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I didn’t even remember his name. With how this was going, I wouldn’t need to.

“Always. I love being different.”

He hummed and his eyes went to my roots. Just yesterday, the mousy brown had been showing, but Jackie was good at what she did. “What’s your natural hair color?”

“Trust me, it’s boring.”

“I bet it looks good on you.”

Motherfucker. Could he be any more obvious?

I flicked my gaze over to Gabriel. This shouldn’t have lasted long.

Why wasn’t he leaving? This should’ve pissed him off enough to storm out. The Gabriel I knew would never let me talk to anyone.

Then again, this wasn’t the person I knew.

There were many things Gabriel told me he’d never do.

A knife slid into my heart at the thought, and I had to look down.

Here I was with big plans of revenge, and I couldn’t even manage to keep a smile on my face.

I was such a loser.

“I should go,” I said with a tight smile. “Thank you for hanging out with me.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.” The man grabbed my hand as I turned. “I think the purple is cool.”

“It’s fine,” I replied. “Don’t worry about it.”

His grip tightened. “Stay. We barely got to talk.”

My humor faded fast. “I don’t think I’m in the mood to talk. Sorry.”

“Really? You were in the mood earlier.”

My eyes narrowed. “I’m going to say this slowly so you understand. I changed my mind, and I want to go home. Goodbye.”

The man wasn’t bothered. He tried to tug me closer, but I dug in with the heels of my boots.

“I can work with someone playing hard to get.”

“Let go of me.”

“I know what that means. You want to fight it, huh?”

Bile rose to my throat. I hated men. I hated them so much.

I was about to deck him when a wall of black stepped in between us. “Keep your hands off of her.”

That was Gabe. My Gabe.

Coming to my rescue just like he used to.

I’d been getting myself out of situations for far too long that I forgot about a time where someone had my back. Sure, my friends did when I let them in. But after Gabriel left, I didn’t want anyone to get too close in case they left again.

The entire bar went quiet and anyone who was from here watched carefully.