Page 103 of Give Me Love

“Wanna get to know me better?” he asks, the playfulness leaving and something else that makes me uncomfortable takes over.

I clear my throat. “How about we all take a shot, and then you go clean up? We’re taking you out tonight.”

He smiles. “Well damn. My two best girls taking me for a night on the town. What a lucky son of a bitch I am.” He grabs Claire and spins her around.

“Austin, you’re filthy!” she says, horrified. He presses his lips to her cheek hard before putting her down.

“Let me grab the shot glasses from the office. I’ll be right back.”

I look over at Claire as she looks at me. With a small smile, I say, “You. Are. Screwed.”

She rubs her forehead and exhales. “I know.”

After birthday shots and a bite of cake, Austin runs upstairs to his apartment to shower. Claire and I take turns tipping his new flask up and talking about old birthdays.

“You remember that one birthday when you filled Austin’s apartment with balloons?” I ask, handing the flask back to her.

She laughs. “I had to buy a tank of helium. My fingers were killing me after tying all those damn things.” She winces as she tips the drink back.

“He didn’t remove them either. He waited until they all sank,” I say.

She smiles. “Yeah.”

“And then your birthday that year when we all went to your parents’ land and we had that party with your brothers and Austin and God knows who else. I thought we were going to catch the treetops on fire with how big they got that thing.”

“Now that was a fun night. Bonfires are always the best.”

“Ugh. I was puking in the woods for most of the end of it.”

She looks over at me. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, your brother, Andy, kept giving me shots of Goldschläger. I couldn’t get the taste of cinnamon out of my mouth the whole next day.” I shudder at the memory.

She looks down at the flask and rubs her finger over Austin’s initials. “That was the first time Austin kissed me,” she says reflectively.

“What?”

She looks over at me.

“I hope y’all didn’t drink all of that,” Austin says as he comes down the iron spiral staircase.

Claire’s eyes shoot to him. “Nope. Just had a little taste.”

I put on a smile, but on the inside, I’m feeling the complete opposite of happy. Claire has it bad for this guy, and I’m pretty sure he feels the same for her.

____________

The line is long tonight, and the music from inside Red can be heard on the streets. This time, though, the bouncer recognizes me, and there’s no need to look on the list. He automatically unhooks the rope and welcomes us in. Claire gives me a sideways glance, and I shrug. We make our way down the velvet hall and through the all-black sliding doors.

“Shots,” Claire says.

“And beer,” Austin throws in.

We maneuver throughout the crowd, and walk toward the bar.

“Hey,” someone yells. I look up.

The bartender waves us over to the side. I look back at Austin and Claire before we slide through the thick group of people.

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