Page 39 of Stay With Me

“Jones,” he says to Jared, no smile on his face. “You should find some other dance partners. That’s my sister”—Ben gestures toward Shayna—“and these ladies are with us.” I don’t miss that he glances over at Trina.

I look at the faces of my sister and my best friend and can’t quite judge which one is more pissed off by Ben’s interruption. Shayna, I get, she seems to want to dance, but Trina, she was just about to walk away anyway.

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t work for you, Donley. You can’t tell me what to do, and unless your sister and her friends tell us to leave them alone, we’re staying.”

“We’re fine, Ben,” Shayna says.

Ben doesn’t give any sign he plans to leave, though, until Trina reaches across between Ben and the men, to the taller of Jared’s two companions, and grabs his hand.

“C’mon handsome, let’s dance.” She pulls the man to her and throws her hands around his neck.

The man grins like he just won the lottery. Why wouldn’t he? My sister is model tall and stunningly beautiful with long blond hair.

I swear Ben Donley growls and glares at Trina and her dance partner before storming off.

Not ten minutes later, Trina excuses herself from our group and leaves the dance floor. Shayna and I continue to dance with the three men, learning they are police officers in the neighboring town, Meadow Creek, and that Jared and Ben went to the police academy together.

After almost two hours of dancing, I’m exhausted.

I tap on Shayna’s arm. “Hey Shay, I’m going to go rest for a bit. I’ll meet you back at the table in a while.”

“I’ll come with you,” Shayna responds.

“No, you stay out here. It’s almost midnight.” I wink at her.

She rolls her eyes but nods at me.

Based on his behavior over the last few hours, I know Jared is more than willing to help my best friend get back in the saddle.

I’m happy to find Charlie and Trina sitting at the table when I return to where we started our night.

“Hey, you two. What are you up to?” I ask.

“Your lame ass sister here was just telling me she’s gonna duck out now and go home,” Charlie says.

“Really, Trina? You okay?” I always worry about Trina. She gets pretty debilitating migraines.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You two worry too much. I’m just tired.” She glances briefly out to the dance floor and frowns, then quickly stands, says goodbye to us, and leaves.

* * *

CHARLIE

I watch my best friend leave the bar, wondering what got into her tonight. Something was off with Trina, and she wouldn’t tell me what it was. I had pestered her some, but I know how annoying it is when I’m not ready to talk about something and she won’t let it go, so I dropped it.

“You think she’s okay?” Emily asks quietly. The concern in her voice is clear.

“Yeah, I think she is. She gets like this sometimes and usually is back to herself the next day. I’ll check in on her tomorrow.”

When I glance over at Emily, she’s watching the door Trina just walked out of. I hate the worry etched on her face.

“It looked like you were having a good time out there making some new friends,” I tease.

I’m trying to distract her from worrying about Trina, but I hated watching her out there dancing with those guys. Not because I don’t want her to have a good time—of course I do. But I’ve yet to meet a man good enough for the likes of Emily and I’d bet money none of those guys they were dancing with tonight would be the exception.

“Eh. It was fine. I was mostly playing wing woman for Shay. I think she’s given up on dating.”

“So, you were taking one for the team, dancing with the hunky guys. Is that it?” I smirk at her.

---