“Oh. Um.” I placed my hands on my face. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Jeez, Ava. Get a grip before you make a complete fool of yourself.
I collected my things quickly, then rushed out of the building. The brisk evening air did nothing to cool down my face.
“Where’s the fire?” he called.
If he only knew.
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Figured you might’ve hit your Ava limit.”
He grabbed the handle of the passenger door of his Camaro for me, as always, but he didn’t open it. “You think I hit my limit with you?” Concern, or maybe it was confusion, was written all over his face.
“Well, yeah.” Honestly, I wasn’t a child. I could tell when someone was tired of being around me. Nana turned up the volume on the flatscreen when she’d had enough. “We’ve been together for over three hours. You must be itching to get to the clubhouse.”
It wasn’t lost on me that Drew had a life outside of our friendship he loved. Of course he’d want to go to the club and drink with his MC brothers, maybe play with the kittens.
My stomach churned. I’d been too afraid to know the truth about Drew and the club girls. Ignorance was bliss and all that. I hadn’t thought about him with other women until my feelings changed. To say I was tortured by the images my mind conjured would be an understatement.
“I’m not itching to go anywhere, Ava.” He moved closer to me, but not nearly as close as I’d like. “If there’s something else you’d like to do, I’m here for it.”
Something else I’d like to do? How about making out in the back seat of his car? Or dancing under the stars to what I deemed “our song” the night of Hero’s wedding? I’d love to curl up with him on my bed and watch a movie together.
“No, there’s nothing else I’d like to do.”Liar!“You can just take me home. I’ll probably go to bed early tonight.” I pretended to yawn. “You worked me hard today at the gym.”
The wrinkle between Drew’s eyebrows appeared. “Okay then. If you’re sure.” He opened the door for me to get in.
“I’m sure.”
Sure that my feelings were one-sided.
Sure that he would never be mine.
Sure that I was hopelessly in love with Drew Rivers.
3
Ire
I dropped onto a stool in the club’s bar beside Wolf and jerked my chin toward Copper. “Gimme a beer.”
“Coming up.”
“Just left Ava?” Wolf looked at me in the mirror across from us.
“Yep.”
“It’s only eight o’clock.”
“Yep.” I lifted the beer Copper put in front of me and gulped half of it down.
“I guess you didn’t tell her how you feel.”
“Nope.” I sighed and dropped my head. “I’m too chicken shit.”
“Yeah. You are.”
I shook my head. Fucking Wolf. He didn’t hold any punches from anyone. “You know her history, man. She’s vowed to stay single.”