Page 6 of Joyride
Wren takes a sip of her drink as her friend next to her stands, too. They head to the dance floor, dancing together, but not too close.
“What’s the story with y’all?” The girl with Aria, I think she said her name is Harper, gestures between Wren and me.
“What makes you think there’s a story to tell?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The way you watch her says a lot,” she says. Diesel chuckles next to me and I shoot him a glare.
“She’s my best friend’s little sister. That’s it,” I tell her.
“Uh-huh. Keep tellin’ yourself that.” She doesn’t believe me, and I don’t blame her. I’ve tried to tell myself that since I met her, but it didn’t stop me from having feelings for her. “Something scarred her, so tread lightly.”
My eyes shoot to hers. “What do you mean, somethingscarredher? What happened?”
“Not our story to tell,” Aria states. She sends Harper a look to shut her up as if she’s already said too much.
Diesel leans closer to me. “Do you think it has to do with Zack?”
“If it does, I’ll fucking kill him,” I growl out.
“What brought you guys to New Orleans,” Aria asks Clutch.
“Some boring club business,” he tells her. They fall into an easy conversation, and I tune them out. My eyes find Wren again, dancing with a smile on her face. I’ve never seen her this carefree. A guy walks up to her and says something in her ear. She gives him a small smile. The interaction makes me clench my teeth. I finish off my beer and stand from the table.
“Where are you going,” Diesel asks.
“Going to get another beer.” I stand at the bar, waiting for my turn. My body tenses when a small hand touches my lower back. Wren. I turn to face her.
“Hi.” I barely hear her over the music. I almost forgot how small she is when next to me.
“Hey, Little Bird,” I reply. Her cheeks flush at my nickname for her. “Do you need another drink?”
“Please,” she says, “a Bahama Mama.”
The bartender makes his way over to us. I give him our order and he hurries off to get them.
“Does Shade know you’re here,” I ask her. Her expression changes in half a second.
“I’m an adult. I don’t need to tell mybrotherwhat or when I do something.” She storms away from me, back toward the group. I shake my head, kicking myself on the inside for fucking upagain. The bartender brings me our drinks. I leave him a twenty and head back to our tables.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper in Wren’s ear as I set her drink in front of her. I move to my spot at the other end of the tables.
“What was that about,” Diesel asks.
“I fucked up, yet again.” I take a sip of my beer.
“We’re all gonna go over to Aria and Harper’s house,” Clutch tells me. “You down?”
“I don’t think so. I’ll probably head back to the hotel,” I say.
“Don’t fucking leave me alone with these assholes,” Diesel begs.
“Come with us for an hour. Then, if you want to leave, you can,” Clutch suggests.
“This isn’t a good idea, but fine. I’ll go,” I reply.
“It’ll be fine,” Diesel tells me. “We’ll figure out a way for you to fix things with Wren.”
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