Page 80 of Ink & Ambition

He hasn’t texted, hasn’t called since I left him in the recording studio. Not that I wanted him to. But it would’ve been nice to know he was thinking about me. Clearly, I was thinking about him. Again…not that I wanted to.

My wishful thinking bubble bursts within a few minutes as Alex finds his way over to us. Arden is sitting on my left, cheersing his beer with mine as Alex walks up.

“Didn’t take you very long, did it?”

“Excuse me?” I say, initially intending to ignore his ass but can’t possibly after that comment. All eyes are on Alex and I now. Even Arden is stunned speechless which probably won’t last long.

“One fight and you’re running off with someone else,” Alex gestures toward Arden, and Danika gags on the other side of the table. Alex whips his head around to her, clearly confused.

“Hey, fella,” Arden says, cool as a cucumber with his hand outstretched toward Alex. “I’m Arden.”

Alex looks at Arden, glances at his hand then looks back toward me. “My brother.”

The look of relief on Alex’s face shocks me. He genuinely thought I’d run off with someone else after one small thing.That’s going to bode well for our relationship.

“Brother?” He asks, hope leaking out of his voice. He takes Arden’s hand.

“Brother,” Arden replies, shaking twice then dropping Alex’s hand. “And you must be Alex.”

Alex’s gaze whips to mine, his eyes dancing with mirth. “You told your brother about me.”

“Uh, no,” I look over at Arden. “I didn’t.”

He swallows the sip of his beer before continuing. “Well, I’ve seen your podcast, obviously.” I don’t get a chance to ask him any follow-up questions about how he even knew about the podcast before an ice cold drink is poured directly down my front. Some drunken idiot falls over on top of me and soaks me completely.

“Watch where you’re fucking going, asshole!” Danika shouts but that’s not what intimidates the man. No, it’s the two oversix feet tall men that have stacked up in front of me, looking to punch anything that moves.

Grabbing some napkins from a nearby table, I start to dab myself dry. “Down, dogs. Heel.” I scoff, rolling my eyes at their dick-measuring display. When they don’t move, I push past, heading toward the bathroom with Dani and Sydney on my tail.

Thankfully, the line is short and by some miracle the three of us file in and start damage control.

“You’re lucky clear alcohol doesn’t stain,” Danika comments, wetting a paper towel and dapping the wet spots on my shirt.

“I don’t feel lucky,” I reply, quietly. Sydney gets a dry towel and soaks up some of the wetness. “This is so weird, right? My brother is here and he just met the guy I’m kind of dating, kind of not dating.”

Danika laughs. “Definitely weird, but in a good way, I think.”

“What’s good about this?” I gesture toward my wet clothes. Syd and Dani take a step back, admiring my outfit disaster.

I see the lightbulb go off in Syd’s head as she peels off her flannel shirt, leaving her white tank top revealed. She throws the shirt over my head and ties the two sleeves together in front of my chest.

“Fashion, baby,” she says with a wink, turning me toward the mirror. The look isn’t going to get me into any fashion shows any time soon but it hides the stains well enough.

“Thanks, Syd.” She winks and I ready myself to enter the fray again. In my panic to get clean, I didn’t even realize I’d be leaving Arden and Alex alone together.

“Oh god, let’s—”

“Yeah, we should—”

The three of us barrel out the door, expecting to have to break up a full on brawl but instead we find the two guys, enjoying beers and…laughing?That can’t be right.

As we walk back toward them, both sets of eyes glance in my direction. Arden pulls me into his side. “Crisis averted?”

I nod and smile awkwardly. I have no idea what they were just talking about and I’m even more sure I don’t want to know. Anything that my brother and Alex Prescott have in common can’t be good.

“Another round?” He asks, holding up his empty bottle.

I grimace.

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