Chapter 10 #2
“Heyyyyy, girlie,” she says to Em with an awkward beam, and they hug.
She mouths, I am SO SORRY over Em’s shoulder, and I smile and shake my head, making a ‘forget about it’ gesture with my hand.
It’s not her fault she accidentally interrupted.
And to be honest, I’m just glad she made it tonight.
I don’t think much of her boyfriend, Peter, and not just because he comes off like a self-important ass.
He never seems to take much interest in things that matter to Sadie, or be willing to put himself out to do something she’ll enjoy.
He ducks out on as many of these nights as he can, and if he can convince her not to go, he does.
So I was in full agreement with Leo’s assessment earlier, and I’m genuinely surprised to see them here.
Of course, I am biased in favor of my cousin, but even without knowing that Leo's always been desperately in love with her, I still think Sadie could do a lot better than this dullard standing next to her.
Take now, for example. He gives me the barest polite nod, and doesn’t say much or even smile as he shakes Emily’s hand, even though she gives him the most gorgeous, friendly beam, and tells him it’s great to meet him after hearing so much about him.
Jackoff. If he’s not charmed into politeness by Emily, the sweetest person in the world with her adorable manners, he’s clearly beyond hope.
“Drinks?” Sadie asks, seemingly oblivious to the awkward silence that was starting up. For all Peter’s expensive education and personal wealth, his manners suck.
“Sure,” Emily replies.
“We’ll stay for one,” Peter decides in his cut glass British accent, running a hand through his hundred dollar haircut.
Sadie doesn’t say anything, but I roll my eyes inwardly.
Yeah, he definitely didn’t want to come tonight.
What a dick. This is literally a duty visit, and Sadie got all dolled up for all of probably an hour of club time.
What a waste, and what a god damn shame for her.
Anyway, we all make our way to the bar. The seats will probably be gone by the time we get back, but we can stand.
I see Leo look up from bumping and grinding with the same brunette he’s been macking on all night, and notice us.
Or rather, notice Sadie. The split second of raw pain, mixed with a more lingering look of surprised happiness that she made it after all, makes my chest ache for him.
I honestly don’t know how he deals, sometimes.
He’s confided in both me and Dean, and I know how much the situation hurts him behind the grinning and the Leo charm.
He loves Sadie, body and soul, always has.
I can see in his face his evening has spun from pretty freakin’ sweet to a punch in the gut.
He quickly turns back to the woman he’s with, who fortunately didn’t notice him looking at another woman while she was twerking against his crotch.
He collects himself enough to give us all a convincing carefree wave, like it’s no biggie, and then forcibly turns his attention back to her.
Emily looks at me, and then back to Leo. Shit. I think she just saw everything. My suspicions are confirmed when she darts her eyes towards Sadie, who is laughing happily at whatever Peter just said and playing with his hair.
“Did I just see…” She glances over her shoulder at Leo, who is now back to normal and grinning at tonight’s woman. Em’s eyes are huge and soft with sympathy as she looks up at me. “Leo’s into Sadie,” she mouths. It’s a statement, not a question. She’s nobody’s fool.
“Yep,” I say quietly. She’s figured it out. No sense in hiding it.
“Awwww,” she says sadly, patting her chest where her heart sits. “And she doesn’t know?”
I shake my head. “Not as far as I can tell. She’s all in with…” I nod towards her and Peter.
Em sighs. “Poor Leo,” she says very quietly.
“Yeah, it’s rough on him,” I agree. “He does this every so often as a distraction, but...there’s no-one else for him.
No-one else measures up.” I shrug sadly.
I do feel bad for him. And for Sadie, who’d be much better off with my cousin, but she can’t seem to see past Asshole Peter.
But Leo never lets his mask slip to her for a second.
Just keeps on keeping on, not wanting to spoil their admittedly cast iron friendship. I admire the shit out of him for it.
“Guys!” Sadie calls, eyes bright with laughter at something apparently funny that Peter said (though I doubt it, she was probably just being nice). “What’re you having?”
After a couple of drinks, Emily surprises me further by pulling my wrist gently to the dance floor of her own accord without any prompting.
Helping her feel confident enough to do that is the high point of my month - of my year - so far.
Now that she’s warmed up to it, her dancing has become completely uninhibited, and she’s gorgeous to look at while she’s lost in the music.
Leo catches my eye as I dance a respectful yet still intimate distance from her.
I'm not letting another man near, and I glare at a few that are eyeing her up, making a few subtle fists at my side which flexes my biceps, until they back off; I’m a big guy, and there are few who would size me up and be willing to take me on.
It makes Leo laugh as he bumps and grinds with his band aid lady of tonight, and mouths, Fucking go for it.
I raise an eyebrow and look back at Em. I’m never normally this shy in a club, but, though I would love to pull her hips towards me and dirty dance with her the way Leo is with his date, I do believe in waiting for very clear signals before I make a move.
The only reason Charmaine and I got together was because she made the first move, and to be honest I think her go-get-it attitude was one of the parts of her personality that drew me to her.
But I don’t want to crowd Emily, or misunderstand anything.
She’s been through so much. I don’t want to get this wrong and misread any signals and make her uncomfortable.
That’s the last thing she deserves, and besides, I wouldn’t want to ruin our friendship in any way.
Being her friend is too important to me, above and beyond my feelings for her.
But then she looks at me.
There’s a pulse between us, and we both move imperceptibly closer together, not breaking eye contact for a second.
The air between us is charged like static electricity, and in spite of the muggy heat inside the club, I feel my arms prickle with goosebumps.
Haim sings breathlessly about the heat of the moment, and if the heat they were singing about is anything like this moment right now, I’m amazed the mics didn’t burst into flames as they sang.
I realize my hand was starting to inch towards her waist, that mouthwatering hourglass figure of hers, and I pull it back, digging my fingers into my palms. Her cleavage jumps a little as she dances, and I’m only a man, and my cock once again starts to harden towards her.
I pray my jeans and boxers are tight enough to keep the fucker under control and discreet.
The last thing I need right now is a tented crotch region giving the game away and making shit awkward.
Em has started mouthing along to the lyrics, and she’s still not breaking that supercharged eye contact with me.
Her gray eyes look like silver in the flashing blue and purple lights of the club, and I wish she was saying these words to me for real, and not just singing along to a Calvin Harris song.
I can’t look away.
“Guys, we’re off,” Sadie declares to us, effectively severing the moment for the second time tonight.
“Peter’s got a cab waiting.” Peter stands back, nodding a brief goodbye to us both.
He barely said anything all night, and was very obviously bored out of his haughty skull the entire time.
I glance back at Sadie. I know from previous nights out just like this one that my friend loves to get down on the dancefloor.
Tonight she hasn’t been near it, stuck babysitting her man on the sidelines. Peter is a selfish ass.
She and Emily hug, and she also gives me a quick squeeze. “Leo’s right, fucking go for it,” she murmurs in my ear, and I blink. She pulls back and winks at me, and then she walks with her asshole boyfriend to the exit.
Leo notices, and the longing in his face seems worse than usual as he watches her leave, his eyes following her though the crowd until she’s gone.
Like a snap decision, he spins the woman he’s with around, and in a split second he’s cupping her face and kissing her, hard and deep, like she’s the love of his life and he hasn’t seen her in a year.
Or, more accurately, like she’s the woman who just walked out the door with Peter.
He’s lost, desperately chasing comfort in the last place he should be looking, and the woman responds with alacrity, hooking her arms around his neck and giving as good as she gets.
I shake my head. He is officially out for the evening. He’ll take her home, fuck her to deaden his own pain for a few hours, and never call her again. And next week he’ll do it all again with a different woman.
“I guess that’s Leo occupied for the rest of the night,” Emily jokes wryly, echoing my thoughts.
“Guess so,” I agree. I look back at her, trying not to think about what would happen if I pulled her close and did the same thing, trying to ignore the thud in my chest urging me to do it. Her face is flushed and her eyes are sparkling. She’s so stunning it’s like a jab to my ribs.
“I’m kind of done, too,” she admits.
“Sure,” I say, wishing the night could last forever. “Let me walk you home.” She lives closer to the club than Sadie does, so there’s no real need for a taxi. Plus, I want to prolong the amount of time I have with her.
She looks up at me, and I half expect her to politely say that she doesn’t want to put me out, like she usually does. But instead, she smiles a little, and says, “OK.”