Not even a minute later, he leads Kaya out of the building, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
“Can anyone explain what the hell just happened?” MJ yells, arms crossed. “Since when is Nico all Rambo over a girl?”
Neither one of us has an answer, but Amy breaks the tension. “Cockus gripus.” She shrugs, returning to the booth where Cass awaits with two trays of shots.
“Drink up,” she tells me, clinking her glass to mine.
We put the incident behind us and quickly regain our party mood, heading back downstairs.
???
Cody takes me home just after midnight.
The rest of the party stayed behind, even though Cassidy starts work at seven, just like me, and should lay off the shots already. She’s getting dangerously close to Kaya’s level of drunkenness. I bet she’ll call in sick tomorrow.
Great.
Jared will growl at everyone when he comes over to open the Country Club.
Despite his careless driving, Cody’s a lovely kid. He entertains me with chitchat most of the way back to Theo’s. I don’t stop him to say I don’t understand half of the technical terms he uses while he relays the entire spec of his Mustang, sounding as if the car is his pride and joy. Theo mentioned that the triplets are motorheads and love their cars. Cody confirms, telling me that he details the thing every weekend.
“Are the guys still there?” I ask when he turns right, heading down the road to Theo’s building.
“No, I took the last lot home before I came over to get you. Once Nico stormed out, the party kind of sucked.”
“Yeah, my party sucked, too, when he stormed into the club.”
“I can imagine. He was all fire and fucking death when he and Kaya got back in the car.” He pulls up by the curb. “Chauffeur Cody at your service,” he jokes. “You don’t have to ask Theo to call me, you know? Save my number.”
“I will. Thank you.” I lean over to peck his cheek and then get out of the car, my legs weak from dancing in five-inch heels.
By the time I tell Theo about the eventful night, wash up and change into pj’s, I’m so sleepy that no number of kisses could convince me to have sex, but I fight my heavy eyelids, waiting for Theo to emerge from the bathroom so he can cuddle me to sleep. I fail, and the next thing I know, the alarm is blaring at five am.
TWENTY-FOUR
Theo
I FORGOT HOW IT FEELS to crush on someone so hard. The anticipation of seeing Thalia after work has me buzzing like a swarm of bees on a hot day. We spend all our free time together, but I can’t get enough of her.
I’m seventeen again: horny, infatuated, excited. A teenager in heat. Although, my feelings for Thalia now are far more mature and intense. Back in the day, I mindlessly lost my shit for any girl willing to spread her legs wide open—perks of being a sex-crazed teen.
I’ve had more than my fair share of meaningless sex. Now, the desire is different and harder to muster. It’s not as easy to pique my interest these days, but Thalia has been on my mind non-stop since day one.
When I get back from work, Nico’s white G-Wagon sits parked by the curb. The owner leans against the front grill, clouds of smoke hovering in the hot air.
“Not again.” I point to the cigarette in his hand. “What the fuck happened? We quittogether!”
“And now I smokealone,” he clips, jaw squared, an ever-present air of defensiveness droning around him. “You and Thalia busy tonight?”
I grab the packet off the hood and light one myself, inhaling a long, deep drag. Why did I quit in the first place? “No, we don’t have plans. Why?”
“Kaya wants to go out on a double date.”
The smoke hits the wrong pipe, setting my lungs ablaze. I cough like I’m smoking my very first cigarette. “Kaya?” I question when I can breathe again. “You two a thing now?”
He shrugs it off as if the fact that Nico fucking Hayes isdatingisn’t the most bizarre and unexpected piece of information to ever reach my ears.
I always expected to settle down when the right woman came along, and I expect the same from Logan. Although, as I said, he’ll probably settle down for a couple of years, then change his wife for a younger model, and he’ll repeat that until he’s on his deathbed.