Page 11 of One More Shot
‘Nuh-uh.’ The group of kids swarm around him, their faces red, sweaty and grinning. The leader sticks out a hand and points at the recently captured child. ‘You only caught one of us.’
Dane heaves an overdramatic sigh. ‘Fine. I’ll give you guys a thirty-second head start.’
They all scream again and rush to dart away – even theone who was just caught, which seems against the rules. But Dane just grins as he watches them sprint off into another dark corner of the restaurant.
‘Dane,’ a reproachful voice calls. An older woman brushes past him and gives him a disapproving look. ‘Don’t get the little ones so riled up, especially this late at night.’
Dane’s grin doesn’t waver, like he’s completely unbothered by the light scolding he’s just received. ‘Hey, Aunt Jay.’
His aunt titters but still leans in to give him a kiss on the cheek. He’s so tall she just about reaches his shoulders even when he bends over to meet her, and she ends up settling for leaving a red lipstick stain on the collar of his white shirt. ‘I mean it, Dane. If Callum’s still bouncing off the walls by the time we leave, you’re going to have to deal with him.’
He laughs at the threat. I’m starting to realise that he seems to exist in a permanent state of being unaffected by anything. A spark of envy shoots through me, and it’s so sharp it’s actually startling.
The kids choose that exact moment to run screaming by me again and I watch, in a kind of horrified slow motion, as Dane looks over in my direction.
For a second, I entertain the idea that maybe he won’t notice me. That maybe God will do me this one solid and let Dane’s gaze slide right over me.
No such luck.
His deep brown eyes settle on me as his brows pinch together in the middle. A hint of recognition flashes across his face, and I know he’s combing through his memories, trying to figure out where he remembers me from.
My mind races and only one thought sticks out.
Run.
I turn around quickly and dash for the furthest end of the room, as far away from him as I can manage.
He only got a brief glimpse, I try to reason with myself as I slip into the shadows.Maybe it won’t be enough.
Maybe he won’t remember me at all.
Despite everything, I snort as that thought pops into the forefront of my mind. Given the circumstances, I think I’d be hard to forget.
But that’s fine.
There’s only an hour or so left to go. I’ll just avoid him for the rest of the night and –Ah.
He’s the best man.
He’s thefucking best man.
As in, practically impossible to avoid. As in, I’ve promised to corral them all together at some point to take a photo. As in –Shit.
The prospect of being face to face with him again quite literally makes me want to heave. There’s only so much embarrassment I can take in one lifetime, and I thought I’d already had my fair share of it two years ago.
My stomach twists and my mind races, playing out for me exactly what’s going to happen.
Realisation will dawn on his face as he remembers. His grin will turn sly and mocking as he remembers just who I am. Heat rushes to my face as I realise there’s a chance he’s already told Cash all about me. He is the best man, after all, so they’ve got to be close. And Bailey is hissister. How close are they? I’d never talk to my brother about my sex life – though I suppose I don’t really talk to Josh about anything – but Leanne could probably pry it out of me after a drink or two if she tried.
What if they all already know? What if they’ve all sat around and laughed about the weird almost one-night stand he had and the girl who couldn’t come?
Whostillcan’t come.
Bitterness courses through my veins. I may have given up on the whole ‘have an orgasm with a partner’ thing – much to Sasha’s displeasure – and settled for a life of mediocre, vibrator-induced orgasms, but it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.
Once I’m sure I’m far enough away, I glance back over at him. My shoulders sag in relief as I realise he’s no longer got an eye on me. Instead, he’s standing in a small group by the entrance to the restaurant. Bailey’s got an arm draped around the shoulders of a woman with warm brown skin and short cropped hair. They’ve both got megawatt grinsstretching across their faces and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this must be Amber. There’s also a tall blond man standing beside Amber. They’re not touching, but his body is angled towards hers in the same kind of way Cash is standing beside Bailey. Like there’s a magnetic pull keeping them rooted in place, and there’s nowhere else they’d rather be than in Amber and Bailey’s orbit.
Bailey flicks Dane’s collar, and he responds with something that makes Cash laugh.
