“Is that really why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. But it makes sense, right?”
Some gorgeous, red-headed girl started waving at him beyond the glass and I jutted my chin towards her, making him glance over his shoulder. He let out a sigh and checked his watch, pushing off the pool table. The girl started flailing her arms and dancing erratically, either making a new type of dance or signaling something to him. I assumed it was the second one because he settled back down against the edge of the pool table.
“So…who is she?”
“A friend. We’re leaving soon.”
“Doesn’t look like she’s ready to go.” I cocked my head to the side, watching her drop down to the floor in stilettos that were way too expensive for the event she was at, if it could even be called that.
“No, she never is.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.
I examined him, noticing he was nowhere near as tipsy as I was although I’d seen him take his fair share of beers over the last couple hours since he’d arrived. I’d reined back on the drinking ever since I’d gone out to the back porch and got sucked into watching two men compete in pool like it was a fight, for reasons I didn’t know, nor was I sure I wanted to, but I was ready to pick up the pace again. “You want to take some shots with me?”
His eyes moved to the bar at the other end of the porch, where liquor bottles were lined up and half-full. There was another bar inside, but the one outside was mostly forgotten because of the cold weather, and as the night lingered on, it wasn’t getting any warmer.
“Sure.” He pushed off the table again as a gust of wind moved through, making goosebumps form on my skin and I shuddered. I should’ve taken one of the jackets from August’s closet earlier and ignored him when he said it would make us look like a couple. I shrugged it off then, but as I stood there in his backyard, cold and shivering, it seemed more and more like a dick move on his part.
“Are you cold?” Briggs’ voice was back to that hard, metal sound, like the one he used at the theater.
“I’ll be fine, I—”
“You’re shivering.” He quickly removed his leather jacket and then held it out towards me. “Take it,” he muttered, his eyes moving to the windows again.
“Thanks,” I said as he walked away. My arms slid into the sleeves, and I melted against the warmth. A strong smell of citrus enveloped me as I took in a deep breath. It was soothing, unlike the smell of August’s jackets which were soiled with cigarette smoke. I squeezed the edges of Briggs’ jacket and breathed in the scent one more time before Briggs turned around and walked back over to me, holding two shot glasses in both hands.
Because I’d asked for shots.
Plural.
Twoshots in and I was feeling lighter. I wasn’t concentrating on how August was flirting with the girl who had walked in with Briggs. Well, not as much as I had been.
Briggs sat with his elbows propped on his knees, leaning forward in the Adirondack chairs we both sat on. His eyes followed mine to the window briefly. “You want to take a walk?”
“I might need another shot first.” My eyes fell back to the window over my shoulder. August was grinding against the ass of the red-head. Yet, Briggs didn’t flinch or scowl or seem predatorial at all towards her, which made it safe to believe they really were just friends, as he’d said.
“You dislike my company that much?” I ripped my eyes from August and the girl like a band-aid and snapped my head back to Briggs, feeling a rush of guilt roll through me. The corner of his mouth twitched up into a smirk. “Kidding.”
“You’re full of jokes, aren’t you?”
“Well, you did make me take a couple of shots with you, and it doesn’t seem like my friend is ready to go. A walk sounded…nice.” He didn’t look back to check if what he said was true. Not like I did. When I pried my eyes away from them again, Briggs was standing with his arm extended. “So, a walk?”
“Why?” I shouldn’t have questioned it, but someone paying that much attention to me was new—let alone it being done by someone I barely knew.
“Do I need a reason to want to take a walk with a pretty girl?”
My cheeks flushed over. “Maybe.”
He sighed. “You look like you want to murder him. So, I’ll ask again. Will you take a walk with me?” His tone turned sharp. I bit down on my lip, and when I nodded, I didn’t glance back over my shoulder for the fiftieth time to check on my best friend.
August’s neighborhood was dotted with several rather large homes, each on at least an acre of land. There weren’t many streetlights, so walking with someone who was almost a stranger to me should have made me feel uneasy. But it didn’t. If anything, I felt more safe than I usually did. Maybe it was the alcohol. Or maybe it wasn’t.
We made our way past August’s house, then another, before Briggs asked, “Does it feel better not looking at him?”
Kind of.
Okay, more than kind of.
