“Yes, let’s do that.” My response was immediate, and with the soft smile directed my way, I was more than okay with my eagerness.
We talked through a few options, then made our order, pausing on drinks.
“If you want to drink, you can always stay over.”
My attention shot to Dan, and I swallowed hard at the offer. It shouldn’t be a big deal and probably wasn’t in his eyes. He’d stayed over mine a few times now, but I’d never done so at his before.
“Uhm, yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”
“No worries.” His gaze roamed my expression a beat before he turned to speak to the young waitress. While he did so, I racked my brains, pretty certain he only had the one bed.
There was always the couch, and I figured that’s where I’d be sleeping. The thought of sharing with him, avoiding the invisible line in fear of snuggling up to the guy in my sleep, was a humiliation I wouldn’t be able to get over.
“Ross?” Question filled his eyes when mine connected with his. “Drink?”
“Oh, sure. Sorry.” A quick glance at the drinks menu, and I selected my beverage, handing the menus back to the waitress.
And then we were alone in our quiet little spot, just the right side of secluded to make this feel like a date. A voice from our right put a screeching halt to that, however.
“Dan Madison. I heard you were back in town.”
The two of us turned to face the man who’d stopped when being led to a table. Awareness bit into my consciousness when my brain made sense of the face.
“Damn, is that Woolly too?” The man cackled, apparently pleased with the shorthand nickname he and his friends brandished in high school.
My right eye twitched as Jamie continued, seemingly oblivious to my clenched jaw and just what a dick he was. “Makes sense. You were always following Madison around even then.” He turned his attention to Dan while I aimed to keep my agitation in check and not tell this dickhead to piss off. “I’m just visiting from Cairns. That’s where I live now,” he started, apparently thinking either of us gave a damn. “Mum said you moved back. What you doing with yourself?” Jamie shifted the waist of his jeans, his beer belly wobbling a little with it. While I was no slim Jim, this guy indulged a lot, and between his ill-fitting clothes and pockmarked skin, I took sadistic pleasure in knowing he wasn’t aging well.
When Dan remained quiet for a beat, I moved my attention to him. With drawn brows, a look of distaste seemed at war with bemusement on his face. “Jamie, right?” he settled on, his eyes darting quickly to me. I attempted to smooth over my expression, but I expected I failed, since the bemusement dropped away. With his eyes back on the man who couldn’t read a room and wouldn’t know tension if it hit him square in the face, Dan asked, “Woolly? What’s that about?”
Jamie chuckled while I froze. Pulling myself back together as quickly as possible, I opened my mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch by Jamie, saying, with a laugh that suggested we were in cahoots, “Just something me and Nick used to callRochellehere back in the day.”
Heat slammed into me, right alongside indignation and an almighty what the fuck! “They couldn’t help with the lame attempt at nicknames.” I quirked my right brow high, looking directly at Jamie as I spoke. “Neither of them was particularly smart,” I said with a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. Attempting to emasculate me when I was a kid was one thing; now I was a man, Jamie could go fuck himself.
“I was only being—”
“A prick?” My smile remained true, my eye contact unwavering as I spoke.
“Do I want to know about ‘Woolly?’” Dan’s voice held a thread of steel beneath what seemed to be carefully placed amusement. A quick look at the man sitting opposite me, and I read his expression clearly.
He was unimpressed and wanted this dipshit gone as much as I did.
Taking control of this narrative, I answered, “That was from another bank of genius nicknames gifted to me. Woolly woofter, rhymes with poofter, right, Jamie?” I rolled my eyes at the man. “Unoriginal Homophobic Slurs 101,” I said, the words pouring out. I didn’t give myself time to marvel at how different my reaction was now to a couple of months back when Craig and Dan had innocently mentioned the pitiful excuse of a man before me. All I knew was I was on a roll, and my snark was fast and strong. “Hey, it sounds like a book title. You should get together with some of your old pals, Jamie, give it a whirl. There’s even software that’ll help you out with spelling.”
As soon as I was finished, I looked away. My heart thickened in my throat, my adrenalin already threatening to crash.
I had no idea what had come over me, nor could I get a grasp on how I felt about the whole exchange, but I zoned out the conversation around me, taking a relieved swig of my drink when it magically appeared before me.
“Hey.”
Somehow the softness of that one word cut through the pounding in my ears. Lifting my head, I locked eyes with Dan. Worry pinched his brows, and I attempted a shaky smile. Knowing how forced it was, I cracked my neck from side to side and tried to relax my shoulders.
Shock at the past few minutes had me breaking out into a chuckle, bemused at the whole exchange. “So, that just happened.”
Rather than laughing with me, Dan’s brows dipped further. “You want to get out of here?”
A quick scan of the room, and I didn’t see Jamie anywhere.
“He and his wife left,” Dan said.
