Page 106 of The Flirty Forward

“What’s he doing to her?” It gets quiet around the table, and we all turn surprised eyes to Rico. He never sounds like that. I frown as I study my friend. “What?” he asks. “I hate guys that are jerks to girls.”

Gunner and Aiden agree, but I just watch Rico a moment longer. He gives me a look, and I return it with a questioning one of my own. He looks away first, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going through our goalie’s mind.

“Me too,” Bri adds. She shakes her head. “He’s such a—” Whatever else she was going to say is drowned out by the woman who stands behind the microphone to call the room to attention.

I glance over my shoulder but still don’t see Stephanie anywhere. I frown, wondering if I should go check on her...not that I can go into the women’s bathroom. I pull my phone from my pocket discreetly and text under the table asking if she’s okay. But when I hear a buzzing sound, I realize she left her phone in her clutch, still on the table. There’s movement out of the corner of my eye, and I look up and grin when I see she’s back. She leans forward and snags her purse. Then she leans towards me. “I’m not feeling well; I’m going to go. I’ll call you later.” She whispers all this without looking at me. I manage to snag her hand before she disappears on me. I tug on it gently, and she turns surprised eyes to mine. I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched when her red-rimmed eyes meet mine. I'm standing before I even realize it.

She takes a step back. “Please, just let me go,” she whispers. Shock makes me let go of her arm. She turns and walks away quickly. It takes me less than a second to follow her. She’s walking fast, but I keep my pace even so as not to make a scene in this huge room. Once we’re outside the room, I try to stop her.

“Stephanie.”

“Just let me go, Sebastian,” she says without looking back. I wince at the sound of her voice. She hasn’t had that kind of cold tone with me in a long time.

“Just talk to me. What happened?”

“I just want to go home.”

I keep following her. “Okay, I’ll take you home.”

She stops and turns around. “Please. I can’t...I just...” Her voice breaks, and it’s like a hand squeezes my heart.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She looks up at me like she’s going to say something, but then her eyes flit over my shoulder. I turn to see what she’s looking at, and my blood runs cold. William smiles over at us before he opens the door and walks into the banquet room. I turn back to Stephanie, but she’s gone. I stand there a moment, unsure. I don’t know what the right thing to do here is. She obviously doesn’t want to talk to me right now. I go ahead and follow her outside, keeping her in my eyesight. She walks over to a waiting car and talks to the driver for a moment before looking at her phone. I’m at the door before she can climb in.

“Baby, let me take you home.” I step in front of her. “Don’t go home with some stranger.” She backs away, and I let her go. I don’t know what else to say or do. I run a hand through my hair as she slides into the backseat of the car. “Text me when you get home. Please,” I add desperately. She finally nods. With nothing left to do, I close the door. I pull out my wallet and hand the driver a hundred. “Make sure she gets all the way to her door safely.”

He nods. “Yes sir.” Then he pulls away, and I watch them go, wondering what in the world just happened. How did this night go from so good to so bad that quick? I jog up the steps and head back inside. I’m going to find that idiot and figure out what he said to my girl. My heart rate picks up, and I feel the rush of a fight coming on. I will make him regret putting that look on my girl’s face; I don’t want to ever see that devastated look on her face again. When I get back into the banquet room, I look around for him but don’t see him anywhere. I make my way over to our table and sit instead.

Rico turns to me as soon as I sit down. “What happened to Stephanie?” he whispers. Whatever’s on my face must reflect how I’m feeling at the moment because he puts his hands up in surrender. When I feel eyes on me, I look over at Brielle. She’s frowning. She points to Stephanie’s seat and lifts her shoulders. I'm more irritated than I’ve been in a long time.

She left,I mouth.

Brielle frowns.Why?

I have my theory, but I just shrug. I’m not going to have this conversation right now when we can’t do more than mouth across the table. I feel her fierce frown, but I don’t look back over at her. The speaker drones on and on. I have literally no idea what he’s speaking about, and I couldn’t care less. I just want this night to end. Every time I look at Stephanie’s empty seat, fresh anger rises in me. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Now, her empty chair just mocks me. I check my phone every couple of minutes. I literally feel like I’m losing my mind sitting here. I’ve always been a man of action. When I feel like I can’t take it another minute, the speaker finally winds down. The MC for the night comes back to the microphone and announces that dinner is served. I could care less.

The moment the MC finishes, Bri focuses her full attention on me. “Where is Stephanie?”

“She left,” I repeat what I already told her.

I can see the concern all over her face. “Why? I texted her, but she won’t respond.”

“I don’t know. She was fine, and then when she came back from the bathroom, she wanted to leave.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?” she asks, and I can hear the accusation in her voice.

“I tried,” I tell her in a voice that she’ll understand means I’m serious. Aiden gives me a warning look, but I ignore it.

“Lose your date, Hart?” Somebody asks from behind me. I don’t have to turn to know it’s William. I also don’t have to see his face to know he’s smiling. I hope he’s enjoyed that smile because I’m about to ruin it forever. I push my chair back and stand to my feet, standing toe to toe with him.

“What did you do to her?” I ask in a low voice.

He smirks. “What do you think I did?”

His smirk makes my anger ignite, and I take a step closer. “All I know is she came back to the table crying and then left. So I’m going to repeat my question. What did you say to her?”

I am aware that Rico and Gunner are flanking me now. I have a feeling Aiden isn’t far behind. William sneers at me. “I didn’t say anything to her that didn’t need to be said.”

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