Page 20 of Where There's A Will
It was, quite possibly, the worst decision I had ever made, although I didn’t know it at the time.
6
Will
I’d clocked Montana’s ex the moment we got upstairs. The slimy douchebag. I spent most of my time glowering at him instead of focusing on my dates. Ugh, he’d really got under my skin and I’d never even spoken to him.
I watched each time we had to swap tables how he tried to get to her, and on the third attempt it worked. My own one-on-one was going less well. She didn’t even know London was the capital of England. I was desperate for it to be over, and next time vowed I would get to Montana’s table if it killed me.
Once the last bell had gone, I noticed the organisers go up to the table where Montana and him were, seemingly congratulating them on something. I frowned. What on earth had gone on between them to provoke their reaction? Maybe they’d said something about being exes. Perhaps they’d joked about getting back together at the event. I shuddered. That was the last thing I wanted to happen.
After a couple of minutes, Montana was on her own. I bought two bottles of beer from the bar and headed over in her direction before anyone else had chance to.
“Want a refill?” I asked, waving the bottle in her direction.
Gratefully, she grabbed it, swigging greedily from it. When she took the bottle from her lips, it was half-finished and she was breathing heavily.
The bell rang again and we sat down opposite each other. Montana’s previously jokey mood seemed to have evaporated.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I wanted to reach out for her hand but for fear of prying eyes, I didn’t, and instead thrust my palms under my thighs.
“Will, I…”
She was about to say something, when one of the organisers swung by, grinning at us. “Looks like you might have more than one success, Montana; this guy seems keen too.” He winked at me before moving on to where Roman was.
My heart sank. I wished we could get out of here and have a proper conversation. This five-minute timed thing was really getting on my nerves.
“I’ll walk you home after,” I blurted out, desperate to know what was going on. “After all, same building, same floor. Could be the same apartment, if you’d like. You know, after last night.” I waggled my eyebrows at her and waited for a response.
Montana bit her lower lip. “Here’s the thing.”
She sighed and I knew this was the part where she was going to break it off with me before we even started.
I placed a finger on her lips. “Don’t say another word. Don’t say anything. Don’t ruin this.” Suddenly I wanted to keep her a while longer, much longer than the time I was currently allotted by this stupid-ass speed-dating event. If we could get away from this environment—not to mention that cad—we could stand a chance. We could really have something. Based on last night, I knew it was real.
Montana pulled my finger away from her lips and held onto it. I liked the way all of her fingers curled around my pointer; it was having an affect elsewhere too. Like I said, real.
“I can’t,” she murmured, her cheeks flushing as she spoke. “Hugo wants a second chance. I owe him that at least.” She shrugged, like it explained everything.
“Why would you do that?” I asked, genuinely confused. “He cheated on you. He hurt you.”He was kissing someone else at your anniversary dinner,I wanted to add. “Why on earth would you set yourself up for him to do it again?”
She scowled at me and folded her arms. Her closed body language told me she wasn’t going to change her mind anytime soon. “You don’t know what our relationship was like,” she argued.
There was a part of me that wanted to tell her I did—I’d seen him in action and guys like him didn’t change their ways. I refrained from speaking my mind because, right now, that wasn’t going to get us to a better place.
We sat in silence, neither of us prepared to look away. Every fibre of my body wanted to scream at her not to be so stupid. Did last night mean so little to her, she was prepared to go back to someone who treated her like shit, as opposed to someone who would treat her like a princess? Obviously the bad-boy thing was her bag.
The bell rang.
“Well, okay then,” I mumbled. “As you’re clearly not prepared to talk about us.” I pushed my chair back, the legs scraping against the floor with an ugly sound. It kind of represented how I felt right now.
I stalked across the room to the table farthest away from Montana and plonked myself down. The blonde on the opposite side of the table was applying some more rose-pink gloss, gently smacking her lips together as she did so before rearranging her off-the-shoulder top. I recognised her as the girl who had come up to Montana earlier, before we headed upstairs.
She saw me watching her and smiled broadly, holding out her hand. “I’m Bree.” She gestured in Montana’s direction with her chin. “I see you’ve been chatting with my best friend Montana, so I probably don’t stand a chance.” Bree rolled her eyes. “Everyone loves Montana.”
Bree hit the nail on the head, but I couldn’t tell her that before we’d even had the chance to speak. I figured she deserved a chance for me to get to know her.
By now, I was beginning to have a Pavlov’s Dog reaction every time that damn bell rang. I switched in to ‘date’ mode and began asking Bree what she did for a living, what her favourite takeout was—not sushi, for which I was grateful. At least Montana and I would always have the sushi. Bree um-ed and aah-ed over her answers, and it annoyed me a little. Why couldn’t she get to the point a bit quicker? It was nothing like the conversations Montana and I had the previous evening. My mind wandered back to how Montana felt, her soft skin, her lustrous dark hair, how she raked her nails down my back and called my name right at the point of no return. I rearranged myself in the chair as my dick started to respond to my thoughts.
