“Don’t say he didn’t! He cuddled you. He smiled and called you soft!”
She glares at me. “He called my sweater soft,” she argues, holding an arm out. “And it is! Feel it!”
I swat her away. “I don’t want to feel your grandma sweater. Sasha, seriously.” There’s a pinch of hurt in my stomach, possibly higher, and I don’t think it’s from the booze. “How could you never have told me? How come Lucas knew?”
She grimaces remorsefully. “Look, this isn’t my first time with tequila, okay? I got drunk with Lucas one night, and it just… it all came out.” She gives me a beseeching look. “He makes a good listening ear.” Her expression turns frightening. “But if you tell him I said that, I will gut you like a pig.”
I sit back, only slightly mollified. “A pig? Isn’t it fish?”
“Isn’t what a fish?”
I shake my head but when I stop, the world keeps on going. “Woah.” Just when I start pitching over in my chair, a hand drops down on my shoulder, halting the downward movement.
“Ladies.” Whiskey and velvet rasps over my senses, making me shiver, goosebumps lifting on my skin. Clearly, I’m colder than I realized. I stare at Sasha, wide-eyed, but she’s too busy looking up to notice.
She drops her stare, cupping her hand around her mouth. “Hey, girrrrrrl,” she sings out, not at all quietly. “Your ex-husband is here, and he looks fine. Way better than some lawyer fuck.”
I snicker, throwing my head back and finding Declan staring down at me, his mouth smiling and brown eyes confused. “Lawyer fuck,” he echoes, brows twitching. “Are we bitching about Lucas again?”
Sasha slowly blinks one eye, and then the other, almost like she’s doing a Mexican wave with her eyeballs. “No. I mean, yes. Always. But also no.”
He nods like she makes sense. “Alright. Well, it’s time to go. Sasha, I’ll give you a ride home as well, but if you even think about puking in my car, I’m kicking you to the curb.” He helps me up, hooking an arm around my waist.
Sasha makes apfftnoise. “You would never. You know I hold influence over—” she flaps a limp hand at me. “I can help you, or I can totally sink your battleship.” She scoots out of her chair, looking almost steady on her feet, while I’m leaning heavily against Declan.
“How did you know?” I ask him.
“How did I know what, baby?” he murmurs, his breath stirring my hair, and my stomach swoops. Until I remember we don’t like him and his endearments, and I scowl.
“How did you know we were here?” I gasp loudly. “Are you stalking me again?”
“Again?” Sasha moans. “I’m always the last to know things.”
I laser her with my eyes. “Five years,” I declare, going straight back to being miffed. “You didn’t tell me about that rat bastard for five years, and if he hadn’t been slinking past tonight…” I jab a finger downwards, smacking it into the table with a wince. “If he hadn’tbeen here tonight,” I say imperiously, glaring down my nose at my best friend, “you never would’ve said a word.” She stares back at me, mouth set mutinously.
“Are we still talking about Lucas?” Declan wonders. “Never mind. This seems like a conversation to have while you’re sober. Come on, ladies. Up and at ‘em.”
He wrangles us into his car, with Sasha in the seat behind me. As he slides into the driver’s seat, he looks over at me, something soft in his eyes, “Seatbelt, Lily.”
I fumble for the belt, but he reaches over, his fingers brushing against mine as he helps me get it into place. He looks back to check Sasha is secured, making my heart skip a beat, and then he’s doing up his own belt and starting the car. Heat immediately starts blasting through the vents, warming me all over. “Put Sasha’s address into the GPS,” he tells me.
Sasha leans forward as I type the address in. “So, howdidyou know?” she queries. “Is stalking your new job now that you’re unemployed? It can’t pay much. And if I was stalking Lily, I’d be bored to tears after a day…” she pauses, “Actually, after an hour.”
“Hey!” I shoot her a scowl, but then look at Declan expectantly, just as he hooks his arm around my headrest as he reverses out of the park, ignoring the very convenient rear-camera the car came with. But I barely even look at him, and heat definitely isn’t curling low between my hips.
If it is, it’s just the alcohol.
He shoots me a quick look out of the corner of his eye, one side of his mouth kicking up, but I ignore him. “It was Lucas,” he answers after a moment. “He sent me a message telling me where you guys were and that a ride might be…necessary.”
“God,” Sasha growls, aggravated. “That guy is such a snitch.”
I frown at Declan. “Why didn’t you call?”
“I did,” he says. “Your phone must be off.”
“Oh.” I pull it out of my bag and, sure enough, the battery is dead.
“Oh,” he repeats, with another long look. “Lucas also mentioned you guys might have something you need to tell me.” His heavy brows dip in concern, his eyes flicking between the road, therearview mirror, and me.
