Noah and I join the dance floor when a couple began talking to them. His hands are on my hips, and we’re bopping around to some pop song that has a very catchy tune. So far, I haven’t seen Grey, so a genuine smile has found a home on my face as I dance with him, my hands snaked around his neck.
“Having fun so far?”
I am about to reply when my luck runs dry and my eyes lock with a pair of cool black ones.
I ignore the flutter in my stomach and look into Noah’s brilliant green eyes. “Yes, the best!” I get closer to his chest and turn us around, so he is all I see, and not…him.
Chapter Four
Grey
“Why the hell did she bring him?” I mutter under my breath. I narrow my eyes at the happy couple across the pool. The minute she saw me, she turned around faster than you could say, “What the fuck is she doing here?” They’re now drinking bubbly champagne and talking with some people. Her hand is on his shoulder, and his is around her waist. And she is laughing so loud, you could probably hear it from Nebraska.
“Why do you care?” Rose asks from beside me.
I glance at her and scoff. “I don’t,” I lie and take a long sip of my ice cold beer. I end up finishing it and groan. “She just shouldn’t have brought someone no one knows or cares about. It’s an important event.”
She just hums like the pretentious thing she is. “Sure, that’s it.”
“Yep, it is.” I bend down to the cooler and grab another beer.
“So it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re not over her?” she questions with attitude, her hand on her hip.
“I couldn’t be more over her.” I pop open the beer and take a long drink. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, the same time Liv is looking around. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think she’s looking for me. She finds me and stares at me, then at Rose, then turns back around and continues talking animatedly.
Rose hums again, and I roll my eyes. She’s always been so annoying. But now she’s annoying with a purpose, which is ten times worse.
“Don’t you have anything else you can do?” I snap at her. “I’m sure Holly would like to yap about the lip gloss she’s wearing on the big day.”
“I’d rather talk about lip gloss than your bitching over someone who deserves better than you,” she grits through her clenched teeth.
I turn to her, Liv and her boy-toy be damned. “Great, because being around someone who’s just pissed I don’t want her can get really fucking irksome.”
“Screw you,” she scoffs and stomps away.
“In your dreams!” I snap. It’d be too bad if she accidentally fell in the pool…
I down the rest of the beer, then drink another and another, but they do nothing. I am still very aware of her and that fucking Ken doll across the pool. It wouldn’t be bad at all if that fucker fell in the pool…with chains linked around his feet… Wow, I am getting quite buzzed, aren’t I? But still, it’s not doing that much. I hit up the bar and take three shots. That’s when the liquor finally hits me, hard.
I take a random blonde’s hand and take her onto the dance floor. I dance with her along to the fast rap song, sipping a new cracked-open beer. As she shakes her ass on me, I stare across the pool. Liv’s dancing with that pansy. Her back is turned to him, and he has his long-ass ape arms slung around her small waist. Fuck, she looks so beautiful. Her natural curly hair blows in the wind, and some sticks to her perfectly puffy pink lips as she laughs.
Fuck! Stop thinking about her. And stop looking, for God’s sake, you pussy.
But my subconscious is right: I should focus on this five dancing on me. Liv gave me another chance, and I shot her down for her sake. It just hurts and annoys the fuck out of me to see her dancing on him like he’s what she really wants. I know she doesn’t like him like that. I can tell by how stiff she looks each time she really thinks about what’s she doing. I can tell by the tiny little dimple on her cheeks she gets when she makes a forced smile. I can practically smell her want for someone across the way…me, fuckers. I mean me. But she isn’t meant for me; she’s for him, as much as I despise it.
There is no world where me and her would actually work. We tried it once, and it ended in a disaster. Even if she didn’t do what she did, I think she would have found my dark past and not-so-bright future too much and left me for the douchebag in khaki shorts and polo who’s too scared to dance frisky-like with her. He’s holding onto her like he’s trying to rein in an aunt who drank too many wine coolers. Speaking of which, I can see her lips from here. So pouty and reddish and wet, I think she drank one or two cherry coolers…
Stop fantasizing about her, Jesus H. Christ.
“Where’s my gift?” David jokes with a jackass of a smile as he walks up to me.
I crack a smile before downing the rest of my beer and tossing it in a trash. “I’m right here, you ungrateful bastard.” Disregarding the girl stumbling away from me, I spread my arms open, and he rolls his eyes but gives me a bro-hug.
“Did you keep the receipt?” he says like the smart-ass he is.
“Fuck you.” I laugh.
“Enjoying the view?” He nudges me, and I quickly shake my head.
I drag my eyes away and scoff at the ground. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” he assures with a knowing smile.
I roll my eyes. “Why’d you even invite her? You know what she did to me.”
He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “I ran into her, and I couldn’t not invite her. Plus, I genuinely wanted her here, and I know Holly definitely did too. She’s a nice girl.”
“What a sweetheart, going behind my back and shit,” I gripe through my teeth.
“Don’t do that,” he breathes.
“Don’t do what?” I scoff. I think he’s had one too many champagne glasses.
“That. Hate her so much it pushes others away…like Rose,” he explains, “when we all know you don’t remotely hate her. You just think you have to because of your twisted-ass, hard-headed-ass mind.”
“You don’t know what goes on in my head,” I say, not knowing what to say really because he’s right. I just…now it’s too late to try to be anything with her again. She’s already got someone new who actually deserves her.
“Sure…” He squints at me, and I roll my eyes because he’s acting like he knows everything that goes on in my head. Trust me, the best therapist in the universe wouldn’t be able to understand what’s going on up there.
“David! Where are you?” Holly hollers, and I cover my ears, grimacing. Fuck, I’m wishing him all the luck with this parrot. “Oh, hey there, Grey!” She waves at me, freckled cheeks bright as a tomato and auburn hair swept up in a stylish hair-do.
“Hello, Holly.” I hesitantly wrap my arms around her when she launches into me. I pull back after her heavy scent of cinnamon spice and grape wine coolers becomes too much.
“Where’s Rose?” she asks, linking her fingers with David’s.
I shrug and look around aimlessly; I don’t really want to find her. She’s being a fucking pest at the moment. “Somewhere around, she’ll show up,” I tell her noncommittally.
“You should look for her. She’s your date,” she whines.
“Like I said, she’ll turn up.” She is really testing my patience.
She squeezes my bicep with a frown. “We’re gonna start opening presents in a while. Find her.”
I give her a tight-lipped smile but let it drop when they finally walk away. There is no way I’m getting stuck with one girl I can barely tolerate while watching the girl I actually want. I’d rather drink and watch the fakeness drip around me as everyone talks and laughs and has the time of their lives.
I go to the bar and grab another shot and am walking back to the pool-side when I make the mistake of looking across. Liv and lover-boy are dancing, but they’ve left the aunt-stage and are dancing more risqué than before. My blood boils, and I glare at his hands that are tra
veling around her lower back, close to her ass. And she isn’t putting up that much of a fight against it.
That just pisses me off.
“Hey, Holly kept bugging me to find—what are you doing?” Rose stops talking when I swing her back into my chest. I grab her hips and shush her when she tries to talk again.
“I’m sorry about what I said earlier. You’re right,” I whisper in her ear and glance across the pool, locking eyes with a pair of eyes that rival the crystalline water between us. “I should get over her.”
“By making her jealous?” She whips around and jabs a sharp finger at my chest. “I am not some toy you can just—oh…” She shuts up when I kiss her under her chin, then down her neck and right under her neck. I gently spin her back around and wrap my arms around her, swaying her hips side-to-side. I move us closer to the pool, push some people away, and broadcast our little tango.
What I am doing is petty as hell, but if she can dance with another guy and have him be all up on her, why can’t I do the same with Rose? At least we’ve been in an actual relationship, whereas she and Mr. Barbie are like two different species trying to live under one roof—it won’t end pretty nor would it ever work.
Liv looks me up and down and stumbles on her boy-toy’s feet until they stop dancing altogether. He tries to ask why she stopped, but she can’t stop looking at me. And when he looks over, I smirk as widely as possible and send him a little smirk while lightly nipping under Rose’s chin. She moans slightly, her eyes closed in bliss.
“Gift opening time!” Holly announces loudly, and the music cuts off abruptly.
I swing my eyes from her standing on a table back to the happy couple. Liv is staring at me with an unreadable expression…or is that anger? But what the hell should she be angry about? She’s the one who started this in the first place. At least she looks as miserable as I feel inside. Good. Now we’re sort of even.
“Let’s go, babe,” I whisper in Rose’s ear.
She nods, and I give the couple a wink before leading her to the back patio. There are a bunch of wrapped gifts surrounding the sitting couple. What? Is this a fucking baby shower? Is there something David’s not telling me?
They get through two dozen gifts, and I have the strongest urge to plunge a knife through myself on repeat with each squeal and “Oh my God!” that escapes Holly every few seconds. Mine was a big-ass pack of condoms, to which everyone laughed like it was meant to be a joke. It wasn’t, though. He’s already doing one of two things I’ve vowed to never ever do: get married, the other have children. One forces me in a relationship with one person for the rest of my life when divorce rates are sky high, and the other just ruins life, plain and simple.
Liv’s present was an immaculate white and blue vase. Of course it must have cost like three hundred bucks or something.
I am half tempted to bounce and find something more exciting, anything really, when they land on a particular gift: a “Welcome Home” rug. What really sets off bells in my head was Holly’s response.
“We should set this down now before you forget. You know how bad your memory is.”
“Why would you do that? It’s just a rented beach house,” I pipe up, and many people glance at me like I’ve lost my mind. I lift my eyebrows expectantly when the celebrated couple share a meaningful glance. “Well? Don’t all speak at once.”
David exhales heavily and rubs his neck vigorously; he’s definitely hiding something big. “Can I talk to you in private…?”
I scoff and look around at the rest of the people, who look afraid to say something, in fear I might lose my shit. Too fucking bad it’s going to happen if no one says nothing at all. “No, just tell me here. Why the fuck is that mat necessary on a rented beach home?”
He opens his mouth, then lets it drop. “I think you know why…”
He’s fucking living here now? Without telling me?
My eyes widen for a brief second, but then I grit my teeth together and ball my hands in fists. “No fucking way. You wouldn’t…you’d tell me.”
“Grey, can we step to the side—” He sounds jittery, nervous.
“Fuck you, David!” I storm through the crowd, pissed off beyond belief. I thought we were fucking brothers who told each other everything. I guess not.
Chapter Five
Liv
In times like this, I wish I could put the world on pause. Just so I can think carefully without looking like a fish out of water. The minute Holly showed off the rug, I knew this would happen. Grey is a very hot-headed person, one that doesn’t deal with change well. David is Grey’s savior, a brother, really. And now he’s uprooting from his position as Grey’s rock through hard times and leaving him behind. Grey will wash back into the turbulent storm he previously escaped from.
And although he just tried to make me jealous—which he totally did, that bastard—I want to make sure he’s okay, that he’s not completely breaking right now. No matter how much he makes sure that I pay for what I did…he’ll never be able to stop me from caring about him. I don’t think I will ever be truly able to stop the instinct to nurse his wounds or make sure he’s just okay. It sucks because I know we can never ever be a thing again, and I’ll have this massive part of me that almost consumes me, to be at his aid.
But he isn’t mine anymore. Not my responsibility. Not my concern, at least, he isn’t supposed to be. I lost my obligation to look after him the minute he walked away, taking my heart with him like the thief he is, no matter how right it was. He has a new person there for him now—Rose—and maybe she can do a better job. They were in love first. She probably knows him and what to do to help him more than I do.
I glance around the dimmed crowd for her. No one’s really speaking as David runs after his friend. It’s awkward as someone clears their throat, highlighting how crazy uncomfortable the air has become. And it becomes even more unbearable as shouting and curses are thrown in the direction the two men disappeared into. Holly attempts to diffuse the tense atmosphere by showing off a collection of kitchen pots, but it does nothing to draw the attention of her nosy guests.
David finally storms back and heads past his struggling fiancée. He’s coming my way, but I find Rose walking up next to me. Oh…of course he’d want his best friend’s girlfriend to calm him down. I take a step back, not knowing if my face looks as fallen as I feel on the inside.
“I need your help,” he says, and I turn away. I don’t want to invade where I don’t belong.
I head to Noah, who looks lost and concerned, when David grabs my hand. I turn around, and he’s looking at me expectantly. I look between him and Rose, who looks unreadable as she catches my gaze. I look away, flushed, and finally manage to find words.
“With what?” I ask, but we both know what he means.
“With Grey,” he sighs and looks around before lowering his voice. “You’re like a Grey whisperer, and I need your help in getting him to calm down.”
“Why should he? You’re abandoning him, like—” I begin, quite annoyed and automatically on Grey’s side. Well? What did he expect? That I’d be fine with him leaving his best friend who relies on him so heavily, though he likes to act strong?
“It’s not like that,” he says quickly, then sighs again. “Can you just please help…?”
Cheeks warm as a million suns, I shift my gaze to Rose. “Why me?”
He reads my lost expression and says, “I think he needs you right now.”
If Rose is stung by his words, she doesn’t let it show. “He’s right.” She takes a step back and shakes her head, cheeks stunned blossom-pink. “Grey won’t listen to me,” she admits. “He never has.”
“But…” I cast a look over my shoulder at Noah. His eyebrows are scrunched together, and he nods his head as if he can hear this absurd conversation. As if going after my emotional, sometimes cruel, ex is okay. Like he trusts me alone with him. I look back at David, who looks anxious now, as if Grey will actually explode in anger if I don’t go out the
re to him in this second.
“Wait one second,” I tell him, then rush over to Noah. “I don’t have to go if you don’t want me to,” I pant out, holding onto his forearms. He is the one I’m supposed to look after, though he seems perfectly stable and isn’t the one who “needs me” at the moment.
“It’s okay, go ahead,” he says without a hint of jealousy or any other emotion.
I string my eyebrows together, and he cracks a smile. “Really?”
“Yes.” He leans down and kisses my forehead. “I’ll be right here.”
Why is he so amazing? I pray I don’t hurt him.
I lean up and peck his lips—nothing. But I smile because he’s great, sparks or not. And who the hell needs sparks when he is literally the best human?
“I won’t take long.” I kiss him again, then jog in the direction David came from. I make the mistake of peeking over my shoulder. David looks restless, hands covering his face. Rose is chewing on her lip, rubbing her arms in worry or sadness, I don’t know. And Noah, his hands are tucked in his khakis, and he looks the same way he looked the night of my birthday, when that door flung open, revealing his hurt expression. Common sense is screaming at me to run into his arms and tell him to drive me far from this Grey-infested party and move on. But my heart, my heart is connected with my feet, and it’s pulling me in the direction of my first love.
The music starts back up the minute the latch on the side gate shuts. I can faintly hear murmurs about the drama going down, and Holly is resuming her gift showcase. Everyone can finally breathe now that the foolish, hung-up ex is finally going to calm down her upset ex-boyfriend who ruined the party’s mood. If only I could breathe too. I’m actually doing the opposite; I’m having my damn lungs stolen away from me in the rudest way possible.
I immediately find him sitting on the curb, head in his knees.
“Grey?” I say softly, and he goes rigid.
“Fuck off, Olivia,” he replies, clearly agitated. And he clearly doesn’t want to be bothered, by me especially. Too bad I’m apparently the Grey whisperer. I wonder if I can resign now…or if I have to wait until I’m, like, seventy and haven’t been able to settle down with a nice guy.
Grey: The Reconnection (Spectrum Series Book 4) Page 3
