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Don’t get me wrong, seeing them together hurt, but not like I thought it would. I imagined it would feel like daggers to my chest if I ever came face to face with James again, but aside from the initial shock of seeing him, I’m surprised by how little I feel at all.
I refuse to admit why that is, even though the answer is staring me right in the face...
“I’m sorry,” I whisper directly into Harris’ ear when he pulls me close after giving me a twirl.
“Why are you sorry?” He pulls back enough that he can look into my eyes.
“It never crossed my mind that he would be here.”
“Why would it? I think that just goes to show that you don’t care anymore.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
“I don’t even know the guy but one look and it was clear that you are so far out of his league it’s laughable.”
“Thank you for what you said.”
“I meant every word of it.” He drops his forehead to rest against mine. “And I think I’m starting to understand why you’ve written off relationships. But Blue, not every guy is like him. There are good ones out there.”
“Like you?” I mean for it to be sarcastic but it doesn’t come out that way at all.
“I’m not perfect by any means, but I would never hurt you the way he hurt you. I would rather die than ever have you look at me the way you were looking at him.”
He’s doing it again. Saying all the right things. Doing all the right things. It’s hard to remember why I can’t be with him when he’s so close and I’m high on his scent and the way he makes me feel.
“I know this started out as a bet, but that’s not what this is for me anymore.” He hesitates like he wants to say more but isn’t sure how. “Blue... I.”
“Drinks!” The sound of Hannah’s voice snaps me out of the moment and I look around right as she and Everett sidle up next to us. She extends a glass of wine to me and smiles.
“Where did you two run off to?” I ask, turning to take the glass from her.
On one hand, I’m disappointed because Harris and I were having a serious moment and I really want to know what he was going to say. But on the other, I’m so relieved to see her, because between the wine and James and the things Harris was saying, there’s no telling what nonsense would have come out of my mouth. I’m all over the place right now and I’m definitely not in the right head space to be having an emotional conversation with a man I’m trying really hard not to care about.
“We were in line to get drinks. I thought you were right behind us.” She gives me a look that says she saw what happened. “Are you okay?” she mouths.
I nod, feeling surprisingly good as I lift the wine glass to my lips.
“I thought for a second you were about to throw down.” Everett shoves Harris’ shoulder.
“Don’t think I wasn’t tempted.” Harris chuckles, his gaze sliding to mine.
“Well, don’t worry.” Everett takes a pull of his beer. “They made a bee line for the door seconds after you walked away.”
“They’re gone?” I ask, looking to Hannah for confirmation.
“Yep.”
“Thank god.” I let out a sigh of relief. I may not care about James anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to have to worry about running into him every time I turn around.
“I gotta run to the ladies’. You wanna come with me?” she asks, and I know that’s code forwe need to talk.
“Yeah, I’ll go with you.” I nod, turning toward Harris. “I’ll be right back.” I press up on my tiptoes and kiss his jaw, his facial hair tickling my nose.
Without meeting his gaze, I turn and follow Hannah to the far side of the room where the bathrooms are tucked at the end of a long hallway. We no more than step inside before she turns on me.
“What the hell? They’re engaged?” she seethes, her nostrils flaring.
“Figures, right?” I laugh at the absurdity. Of course he would get engaged to the woman who broke up our engagement. “How stupid can she be? If he did it to me, what makes her think he won’t do it to her?”
