Page 19 of The Red Zone
The muscular hand from earlier dropped lower, wrapping around my hip to keep me from sliding forward and face planting onto the ground, thus embarrassing myself further.
“I’m so sorry—” I twisted my neck, flickering my gaze up only to find my knight in shining armor was none other than my worst fucking nightmare. “Who the hell invited you here?”
SEVEN
OCTOBER
ShouldI have been surprised by Mae mindlessly miscalculating the fact that every partygoer had their focus zeroed in on the two of us as she blurted out her disapproval of my presence? Because I wasn’t.
If her intention had been for everyone to keep their attention to her, she’d certainly achieved it.
“My apologies, ma’am. Are you hurt?” The scrawny teenaged-looking server mumbled with a slight tremble in his voice.
“I’m fine, thank you, though.” Mae gave him a soft smile as he let out another stream of incessant apologies while scurrying to pick up food scraps from the floor and placing them back on the tray. “No, it was entirely my fault. I should’ve been paying closer attention to my surroundings,” she insisted, repeating herself twice before the guy finally eased. Finally, he flashed her a timid smile before disappeared into the crowd of people with his head bowed.
At this point, a few eyes still lingered on the two of us. Though it was no surprise when the rumble of voices began to up again, signaling that people were returning to the pre-collision conversations they’d been taking part in.
Yet, somehow, Mae was still seated firmly in my lap. Not having said a word or moved a muscle.
I leaned forward to whisper against her ear, “I’m beginning to sense that these compromising encounters you keep getting us into are your way of coming onto me.”
“Get over yourself.”
“If I’m wrong, then I’d love an explanation as to why your ass is burrowed against my cock right now. And even more so, why you aren’t scrambling to get off my lap?”
Doing the opposite of what I expected, she stayed planted exactly where she was, not budging a millimeter as she locked her narrow-eyed gaze on mine. It took a beat for me to pick up on it, but there was something off in her eyes I couldn’t get a read on.
Was she embarrassed about what had just happened with the server? Maybe she was pissed about the nauseating fish smell reeking from her dress? Whatever it was, she was concealing it well with a practiced neutral expression, masking her feelings to make them unnoticeable to everyone around her.
Too bad for her, because I was too intrigued to let it slide.
To my right, Fortune, the Matrix’s wide receiver, was sitting with one leg loosely crossed over his knee. He had a drink held halfway to his lips as he observed Mae and I’s stare down. In my peripherals, I could see him shaking his head, brushing off a grin before throwing back the final swig of his cocktail.
Mae peered over her shoulder, perking up as she gave him a warm smile. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve been officially introduced. I’m Mae.”
“Fortune.” He extended a hand out and she twisted in my lap to accept his handshake. I had to tighten my grip on her hip to hold her in place so she didn’t fall yet again.
She could thank me later, because if she’d fallen twice—almost three times if you counted her nearly falling backward out of my lap after her initial fall—people would’ve thought she was a drunk. Call me a cynic, but all it took was one snake to snap a picture and tip off the tabloids before some fabricated headline came out about her using tequila to cope with some forthcoming quarter life crisis.
How generous of me to save her from a PR nightmare.
“Thanks for coming to the party. Lea and Scar did such a great job with the surprise, didn’t they?” She didn’t give him a chance to respond before continuing on. Though there was a subtle longing that took over his face at the mention of Lea’s name. It might’ve been faint, but it was definitely there. “Hey, do you mind giving us a minute? I need to talk to October about something kind of, um… personal. If you know what I mean.” Mae wiggled her brows.
“Sure thing.”
“See you, man.” We shared a parting nod before he walked off in the bar's direction.
Mae whipped her head around, slapping me in the face with her hair. “What are you doing here?”
“Ahh, asking a question to evade mine from earlier?” I countered. “Nice try, but it’s not going to work. Why aren’t you moving?”
“You said it best yourself. Taking a seat on your lap has been on my birthday wish list for a while. Thought I’d finally take you up on the offer.”
“While I’m glad you finally got your long-awaited wish, I wasn’t offering. Now, I’d appreciate it if you moved.” I tapped the side of her hip twice with my palm, signaling for her to get up.
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t? Stand up on your feet and start walking until you find someone that actually wants to have a conversation with you. It’s simple, really.”
