Page 106 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

I placed my order, then went back to the table. Stephen and Alex were deep in conversation, and Kate quickly pulled me aside.

I was about to give my regular spiel ofThere’s nothing going on with Stephen and me, so stop talking about itwhen she said, “Don’t freak out, but isn’t that your ex over there?” She pointed towards the restaurant side of the room at a man who was either Dre or his doppelganger. I groaned. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

“Fuck.” I didn’t think he’d noticed me yet, and I wanted to keep it that way. We still had nothing to say to each other. He was eatingwith a guy I remembered from the club, and as long as we stayed on our respective sides, all should be good.

“I’ll also take that ‘fuck’ to mean ‘he’d better stay the hell away from me,’ right?”

“Yeah.” As if the gods needed to get in a good laugh, Dre took that exact moment to turn his head. His eyes widened when he saw me. “Fuck,” I said a bit louder.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked. Both he and Stephen were looking at us.

“Perry’s ex-kinda boyfriend is here, and she’s not too happy about it.”

Adam jumped off his seat. “Ex? Well, why didn’t you say that before?” He came around to me and practically hopped in my lap, whispering in my ear, “Let’s give him something to get jealous about. I’ll be your new boyfriend. Fuck buddy. Whatever.”

His arms were tight around my neck as he gave me exaggerated sloppy kisses all over the side of my face. “Adam!” I wiped off his spit. “That’s gross. Stop it.” But as usual, he made me giggle while I said it since he was being his normal self.

I glanced to see Stephen glaring at us from behind with Dre glaring at us in front. Kate was laughing.

“I don’t want him to be jealous, okay? So stop. All you’re doing is calling more attention over here.”

“I’m going to get a drink,” Stephen said, pushing away from the table.

Dre got up.Dammit. Adam slid off me but kept his arm slung around my shoulders. Dre was coming over. “Dammit, Adam. Now look. I don’t want to talk to him.”

“As your new man, I’ll handle it.”

As Dre approached, I almost laughed at how absurd it was. Both guys had slept with Christa. Maybe they could compare notes afterwards. I noticed Stephen at the bar. Thank fuck he hadn’t takena turn.

“Can I talk to you a sec, Perry?”

Adam yanked me closer. “No.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

I smacked my hand over Adam’s mouth to keep it shut. I hadn’t recalled buying any front row seats to a pissing match, and I didn’t want to see one.

“No, I don’t want to talk to you, Dre. I already told you not to contact me, and I need you to leave now.”

He actually shocked the hell out of me when he did. The way he shot death glares at Adam, I thought for sure he’d instigate something. Instead, he didn’t even go back to his table but stormed out the main door.

“Man, what is it with you women and scary motherfuckers? I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.”

“Then why’d you start something!”

“Because I said I would handle it.”

Kate squished his cheeks with her fingers and shook. “Adam. Sweetie. Do you really want to make Perry feel bad when she has to help scrape your body off the floor?”

“Wait,” I said. “Where did Stephen go?” He was no longer at the bar.

Adam shrugged. “He said he was getting a drink.”

“Yeah, but I don’t see him anymore.”

“Aww, don’t worry, you’ll make it.” Kate patted my arm. “He’ll be back soon.”

“No, it’s not that….” I scanned the whole area, then waited a bit longer to see if he was just in the restroom. After still no luck, I started to get a weird feeling. “Hey, guys? I need to take off. If I’m not back, someone can have my food.”

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