Chris didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. He wore his heart in his eyes, and the way his hand clenched around Liam’s briefly said everything.
“Oh, snaps.” Bria took a picture of them, staring at one another. “Here’s another one for the wall.”
Neither Chris or Liam bothered to even look in our direction. They kept staring at each other with moon-eyes, and as ridiculously adorable as it was, they needed to move.
“I’ve got to pee,” I told them both. “Move now, so I can get to the bathroom.”
“Oh,” Bria laughed. “I gotta go, too. Bathroom buddies.” She linked her arm in mine and we walked the very long distance of thirty feet to get to the bathroom. “That took forever.”
“You are very drunk.” I patted her on the head and held the door open for her to go in. “Let’s get this done and then we can go home. To your home. I don’t think I should go to my home, not tonight anyways.”
“Nope!” Bria laughed. “Chris is gonna get some.”
After I did my business and washed my hands, I waited for Bria to finish.
“Everything’s harder when you’re drunk.” She burped. “Can we get tacos on the way home?”
“Of course we can,” I patted her head again. “Let’s go make sure that Chris is taken care of and I’ll call a cab.”
She smiled and rested her head on my shoulder for a moment. “You’re the best.”
We walked back into the bar, only to walk directly into someone’s back. Two people actually.
“Move your ass, Casey.” Bria snarled immediately, glaring daggers at the man she’d married right out of high school.
I didn’t even know how she knew it was him, but there wasn’t any doubt in my mind. Especially not when he turned and shot her a heated look. His brother, Carter, the one that had tried to arrest me, stood at his side. His eyes were rimmed with red when he smiled down at me sadly.
He hesitated before saying anything, and when he did, it lacked any real enthusiasm. “I think we should stop meeting like this.”
“At least this time you don’t have handcuffs.” I tried to hide the embarrassment that overtook my face even as I said the words. Thinking about his handcuffs did something to my libido that I couldn’t control.
That earned me a response. A short bark of surprised laughter, followed by him reaching into the pocket inside his jacket.
“Actually, I do.”
I couldn’t help blushing at that, and I swear the fact that I bit my lip wasn’t me trying to hit on him. Sure, I might be picturing him naked, holding those cuffs at the edge of the bed, but that wasn’t the real me. That was the alcohol and my current lack of sex. It had to be.
My voice came out a strangled mess. “Can we get by?” I reached for Bria’s arm, who stood a foot in front of Casey looking like she was about to faint.
“Can I talk to you?” Casey reached out to touch Bria’s arm, but I stepped in the way, blocking any contact between him and one of my best friends.
“No chance in Hell, Casey.” I said firmly. “Bria’s drunk, and you’re her kryptonite. You can’t talk to her. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. Shoo, fly. You’re bothering me.” I rambled, unsure of how to get us out of the complicated situation we were in. Also the fact that they’d just buried their brother didn’t escape me either. I just needed to protect her from him.
Suddenly, the friendly expression that had been on Carter’s face only a moment before was gone. Not only that, but the two of them were joined by four more giants, immediately flanking us and making it hard to breathe with all the testosterone. Only recognizing one of the men, I offered a smile to Cameron, who didn’t bother to smile back. Instead, he glared at me like I’d just shot his puppy.
“What did you just say?” Casey whispered, looking for all the world like he was having his heart cut out of his chest where he stood.
“I said no.” The words came out a lot stronger than I felt. Bria tittered uncomfortably behind my back and I swatted her blindly. “Bria’s drunk. Yes, she was there with you earlier. She gave you what you needed. Now, you need to give her what she needs. Space.”
Cameron stepped forward to defend his brother, but Carter grabbed him by the arm. “She’s right.” He looked over at Casey. “Maybe now’s not the best time.”
Casey, reluctantly, nodded his head. “I’m gonna tell your mother on you,” he told Bria as he walked away. “Then we’ll see who’s avoiding who.”
Bria stopped laughing and yanked on my hair. “You can’t let him do that. My mom doesn’t know I locked him out of the house.” She was trying to whisper, but she was definitely drunk. I decided, when Casey stopped in his walk away to smile at her over his shoulder, that it was beyond time to get out of there.
“Shit,” Bria hissed. “He heard me, didn’t he?”
“The whole bar heard you, B.” Chris called out from his seat at our table.
After I walked her back to the table and entrusted her to her brother and the bookworm, I headed toward the front of the bar toward the door and away from the noise. Ordering the cab wasn’t complicated at all. I just opened the app and entered all our information, and got an alert that it would be another ten minutes. Honestly, though, that wasn’t a terrible amount of time to wait.
“What’re you doing out here?”
I looked up to see none other than Karen Zucker standing in front of me with a snarl on her face, wearing a black dress that would have fit a kindergartner better than it fit her. Normally, I didn’t give two shits what someone looked like or wore. But Karen? She was an asshole and always had been. So, I didn’t feel even the slightest bit of regret for judging her. Not after everything she’d put me through.
When I didn’t bother to answer her question, Karen tried another tactic. “I see you’re all alone, like always. Poor little Avery James, no one ever wanted you.”
She smiled, showing that she had a splash of red on her teeth. Putting one hand on her hip she stared at me disapprovingly, but I wasn’t about to rise to the bait. I’d already let one asshole mess with me recently.
“You’re not worth it,” I told her honestly. “Go inside, get drunk, and find some sleazeball to take you home, Karen. But stay away from my brother.”
Rage, red-hot and furious, practically singed the air around her at my statement, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s it. I should have beat your ass in school, but your stupid brother said you weren’t to be touched. But he’s not here to protect you anymore, is he?” Karen drew her arm back, almost dramatically, to slap me, and I rolled my eyes.
For a second, I honestly thought she wouldn’t do it. I mean, who drew their hand back that far to slap someone? Disbelief and the alcohol were the only reasons I could think of that I didn’t duck out of the way. But when her hand connected, the sharp sting of pain woke me right up. She wasn’t strong, at least not as strong as Bailey. My sister packed a mean punch. Next to her, Karen’s slap didn’t even scratch the surface of pain.
One well-placed punch is all it took to retaliate. Except that as soon as Karen went down, the man she’d been there to meet appeared.