Page 62 of Take Me
“That’s right.Fuck them.”
“Yeah, fuck them.”
“Mace?”She lets go of my shoulders and searches my eyes.“You okay?What’s going on in your brain?”
“How long?”I don’t know why that’s the first thing I ask, but it is.“Were they seeing each other in secret for months?”
“Neil says no, but who really knows.He claims it’s been less than a month.”She licks her lips, and my gaze snags on her mouth.“They’re moving in together.Neil’s leaving the Navy, and they’re planning to shack up at her place.”
Jesus Christ.“How are you handling it?”
“Me?I’m okay.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
I’m conscious of the crowd buzzing around us.Of the DJ cueing up a Carrie Underwood song, which is always a popular pick.At the bar to our left, three women sit whispering, glancing our way every few seconds.One of them points our direction, and I bite back the urge to curse my decision to live in a small fucking town.
“What are the odds?”I ask softly.“That your ex and mine would wind up together?”
“Do you think they did it just to piss us off?”
God, that’s a devious thought.“No.Annabelle’s not like that.”
“I don’t think Neil is either.”
We need to move soon.People are starting to notice us here behind the speakers.I wasn’t kidding about thehot new couplething.We’re the best gossip since Kaleb locked lips in this very bar with America’s advice column queen.
I should walk over and talk to my brothers.Or go mill around glad-handing customers, maybe without these gigantic boobs banging around on my chest.
“Thank you for telling me,” I say.
“You’d have done the same for me.”
I would have.“Sorry you had to find out from Neil.”
“Would you have rather gotten the news from your brothers?”
“God, no.”With Kaleb and Jake, I’m the family goofball.With Luce, I’m her pain-in-the-ass twin.
But with Erika, I’m just… well,me.I glance at my brothers, who might’ve just noticed us over here.Jake glares at the speakers and says something to Kaleb.“They mean well,” I say as I look back at Erika.“But I’m grateful you saved me from the compassionate bro squad’s ‘we need to talk’ brigade.”
“Glad to do it.”Her mouth quirks under the beard.“Couldn’t have you getting blindsided while wearing a skirt and your brother’s underwear.”
“You’re a good friend, Erika.”
“So are you, Mason.”
Something in my chest starts to throb.Maybe it’s gratitude.Maybe it’s knowing there’s nobody else who knows me like she does.Who can see me stripped bare—figuratively speaking—and take me just how I am.
My brain starts to bounce with those bright, naked thoughts.I’m suddenly conscious of how close she’s standing.Of Erika’s pebble-gray eyes holding mine.The heat of her body, the fern-leaf smell of her skin.
All the longing I felt on that stage surges back to the surface.“I want to kiss you right now.”
Erika blinks.“Um?—”
“To give the fans what they want.”That’s not even remotely why I want to kiss her, but she nods like that makes perfect sense.
