Page 33 of Heir

“Go,” I said, pushing Blue away. It was like pushing a wall. I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Yes. Go. Have fun.”

“Okay. I won’t be long. I’ll be back, and then we can leave, okay?”

I nodded, and he stood up, kissing the top of my head.

I watched him make his way to a group of guys all wearing the King’s Men’s cut. They laughed and pounded his back when he approached, and I smiled a little at the sight.

Unlike me, Blue made friends wherever he went. He was the outgoing one out of the two of us. He had been the outgoing one between him and his sister, Alina.

Alina and I were very much alike, and perhaps that was why Blue was so protective of me.

I reminded him of his sister.

I let my eyes shift to the bar once more and felt my heart sink when I didn’t see Kai in his spot.

He’d left.

He’d left without saying anything.

Not that I had been expecting him to say anything to me, but there was still a heavy sort of disappointment deep in my belly that he’d left, and I hadn’t even been aware of it.

A part of me had convinced myself that the reason he’d stayed behind instead of leaving with his dad was me.

But as usual, that was just my overactive imagination getting to me.

Breathe in, breathe out.

I looked at all the beer bottles around me.

Suddenly, I didn’t want to be here anymore.

Blue said we were going to leave when he came back. I stood and headed to the restroom, wanting to speed up time until we could leave the bar, suddenly not having fun anymore.

I found the restroom not too far from where I was sitting, hidden in a small, slightly dark corner. I passed a side door that looked like it led outside, then the men’s bathroom, and finally, the ladies’ bathroom. I walked inside to a thankfully empty room.

I quickly did my business and went to the sink.

The bathroom wasn’t as dirty as I’d imagined it to be, though I wouldn’t exactly call it clean, either.

The mirror was cracked in the corner, and there was a strand of long dark hair in the sink. I splashed water on it and watched as it flowed down the drain before soaping up my hands.

I watched my reflection. My pale complexion was made worse by the lighting in here. The red lipstick I had put on before we got here was now slightly smudged from the beer bottle. I assessed my outfit of a pair of old black and white Converse with a hole in the sole of the left one, ripped jeans, and a black T-shirt.

Old insecurities came back, and I wondered if I should have taken one of my mom’s pieces of advice and worn a dress.

Boys like girls who wear dresses, Gemma.

I shook my head. I was trying hard not to think of my mom, to not let her get into my head.

I quickly washed my hands, and towel-dried them before walking out of the bathroom.

I stayed in the hallway and looked out at the busy bar, seeming to have gotten busier in the ten minutes that I was gone, to the loud music that was booming loudly inside my head. I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to regain my composure before I opened it once more and my eyes crashed into blue ones.

My heart pounded fiercely in my chest.

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