Page 4 of Delayed Penalty

He stands and stares at me for a moment, almost like he’s assessing me, but not in a sexual way. I think I’d be more comfortable if he were checking me out, at least then I’d understand. Harris and I wereverysexual when we were together, it didn’t matter if we were fighting or disagreeing on something in part of our relationship, our sex life was always easy, and damn, was it hot.

“Whatcha thinking about, Ave? The way you’re biting that lip of yours and those pretty pink cheeks has me questioning just what memory seeing me tonight is striking up for you,” Harris says, his lips tilting up in a little grin—not his megawatt smile, but it’s at least progress.

Why do I care if he’s happy? He definitely didn’t care if I was happy when he left me.

Dammit.I’m not supposed to let him get me all hot and bothered. I’m supposed to be dismissive, like I forgot the man even existed. But at the same time, it’s so hard for me to be in the presence of him and not just melt at his feet like I always have.

Not this time, though.

“I’m not sure what you mean, I’m not thinking about anything except the fact that I need to get back to the table and my drink and away from this blast from the past that I could have gone the rest of my life without experiencing again,” I say, my cheeks reddening at the innuendo in his words, but I refuse to let him see that he’s having this effect on me right now.

“Is that so, Ave?”

“Yes. I have a drink waiting for me along with someone I actually want to be around.”

His eyes flare with a look that almost resembles jealousy… or anger, but I can’t figure out why. Why does he care what I’m doing? Why does he care who I’m here with?

“Oh, there you are, Avery,” Kelly says from behind me, but I’m caught up in a staring competition with Harris—and I don’t know why, but I feel as though if I look away first, he’ll win.

What he wins, I’m not quite sure yet, but I’m terrified to find out.I’ve never been good at telling this man no.

But Kelly is oblivious to all of this as she finally notices Harris standing there next to me, his eyes still on me, watching with a look that is almost unsettling because I can’t understand it. A man who doesn’t care about a woman—hell, I’m not sure he’s even capable of caring about someone other than himself—isn’t able to feel jealousy or pain at the thought of me being out with someone else… even a man.

But Kelly doesn’t notice any of this. Or if she does, she completely ignores it and steps closer toward him.

“Oh, hello there. I’m Kelly, Avery’s sister,” she says with a sweet smile accompanied by what I joke is her customer service voice, and I know there’s no way Harris will be able to ignore her.

I see the moment Harris has to battle himself because he was raised by a good mama who taught him manners, so I know damn well it’s killing him to not immediately greet my sister, but he fights it for a second before shaking his head and turning to my sister and introducing himself.

“Hi, Kelly, I’m Harris. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he says, reaching out and shaking her hand with a smile that would make any woman drop to her knees, and I want to stab my own sister in the eyes for being on the receiving end of that smile.

I wouldn’t stab her. Not, like, actually. It’s just an inside thought that just so happens to occur whenever anyone with a vagina is getting his attention.

Not that I’m jealous or anything, it’s not like there’s anything here for me to be jealous about… it’s more that I hate having to watch someone on the receiving end of that panty dropping smirk.

“Is that so?” Kelly asks with a smirk as she looks back at me, and I want to die, especially because Harris is eating this up. Fuck, I need to end this before it gets bad.

“I was actually just on my way back to you when I ran into Harris. It was really nice talking to you, but I’m going to head back to my table,” I say, grabbing Kelly’s hand and trying to walk away, but Harris speaks before I can.

“Why don’t you two come join our table? It’s just me and a group of my friends, but we have more alcohol than we should at our table,” Harris says, and unfortunately for me, free alcohol and a table of men are my sister’s kryptonite.

“I don’t?—”

“Lead the way, Harris. You’re speaking my language now,” Kelly says, looping her arm in mine and pulling me along, her face bright with the excitement of a single mom out on the town, and dammit, it’s annoying.

She’s blissfully unaware of the fact that I’ve just taken her off my Christmas list.

“What are you doing?” I grumble under my breath, my fingers gripping into her forearm as I struggle with wanting to be polite, yet get as far away from Harris and his friends as possible.

“What?” she asks, sounding shocked, her voice loud enough that Harris turns back, but I just smile and wave, doing my best to distract him enough that he continues to lead us toward the back where a group of guys have taken over a couple of differenttables, random pitchers of beer and shots are spread out and it looks like they have been having a good time.

“I thought we were supposed to be having a girls’ night tonight,” I say, rolling my eyes at the excitement I see in her face, knowing I have a hard time letting her down. I’m going to end up sitting next to Harris thinking about all of the ways he hurt me when he broke my heart.

Oh, and try to not think about it the fact that I can still remember the way his lips felt against mine, against my skin, or against my pussy. His fingers, his tongue, his cock, they are all things I think about when it comes to this man, and the millions of orgasms he gave me in the time we spent together. It makes me want to run home and grab my battery-operated device.

But I shouldn’t even be thinking like this because I have a man at home. Not only just a man, but he’s an actual real-life fiancé I should be happy going home to and all I can think about is I wish I didn’t have to.

Fuck.

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