Chapter 44
I was frozen in place, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me, the air sucked clear from my lungs. I’d asked a simple question, merely curious as to who the stranger was speaking to Gabe.
I never expected the answer to be Wes’s girlfriend.
“His…his girlfriend?” I finally managed to choke out before holding my breath again.
I was going to tell him.
“Yeah,” Callie answered with a nod. “They’re new. Like, brand new. This is actually the first time she’s hung out with all of us.”
I looked over at her. “When the hell did that happen? He doesn’t have girlfriends!”
And I was going to tell him.
Callie chuckled at my statement, completely unaware of my inner turmoil, as she stared at the woman. “He’s been hanging out with her, going on dates for the past month or so, but I guess they just made things official within the last week.”
When my gaze slid back to the opening of the room, I finally spotted Wes for the first time as he carried a large tray of drinks—he was wearing a white polo and dark wash jeans, and, God, he looked good.
When he set the tray down on the table, his arm slid around the woman’s waist, and my heart clenched and then sank like a stone with the gesture.
I was going to tell him.
Callie glanced back at me. “Hey…you okay?”
“What?” I snapped my gaze from the room to her. “Oh, yeah…” I swallowed thickly with a nod. “Yeah, I-I’m fine.”
She smiled. “Come on. They’re all waiting to see you.”
Callie pulled me toward the room, but every step felt like I was trudging through quicksand, my eyes locked on Wes with his arm around his girlfriend.
His girlfriend.
“Morgan!” Gabe grinned when we stepped into the room.
At the sound of my name, I saw Wes look at me, and my eyes locked on his when Gabe pulled me into a hug.
There was something unreadable in his expression as he stared at me, but he dropped my gaze before I could even attempt to decipher it.
I couldn’t ignore the pang of disappointment when he did, either.
I greeted Lucas next, and when I stepped back from our hug, Gabe handed me a beer before looking at Wes expectantly. He seemed to understand as he cleared his throat.
“This is Loralei. Lora, this is Morgan.” He made the introduction insouciantly, and I couldn’t tell if it was because he was trying to keep up the front of our supposed mutually strained tolerance of one another or if it was genuine indifference and he just didn’t…care.
Lora. I fought back the urge to grimace, and then I felt horrible for even having that urge. I didn’t even know this woman, and she was probably lovely. I was just being a jealous bitch, which I hated. I mentally apologized for my internal reaction.
“Hi,” I said as I forced myself to smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”
I was going to tell him.
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Loralei said curtly before looking up at Wes.
Oh. Okay.
I was barely paying attention when Gabe, Callie, and Lucas started to talk to me.
As I tipped my beer bottle back and took a long pull, I discreetly slid my gaze over and watched Wes turn away to talk to his girlfriend.
I didn’t know what exactly it was—hell, I hadn’t even had an actual conversation with him—but he seemed…
different. There was something almost subdued about him.
It was fucking weird. And it wasn’t Wes.
When I saw Loralei lean up on her tiptoes and press a kiss to Wes’s cheek, my chest tightened. I turned toward the large table where the others were now seated before setting my beer down. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Callie asked.
“I need something stronger.”
I walked away and made my way through the crowd to the bar. “There’s my girl!”
When I glanced up, there was Susan, stepping out from behind the bar with a grin. “Hey, Suzie.”
“When did you get back?” she asked as she pulled me into a hug.
“Just this afternoon,” I replied.
“Well, it’s good to have you home. I missed your sass.” She winked with a chuckle as she moved back behind the bar. “Usual rum and coke for you?”
“Yeah…but hold the coke.”
“Well, goddamn, honey. Rough day?”
“Yeah, something like that.” I leaned against the bar, dropping my head forward with a sigh.
I was still processing the fact that Wesley Callahan had a girlfriend.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized this would be just my luck.
I’d been saying for a few years now that the universe had some sick sense of humor when it came to me and my love life in general, but this one really took the fucking cake.
The cosmos allowed me to fall for the last guy on the planet I ever thought I’d fall for.
One who managed to grate on my every damn nerve, push every button I had, get under my skin, that I hated at one point, and one that had never wanted a serious relationship before in his life.
And when I worked up the nerve to confess my feelings, that’s when he decided he wanted to try commitment on for size… but with someone else?
What the actual fuck is my life?
I felt like a walking punchline for being unlucky in love. And if this wasn’t a sign that I should throw in the towel and accept my fate as a spinster, I didn’t know what was.
“Hey, you.”
I popped straight up and looked over to see Wes settle up beside me. “H-Hi…”
I stared at him, watching him knit his brows before that damn smirk curled on his lips. I let out an imperceptible whimper that was thankfully drowned out by the chatter and music.
Wes chuckled. “You okay?”
“Uh…yeah. I’m fine. Great, actually. I am…great. Just great.” I looked away from him.
“Alright.” Wes laughed, shaking his head. “How’s it feel to be home?”
“Great,” I said, keeping my eyes straight ahead.
He snorted. “Is that your new favorite word?”
I let out a breath. “Yeah. I guess.”
There was a moment of silence between us. “It’s good to see you …” I slid my eyes back to him, knitting my brow. “What’s that look for?”
“‘It’s good to see you’? Did you lose touch with your witty repartee while I was gone?”
“No.” Wes chuckled. “I just…I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “It is good to see you, though…to have you home.”
I looked at him again, studying him for a moment.
“It’s, uh…yeah, it’s good to see you, too.
” I cleared my throat, looking back in search of Susan; I could really use that drink.
“What are you doing over here? Shouldn’t you be with your girlfriend?
” I didn’t mean to be so sharp with that last word, but alas.
Wes’s green eyes cut over to me, almost like he picked up on it. “She wanted something to eat.”
I looked over, meeting his gaze again. I was going to tell you.
Every word I planned to say ran through my head.
I had even more I wanted to say now and more questions I wanted to ask, but nothing was coming out.
Because I didn’t feel like I could say anything now.
I was just someone he used to hook up with, nothing more.
That’s all it was ever supposed to be, anyway.
So, what right did I have to ask questions?
To confess anything? The fact I cared didn’t matter now.
I had been gone, and Wes made a choice.
And it wasn’t me.
I couldn’t be that girl that swept in trying to win him back from someone else, especially when he’d never been mine to win back in the first place.
“Rum and coke, no coke.” Susan chuckled as she slid the glass to me.
I looked over at her, semi-thankful for the interruption. “Thanks.” I gave her my card to open a tab.
When she turned to the register, Wes looked at my glass. “Straight rum?” He chuckled. “It’s one of those nights, huh? Rough day, Princess?”
There it was. That godforsaken nickname I used to hate, then loved. I suddenly hated it again—it packed a different kind of punch now, one straight through my chest.
“You have no idea…” I raised the glass to my lips, taking a sip and fighting the grimace at the straight taste.
Jesus, this shit is not for the faint of heart.
“I’m, uh…I’m gonna…” I gestured toward the back room where the others were, pausing momentarily when I met his gaze.
He nodded, tapping the bar before standing straight as I walked away.
This had easily become the most awkward night of my life and potentially the worst…and it’d only just begun.
As the night continued, I wanted to be there less and less. Especially when the others started talking to Loralei, trying to get to know her better for the sake of Wes. I remained relatively quiet while sipping my drinks and inconspicuously watching the new couple.
However, Loralei was proving to be a little difficult to get to know. She was stiff, and her answers to any questions asked about her were either short with no context or pointedly given to Wes to answer for her.
It was odd.
The only gratification I got from any of it was the looks Lucas kept casting in his best friend’s new girlfriend’s direction; I didn’t know why, but I was pretty certain he wasn’t a fan.
I could have sworn, however, that during my bouts of surveying, I saw Wes’s gaze shift in my direction more than once. But as quickly as his eyes would land on me, they would flicker away just as fast.
“How about a game of never have I ever?” Lucas suggested.
God bless him for still trying to break the ice.
Everyone—except Loralei—shrugged and nodded in collective agreement. The guys always had fun with stupid games like this, so Callie and I were used to it. My brothers and their wives didn’t care and were quick to join in.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played this,” Loralei said.
“What?” Gabe chuckled. “Really?”
It was a little surprising to hear, if I were being honest.
“Really,” she responded flatly.
“Rules are simple,” Lucas said. “Each person makes the statement, ‘Never have I ever…’ If anyone has done the action, they drink. You can say stuff you have done; the whole point is to drink and loosen up, after all. And heads up…we aren’t usually PG-13.”