Page 92 of The Cupcake Standard

“Heading out tomorrow afternoon for another gig. We’ll have to do brunch before I leave. Maybe just the old gang.” She patted his arm, giving me a pointed stare. “It’s so good to see you again, D. It’s been too long. I’ll let you get back to your guests. I am the entertainment after all!” And she headed to the mic for another song, much to everyone else’s delight.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Derek took the stool next to me. “All right, what’s going on?” His tone changed from friendly to demanding.

Piper started belting out some song about a cheating man. She would. I slammed back the whiskey, eyed Derek and decided I wasn’t going to shout at him, so I stalked my way across the room to the hallway. Again.

He followed.

The door had barely shut when I whirled on him. “That’s Princess? She’s the mystery girl I’ve been competing against this whole time? Well, I fold.” Hurt sliced through me anew, though I slammed it aside and tried to walk past him to the stairs.

But he blocked my way. “What are you talking about?”

I clenched my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palms. One kind of pain to distract from the other. “The first day in your apartment, I heard what Kevin said about you declaring your undying love for Princess.” I gestured to where Piper belted her song out in the other room.

“I heard you and Liam that morning when he asked you if you’d told me about Princess yet. Both Bin and Rhonda filled me in about the girl who tore you up, the girl you still weren’t over.” Despite my best effort to get past him again, I failed miserably, and I fought the urge to scream. “Then I went to get your Lions hoodie out of the closet, and her letter fell out, asking you to wait for her. Signed ‘yours forever’.”

It was like I stood on the edge of a big black pit, looking down into its swirling depths. I hung my head, ready to step over. “That was the day I knew I’d let this go on for too long. I’m so far gone over you, but you’ve already given your heart to someone else. I promised myself I’d just be your friend, Derek, but I keep crossing that line.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “I just don’t know if I can go back. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I can’t compete with someone like that.”

Derek took me in his arms, embracing all of me, crushing me to him. He rested his cheek on top of my head. “Avery, I don’t know whether to throttle you or kiss you. For such a smart person, you can be an absolute idiot sometimes.”

I pulled back enough to give him a look of utter confusion.

With a tug on my hand, he dragged me back into the party. “Wait here.” He left me on the sideline, going to say a quick word to Rhonda and shake Roy Cobalt’s hand once more. Then he was back, leading us right up to Piper. His signal to her was quick, and we waited there until she finished the song.

I wasn’t even freaking out anymore. The pit still beckoned, and I welcomed the numbness.

Derek took the microphone. “All right, guys, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for coming.”

A chorus of cheers echoed around the room.

“To Piper and Roy Cobalt for making a special trip just for us. To Rhonda for twisting their arms to get here. To Gina and Liam for all their hard work and coordination. And especially to my girlfriend,” he said, emphasizing the word, “Avery, who not only gave up her birthday for me but put all this together.”

The cheers were even louder this time.

“Since Avery and I have two birthdays to celebrate, as well as plenty of amazing whiskey to help us do it, we’re going to duck out a bit early. So you all, enjoy!”

I frowned. That’s unexpected. Even more unexpected was his next move, which was to throw me over his shoulder. I yelped. Liam ran over with two bottles of whiskey from the bar, Gina right behind him. I peered up at her from Derek’s back.

“You okay?” she asked.

Derek turned, talking before I could. “She’s dumb, that’s what she is. And we’re going to set things straight.”

Annoyance bristled through me at being called dumb. My world was upside down in more ways than one, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Gina smirked. “Girl, I told you so. I should have bet on it!” were the last words I heard before he carried me out of the door.

“Are you showing my ass off to everyone?” I asked grumpily as I jostled about, bouncing off his too-firm back. I didn’t want to touch him, didn’t want to notice the way his ass looked amazing from this angle, didn’t want to feel his shoulder muscles rippling beneath me. I tried crossing my arms, but I had to give in and grab on if I had any hope of not ricocheting off him with every step. Jerk.

“Nope, got my hand nicely over your skirt.” He gave my leg a little squeeze, sending a jolt through me and causing my thighs to clench. His chuckle let me know he’d felt my involuntary response. “Too bad my other hand is full of whiskey, otherwise I’d be enjoying myself even more.”

I gritted my teeth. We stepped into an elevator, and the sensation of going up was odd while hanging upside down. I squirmed, but that just made friction in all the wrong, or right, places.

Then he was bouncing me along again. “All right, Cupcake, you either get to reach into my back pocket and do the honors of the keycard, or I get to do a few squats, setting the whiskey down, grabbing the card, getting the whiskey…”

I slid my hand into his pocket. He turned so I could insert the card and open the door.

“Thank you.”

He set me on my feet, doing a full body slide so I felt every inch of him on my way down. Then he smirked, locking the door and striding past me without a second glance.

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