Chapter 26 #2
My body sizzles with awareness with every step she takes, heart begging to leap out of my chest and lay at her feet, because that’s what she does to me, makes me want to drop to my knees at her altar.
The distance in her eyes, though, that’s what kills me. She looks at me like she doesn’t recognize me. Like, I don’t know what she tastes like. I have no one else to blame for it but me. I put that look there, and so now I gotta be the one to bear it.
Ezra pulls Kaeli straight into his lap, smashing his lips to hers as she wraps her hands around his neck, giving a show none of us asked for.
The guys hoot and clap at the table as if their captain just won the cup—though Kaeli’s better than any trophy for sure, while he continues to kiss her, giving them his middle finger.
My eyes dart back to Andie and find her already looking at me. She averts her eyes as if I didn’t just catch her with her eyes on me. That gives me the tiniest of hopes.
Her averted gaze and occupied brother give me free rein to take her in as her wavy hair cascades down her shoulders. I’ve never seen Andie Moore in a dress as tight and tempting as she is wearing tonight.
The red fabric is molded to every full curve of her body, the off-shoulder dress showing enough cleavage that I need to subtly adjust my pants under the table. The knowledge that she has piercings under that has my nerve endings firing at each other.
And those milky thighs—fuck, those milky thighs are all I can see and want to bite in with how short her dress is.
I bring my fist to my mouth, biting into it to stop the groan that’s fighting to surface. She knew what she was doing when she wore this tonight. And I couldn’t be prouder of her for embracing her body.
One day, she’ll realize what I see when I look at her, and when she does, that day will surely be the end of me.
When Ezra and Kaeli’s kiss turns to one suited for bedroom walls, Andie makes herself known. “That’s enough, Ezra. Your sister is here, and you’re in public,” she taunts good-naturedly as she rolls her eyes at their rather public display of affection.
My thoughts instantly go back to Andie on her knees for me, taking my cock in her hot mouth so well on the beach where anyone could’ve seen us. When heat flares in her eyes as she looks at me, I know that’s exactly what she’s remembering.
My cock twitches in my slacks, and I have to mentally remind it that we’re right next to her brother, who’ll skin us alive if he finds out.
Kaeli pushes on Ezra’s shoulders and detaches her mouth from his, lightly slapping him when he follows. “Behave,” she scolds him, and that makes a pout appear on his face.
Dear Lord, please stop this before I puke.
“Hey, Aurelia,” Seb greets the other woman who came in with Kaeli and Andie, the Spanish lilt in his tone more evident than ever. Everyone at the table locks their eyes on him as he sits there with a grin on his face.
“You know her?” Levi questions what all of us are curious about.
Ezra shakes his head and sips on his drink. What’s that about? Why do I feel like I’m missing something?
“Hey, Casanova,” Aurelia—as Seb called her—responds to Seb, both ignoring the rest of us, the tension between them making itself known.
Oliver sprays his drink on the table and then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, looking at her with eyes wide as a saucer. “Wait! I know you. You’re his girlfriend!” He practically leaps out of his seat, pointing at her as if his words make any sense.
Aurelia rolls her eyes at him, waving his observation like it’s not important. “Whose girlfriend?” Levi tilts his head, wondering what is going on here.
Same boat, pal.
“Jackson’s! Jackson Davis, the goalie for the New York Falcons,” Oliver elaborates, and when my gaze swings to Seb, I find the most murderous expression I have ever seen on his face.
Screw that!
I’ve never seen anything but a smile on the rookie’s face. So, the energy wafting off of him right now is definitely out of the ordinary.
At the mention of the Falcons, I also feel Ezra stiffening beside me. Kaeli catches onto that too because she gently rubs circles on his back where no one can see, whispering something in his ears.
For Ezra, I understand. Though I’m not aware of the whole backstory, I know there’s bad blood between him and Falcon’s center, Cillian O’Neill. He used to be Ezra’s best friend in college, but they had a falling out and now they’re ready to bury each other whenever they’re in the same room.
Andie sighs and formally introduces the woman.
“Everyone, this is Aurelia, my best friend. Aurelia, you’ve already met Ezra and Sebastian, it seems like.
This is Oliver, this is Levi, and this is Noah,” she says, pointing out everyone but passing over me so quickly and without even a glance that even Aurelia cocks an eyebrow at her friend’s reaction, though she wisely chooses to stay quiet.
“Though I’m sure you do know their names,” Andie adds, chuckling at herself.
When no one picks up the conversation, ruminating awkwardly in silence, Kaeli is the first one to break the intense stare off all of us seem to be caught in—Seb at Aurelia and her at him, while Oliver and Levi stare at her too.
Me at Andie, because where else would I look?
She seems to be my center of gravity, my true north, or whatever one would call it.
While she does all she can to avoid my eyes.
Kaeli claps her hands and informs, “Alright, I need a drink. Let’s go. I’ll be back, darling.” She pecks Ezra on the lips and steers the women to the bar, while the man practically melts beside me.
Talk about awkward. Well, that’s nothing new when you are surrounded by men who speak before they think half the time.
Unbothered by the tension, I do all I can to not overtly stare at the sway in Andie’s curvy hips as she sashays away. The extra sway ignites the heat in my chest, bringing a smirk to my lips, which I hide behind the rim of the glass, sipping on my beer.
I love the confidence she’s wearing tonight, even though she hates my guts.
I can’t do much to rectify it, because honestly, she’d be better off without me. I can’t offer her shit, and all that comes to people closest to me is pain. I’m a dark hole of sadness, hurt, and loneliness. She doesn’t wanna end up anywhere near me.
What I can do is soak her in because who knows, it may be my last time.
* * *
We’ve been in the bar for a couple of hours now, and I’ve never wanted to kill anyone more than I want to kill that douche bag who has been talking Andie up for the last hour.
I knew it would be torture—watching Andie move on.
But fuck, I didn’t think it would be this unbearable to watch her merely laugh with someone who’s not me.
It’s taking all of me not to march up right there and lay a claiming kiss on those lips that are spread too wide in a smile for a man who’s not me.
I’m perfectly aware that I sound deranged and that what I want to do is impossible.
So, I stay rooted to my seat, crushing the glass in my hand and wishing it were the dude’s neck instead. Who does he think he is, flirting with her with his dark hair, charming smile, and perfect fucking teeth?
I grind my teeth, clenching my jaw so hard that I’m amazed it hasn’t snapped yet, when Andie throws back her head in a laugh, her cheeks flushing with how much she has laughed in the last hour.
“Just a little more force, and I’m sure that you’ll crush that glass with your bare hands,” Kaeli throws at me, nudging her shoulder lightly into mine as she sits in Ezra’s seat.
An unbidden chuckle escapes me as I shake my head, loosening my grip on the poor glass.
“What’s funny?” Kaeli asks with a smile, leaning her head on her palm as her elbow rests on the table, her body twisted to look at me.
It’s nice to see Kaeli on and about, smiling genuinely. At work, in the arena, she’s always our social media manager, maintaining her semblance of professionalism as she carves a name for herself in the men’s world.
“I said something similar to Ezra once in Seattle when he was glaring at you, and who we now know is your MLB playing brother,” I recount, a smile stretching on my lips at the memory. “God, he was a goner for you from the beginning,” I scoff.
“He was, wasn’t he?” Kaeli sighs, a soft smile on her lips showing she’s clearly in love.
She sits straighter and narrows her eyes at me.
“Don’t change the subject.” Shifting closer to me on the seat, she speaks softly, “If Ezra saw you looking at his sister like that, he would lose his balls, go fucking ballistic.”
The warning in her tone is clear: Stay away from Andie.
A vein feathers in my jaw as I clench it, my gaze wandering back to the woman in question.
When I don’t say anything, Kaeli places a hand on mine.
Every instinct in me tells me to pull it away, but I stay put.
“I won’t ever come between two people, Noah.
And with the way you’re looking at her, I know where this ship is sailing.
So, I really hope you know what you’re doing,” she says softly, understanding in her tone.
“I won’t say a word to Ezra. Be careful,” she promises, even though I didn’t ask her to, but am grateful nonetheless.
She taps my hand twice before getting up to find her boyfriend, who has been in the restroom for suspiciously too long.
As much as every atom in my body abhors it, I know Kaeli is right. I have to be careful. I can’t worry Ezra over something that’s not gonna end well.
I wish I could tell that to my heart so it would stop beating for her.