I need a damn drink and I need it now.
I ask for two shots of Three Wise Men Go Hunting and a Jack and Coke. I toss the shots back quickly then turn around to face the crowd.
I watch as Jax pulls Zoey onto the dance floor with him. I’m not sure what kind of magic he has worked on her, but considering she was barely speaking a few weeks ago, I’m not going to complain. Not one bit.
Rory and Bastian come to the bar where I’m standing both asking for Patrón. Never will understand those two and their obsession with tequila. To each their own, I guess. I just prefer my liquor darker.
We stand there in complete silence while watching Zoey and Jax look at each other like there is no one else in the universe but the two of them.
Then my eyes move to Tori and Maddox as they walk into the bar.
Fuck why does she have to look like that. She not bohemian chic or pinup sexy. She is just – fuck she’s hot. The short dress is almost strange with a strip of silver glitter on top and bottom and a wide strip of black leather in the middle paired with sky-high heeled boots. Her pale hair looks almost silver against the dress as it waves down her back. As usual, she’s wearing little makeup, but damn she doesn’t need a bit of it.
Masters wraps his arm around her waist to whisper something in her ear. I have the urge to rip that damn arm off and beat him with it. A low growl slips from my throat causing Rory and Bastian to turn to stare at me.
They follow where my eyes go. Bastian lets out a low chuckle.
“You gonna go talk to her?” Rory asks me. His body language and face don’t give away much, but I know that arrogant SOB. He is dying on the inside with laughter.
“No,” I answer without further explanation as I toss back my drink. I get the bartender’s attention to ask for another drink and another shot.
“Who is she?” Bastian asks curiously.
“A friend of Zoey’s.”
“A friend of Zoey’s?” Rory remarks with a smirk. “Aren’t you the one fucking her?”
“Nope.”
“Zane Valen found someone he can’t charm?” Bastian ask mockingly.
I toss back the shot and start on my drink. I’m starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, but it’s not having the effect I want. Instead of feeling numb to whatever the fuck this attraction is, my jealously that Maddox is over there with her intensifies. “Oh, I already charmed her," I say arrogantly. "Just didn’t fuck her. Not going to.”
“She wasn’t trying to hurt Zoey,” Rory says. “Or you.”
I turn to him with a scoff. “If she hadn’t told you guys what happened, Zoey would be -.”
“Exactly where she is now, Zee,” Rory says causing me to gape. When the fuck did Rory McCabe become rational? It's like he's been abducted or something. “We would have figured it out. Jax already figured it. He just needed verification.”
“So? If she’d told us when it happened, then -.”
“Rory and I would have been working to get you and Jax out of jail. We can cover up murder, but not when there’s over a hundred witnesses,” Bastian remarks tipping his drink back.
Bastian too! It's like the fucking Twilight Zone.
Of all the goddamn time for these two to be logical, why does it have to be now? I look over to her again. She is laughing with Zoey and Maddox, turning up her own drink. Jax and Maddox are getting along great. (The fucking traitor.) Zoey leans in and gives Maddox a hug. I watch the guy as he tries desperately to not look pained. To hide his broken heart because whatever has happened, he absolutely cares for Zoey. It takes a really big person to be able to watch the girl you’ve loved for so long love somebody else. But it’s an altogether different thing of itself to watch her marry the person you know she should be with.
I also see that Tori notices as well. When Zoey and Jax walk away, she takes his hand and leads him elsewhere.
My jaw tenses as he wraps an arm around her, placing a cheek to her head. They head for the bar to get more drinks looking very comfortable and cozy with each other.
They’re just friends. They are just friends.
I repeat it to myself over and over like a mantra. Even if I have no reason whatsoever to care. I can’t want her, but not go to her. She’s been calling for a couple of weeks now, and I haven’t answered the phone or responded to a single text.
I watch as they laugh. They throw back a few shots and then go to the dance floor.
“Why don’t you just pull your fucking head out of your ass like you’re always telling us to do,” Rory quips as he finishes off his drink.
