the real tea.” She linked her arm with mine. “Let’s go sit down and see what our friends are up to.”
I let her drag me to our table where she shoved me into the booth beside Alex, blocking me in by sitting on my other side.
“How’s darts?” Alex asked as he shifted to face me.
“Pointy,” I deadpanned.
Haven leaned around me. “She taught me to picture my nemesis’s face before I threw, and it worked each time. Yael is now my darts guru.”
Alex leaned into me. “Tell the truth. You pictured me, didn’t you?”
“You wish,” I murmured back.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it. Iknow.” He laid his hand on my leg. When I stiffened, he chuckled beside my ear. “We’re practicing, Yael. If you freeze up every time I touch you next week, our ruse will be found out.”
“We don’t need to practice in front of our friends,Alex.”
He rapped his knuckles on the table, drawing all eyes to him. “Attention, friends. It’s a long story, but Yael and I are pretending to be a couple at a wedding next week, so we’re practicing tonight. Pay no attention to my hand on her leg—neither of us get any pleasure from the contact.” He paused, turning a devious smile my way. “I suppose I should speak for myself.Iam deriving no pleasure from touching Yael’s leg, which might as well be made of wood. She might be enjoying herself for all I know.”
I pried his fingers open one at a time and detached his hand from my thigh. “Did we decide to tell anyone?”