Page 66 of Replay

His reaction twists my stomach as I call out after him, “This is why I never promised you anything, Carter. I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship.”

He salutes me and walks away.

Ay, ay, captain, but don’t be a fucking dick.

I rejoin the girls, no Nola in sight anymore.

“You okay?” they both ask me.

I nod reassuringly as a sense of relief washes over me. “Yeah, it’s my fault. I should have womaned up a while ago and told him how I was feeling. It was stupid and selfish of me not to.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, babe. You’ve had a confusing couple of weeks and, honestly, if Carter actually thought y’all had a chance at being more than friends with benefits, he was delulu,” Bellamy says, grabbing my arms and moving my body with hers.

“I agree, B. I know your kind heart, but just remember you never promised him anything else. Now have fun and let yourself have whatever or whoever you truly want. No matter how wrong you may think it is or how scared you are. Take it from me, life is tooshort to worry about all that and not be with who you want to be with.” Darby slings her arm around my shoulders, swaying with Bellamy and me.

I let both their words ease my guilt. After all the revelations over the past few weeks and the way my heart and body still feel, I know there’s no reason to keep denying myself something I want so badly.

Letting the peace of that self-awareness calm me, I give them both a big smile, suddenly feeling more like myself than I have in a long time. “I love y’all! Let’s dance and then cause some chaos in the VIP section.”

“Bet!” Bellamy gives me a shit-eating grin.

Several songs later, Darby nudges me, and I look up, seeing Nola leading the literal pack of wolves over to us.

My belly dips, and my toes tingle when my eyes meet Nate’s. He’s so fucking hot it’s ridiculous. Willow’s words play on repeat as my gaze drifts to the sleeve on his right arm. I have the urge to find out exactly what she meant the other night, and I don’t want to wait any longer.

“Where’s the rest of your dress?” I hear Cash growl under his breath to Bellamy, and I smirk.

Make him sweat, sis.

Bellamy rolls her eyes and keeps dancing with Darby, but I see the smug grin she tries to hide from the way he watches her.

“Is the coast clear?” Whispered words flutter across my neck, and my core clenches at his closeness.

“What coast?”

“The one where your boyfriend, or whatever he is, was hovering around?”

“He isn’t my boyfriend, never was.” I spin around to face him.

His hazel eyes darken as he steps a bit closer. “Does he know that?”

“Yes.” My voice breathier than just moments before.

“Good. I don’t give a flying fuck, but I don’t want you to feel bad.”

“Feel bad about what?”

He licks his thumb, rubbing it across his bottom lip, and all I can think about is how good that mouth would feel between my legs. I’m so turned on, I almost miss when he says, “When I kiss you later.”

Wetness floods between my legs, but I tilt my head, playing it cool. “Very presumptuous of you, don’t ya think.”

He closes whatever space was left between us. “You telling me you don’t want it as bad as I do?”

It’s hard to breathe; all the air has been sucked out of this club.

“Come on,” he says, putting his hand on the small of my back and nodding toward the group. “We came out here to get y’all.” His touch burns through my dress, and I feel like I’m going crazy with need.

Nate’s hand never leaves its place on my back as we enter the VIP section, and I’m ridiculously close to begging him to put his hands somewhere else.

---