Page 34 of Chasing You

“Hi, Danny,” Wes says with his signature charm. “He’ll have a bourbon and coke.”

She turns her gaze to me. “Oh, he likes an old man's drink, does he?”

I chuff a laugh, looking up at where she’s now standing with a smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. “I wouldn’t say it’s an old man’s drink. More like a mature man’s drink,” I counter.

She raises her brows. “You know, mature is what old people call themselves instead of saying old, right?”

The way Wes has gone silent next to me means he’s enjoying the hell out of watching this girl flirt with me, but I can’t say I feel the same. She’s gorgeous, but something doesn’t feel right. I have that same strange feeling in my stomach that I get any time I try to flirt with someone that isn’t…

“How about just a soda water instead,” I say. I don’t think I need to add alcohol to my already twisted mind.

“Sure thing,” she says with a smile, running her hand over my shoulder as she walks away.

“She’s cute.”

“Uh-huh.”

He turns sideways on the couch to look at me. “You’re thinking abouther,aren’t you?”

I slump back into the couch, throwing my hands over my face. “I don’t know how to stop. Now that I’ve seen her again after all this time, she’s all I can think about.”

“I hate to ask, but it didn’t work the first time. What’s changed?”

I clasp my hands behind my head. “Nothing.” Then I shake it. “Everything.”

Wes just looks at me like he can’t figure me out, before Danny appears again. “One soda water.”

“Thanks,” I say as she places it on the table in front of us.

“Sure,” she replies, before wringing her fingers together like she’s nervous. “Sorry, I don’t normally do this, but what are you doing later?”

“Uh…” I just look at her, unable to form a sentence.

She shakes her head. “Sorry, I should’ve gone for the number first,” she mutters the last part to herself.

Women don’t often approach me like this. Wes says it’s because I give off emotionally unavailable energy, and it’s probably true. In fact, it’s the only way I can describe the dumb feeling that has been following me around like a shadow for the last four years.

“No, I’m sorry,” I say. “You seem like a lovely girl, I’m just not really looking to get into anything right now.”

She shakes her head again in dismissal. “Of course, sorry to bother you.”

She seems humiliated so I catch her eye. “You weren’t a bother. Have a good night.” She gives me a small smile before taking off back to the bar.

Wes just silently sips on his beer, avoiding the topic hanging heavy between us. I know he’s holding himself back from saying something stupid like “not looking to get into anything, huh?”And I can’t be bothered with his taunting.

“Don’t you find it lonely?” I ask instead, turning to sit sideways on the couch.

“What?” His gaze jumps to mine.

“This job.”

He slides on his unfazed mask. “Did I look lonely when you arrived?”

“Not to the naked eye.” He pins me with a look that says he wasn’t expecting me to be so honest. “When does it all become too much? Or, more like not enough.”

“I’m not at that point yet, but I feel like yeah, that day does come for some people. Has it come for you?”

I reach for my drink and let it slide down the back of my throat, downing half the glass in one fizzy gulp. “I don’t know, maybe.”

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