Page 70 of Shut Up and Score
Don’t think.
Right.
Too late.
The lights flash blue and pink and green. I blink and see Colton in all of them. Hands on me. Mouth on mine. That second under the shower when everything had fallen into place.
And then the look.
The shame.
I tip the rest of my drink back and set the glass on the bar a little too hard.
“Atta boy,” Luke says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into the crush of bodies. “Now move like you’re not actively dying inside.”
He’s ridiculous. And annoyingly good at this.
I let him guide me into the rhythm, hips catching the beat,pulse syncing with the crowd. The alcohol helps. So does the neon haze. Everything’s softer here. Easier to fake.
Someone presses in behind me—tall, built, the kind of smile that says he came here to forget something too.
He doesn’t ask. Just moves with me.
Hands on my hips. Breath warm against my ear.
“Come here often?” he murmurs directly into my ear.
I smirk, just enough to play along. “Only when I’m making questionable decisions.”
“That makes two of us,” he says, mouth grazing the edge of my jaw. “You got a name?”
“Do you?”
He laughs—low, rough, amused. “Fair.”
His grip tightens slightly at my waist. We move in sync, a little too close, a little too easy. It should be hot. Should be enough.
It’s not.
I let his hand skim higher. Let his lips brush my skin. He’s attractive. Confident. Probably thinks he’s helping me forget someone.
“Wanna get out of here?” he asks, mouth hot against my neck.
The old me might’ve said yes.
The version of me that didn’t remember what Colton Taylor tastes like. Instead, I step away. Shake my head once.
“Not tonight.”
He doesn’t argue. Just nods and disappears into the crowd, taking the rejection easily.
Luke slides up a second later, breathless and sweaty from dancing. “You good?”
“No,” I say honestly. “But I’m here.”
Luke slings an arm around my shoulders. “Then let’s dance‘til your trauma forgets how to spell his name. We can regret it at practice tomorrow morning.”
I let him pull me in again. I keep moving. Keep faking.
