The restaurant that night dimly lit every face in the room and showed that no one was a stranger. Stonewood Enterprises made it very clear to the bouncers outside who could attend.
My parents mingled along with my brothers, and I made my rounds quickly enough. I found myself within listening distance of the one woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of since I’d arrived at my brother’s graduation.
Her friends surrounded her like she was their queen on a chess board, like she was the most important, and she probably was in that group. She’d always had the uncanny ability to bring people together. I imagined that group wasn’t any different.
I watched how she captured their attention and wondered if everyone was as blinded by her radiance as me. She glowed with her dark auburn hair and bright eyes looking as proud as ever when she watched my brother graduate.
Happiness looked good on her. It made me wonder how she looked when she felt every other emotion now. I used to know her every look, and I wasn’t happy to admit that I wanted to know all of them again.
There were days I confessed to myself I missed her and I regretted how I’d left. Most days though, I reminded myself it was for the best.
I tried to tell myself that very thing as I eavesdropped on her and her friends.
I listened to Vick—her blonde viper of a friend—ask, “Are these people made of porcelain?”
To which Katie, Aubrey’s oldest—and still probably her craziest—friend snorted, “These people probably had makeup artists in their cars on their drive over redoing everything.”
Aubrey shushed them and reminded them they were all there for Jay.
I smiled a little to myself at seeing her mind her manners like always. Katie followed up with the truth. “Jay is as ready to go as we are. There’s probably a hundred parties going on right now celebrating their graduation. You think he wants to be chumming it up with that?” She made a face and pointed to Jay and an older heavyset man that held his belly while he laughed at whatever Jay said.
Aubrey sighed and let a little smile slip. “Should we save him?”
“He’s an actor, isn’t he?” Rome said. “Let’s see how long he can keep up that interested face.”
Katie chimed in, “Two bucks says he ditches the conversation in another minute.”
“You guys! We’re being rude,” Aubrey tried again.
Vick blurted, “I give him longer than three minutes and up the stakes to ten bucks.”
Aubrey’s eyes met Rome’s and he raised his eyebrows as if challenging her. “Sixty seconds and he’s done.”
She pursed her lips as she looked at him and that’s when I made the decision to walk over. The longer she looked at him, the more uncomfortable I felt.
Aubrey glanced at Jay, and I knew she had it figured out as I walked up and saw her tilt her head to say, “He’s done in three, two, one.”
Katie mumbled, “Unbelievable.”
Vick smiled even bigger and clapped her hands. “He literally walked at that exact second!”
Rome didn’t say a word because his ass was looking at me approaching.
“The bet isn’t in your favor if the winner knows the subject as long as Aubrey has known Jay,” I interjected.
Katie balked right away. “I’ve known him just as long as Brey.”
“Pleasure, Katie. It’s been a long time.” I offered a hand knowing she wouldn’t take it.
She stared as Aubrey nudged her, trying to prompt Katie to take my hand. That little devil didn’t care about manners though. “The pleasure is not mutual.”
I let my hand drop. “Fair enough.” I turned back to Aubrey. “Come to the bar for a drink with me.”
Her feet were already stepping forward to obey but I saw the second Roman’s hand slid around her waist. “She just had a drink, but thanks, man.”
His dismissal was meant to frustrate me. I knew and still couldn’t shake the feeling I had when I saw his hands on her. I ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to settle or ready myself for a fight. I wasn’t sure.
Aubrey cleared her throat and stepped toward me though, like she knew she had to diffuse my anger.
“I could use a water, Rome.”
I stared at his grip on her waist, saw it tighten and took a step forward. Aubrey turned to him and whispered, “Stand down.”
He whispered back, “One wrong move, Brey …”
She rubbed his chest and looked at him with what I could swear was love in her eyes. “I know. I know.”
She spun toward me, and I almost wished for that same look to be directed my way.
Her green eyes were dead and empty though.
I didn’t say anything to change that. Without a word to each other, we moved to the bar. I ordered an old-fashioned and water for her.
We both waited, not willing to be the first to start any more conversation. She probably did it to grate on my nerves. I did it to gauge hers.
When drinks were set in front of us, I finally remarked, “Interesting friends, Whitfield.”
“They’re the best kind of friends, Jaxon.”
“You look the part. Nice and pretty. I haven’t seen you since Jay’s last movie premiere.”
She glared. “You’re here in your normal attire, wearing a tux as always, but I ‘look the part’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t normally wear so much makeup, do you?”
“Maybe, I do,” she huffed out. “Do you normally dress like you’re on the job?”
She’d never been good at lying, and I was embarrassed at how proud I was of myself for being able to read her emotions. I leaned a little nearer to her. “You’re lying.”
Her doe eyes narrowed, but I didn’t elaborate. She stood there stiff in front of me. I’d seen her comfort drain as we’d made our way over the bar. She was as polite with me as she was with her father. Her mannerisms, her stiffness, even her voice.
I wanted to shake her, kiss her, scream at her, and comfort her all at once. I’d known her better than anyone once, and she couldn’t hide behind formalities forever.
“Excuse me?” she whispered.
“I’ve never seen you with that much makeup on.” I shrugged. “So, you’re lying.”
She cleared her throat, glancing around to see if she could sneak away. “You don’t see much of me, Jax.”
“That’s true. But I’ve seen you in passing over the years with Jay.” Why I was admitting it to her, I didn’t know. “And, I seem to remember—”
Her glass clanged when she slammed it down. She tried to smooth the napkin on the bar to cover it. “I seem to remember a lot of things, Jax.”
I smiled and her eyes widened like she’d been caught. “Well, it’s good our memories haven’t failed us yet.”
“Yes, well, if memory serves me right, you left me high and dry six years ago. Didn’t return a call or text. Didn’t even send a postcard letting me know we were over. So, forgive me if I don’t want to exchange niceties about what you remember about me.”
I was surprised she faced the night head-on with me. Normally, people would have danced around it. And she was even more reserved than most. “You want to talk about that night?”
“I never want to talk about that night again.” She practically spit the words. “You brought me over here. So, what do you want?”
“Well, I figure we’re going to be seeing a little more of each other, so we should clear the air.” It was the right thing to do. It might have been the reason I took her to the bar with me or it may have had something to do with her friend or “something like that” being near her.
“There’s nothing to clear. You had nothing to share with me when you left, and I’m guessing you have nothing to share now.”
Her eyes were vivid with determination, and I knew, even without her saying so, she was pushing me to share things about visiting her father.
“If you’re looking for an apology—” I started.
She cut me off with a harsh laugh. “I’d never expect an apology from you.” Her voice rose before she grabbed her water and gulped some down. “You’re trying to get a rise out of me.”
I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure if I was or not. For the first time in a long time, I was on unstable ground with someone.
Her face flushed like she’d disappointed herself. “It’s Jay’s night. Let’s just forget about us and be cordial.”
“Formalities were never my strong suit, Peaches.”
She sighed and her bottom lip pulped out just a little. “Well, lesson number one. It isn’t formal to call someone by a childhood nickname at a social function when you haven’t talked to them in years. Brey is fine.”
“I don’t think I ever called you that.” I consciously made the effort not to flex my jaw.
She turned toward the crowd but I caught her little smirk. I turned with her to find my brother and her friends trying to act like they weren’t watching us like we were their favorite guilty-pleasure TV show. Someone may as well have brought them popcorn.
She leaned her elbows back on the bar as she cradled her drink, and I watched her chest push out just a little. Her strapless dress was barely decent. Damn it, she couldn’t have worn a fucking turtleneck? Then again, I’d have found that indecent too. She’d filled out everywhere, and even though most women in the room were showing a lot more skin than her, I wanted to cover her up.
“Well, everyone calls me that now, Jax.” She may not have meant it as an insult but her grouping me in with everyone else felt like a sucker punch to the gut. I wasn’t supposed to be everyone. I was supposed to be the only one.
As she stared at her friends, I saw her smile at Roman. He watched our movements like a hawk, never taking his eyes off her unless he was staring me down. I stared back, letting him know my place.
What he didn’t understand about me was I’d been there before him, and I was starting to think I’d be there after.
Even if Aubrey wanted nothing to do with me.
Even if I told myself I didn’t need to have anything to do with her. Being in her proximity showed me otherwise.
I didn’t come here expecting anything with us. The plans I’d made were to come to this town and support my brother while looking into my app launch. If I got to explore the remnants of our relationship in the meantime, that was a bonus. And I needed to make sure she’d be fine through the shit I was about to stir up with her father.
We’d grown apart, I’d hurt her and she’d moved on. I’d moved on. And we were fine. Everything would stay just damn fine too, once I got all this shit straightened out over the summer.
Aubrey was right, we should be cordial. Nothing more, nothing less.
If I decided to fuck her in between to scratch the itch we both had for one another, then it would be nothing more and nothing less.
So, I convinced myself what I was feeling wasn’t jealousy when I looked at Roman glaring.
The pain in my chest was just from gulping down the rest of my drink too quickly.
“Well, Brey,” I emphasized her name as I slid my empty tumbler onto the bar. She looked surprised and then somewhat pleased that she’d gotten me to listen. “Let’s get you back to your friends, shall we?”
With that, I nudged the small of her back through the crowd and watched the goose bumps spread across her nape.
I smiled to myself.
We both had an itch to scratch, all right.
