Page 8 of Mostly My Girlfriend
Ethan
“My man!” Daniel announced as he approached me. We did the bro-hug thing and I slapped him a few more times on his shoulder. The ballroom of the hotel was packed with people in their finest. And since most of the guests had a room for the evening, the booze was flowing.
I had a normal room, as I’d made sure Daniel and Kaylee had the penthouse suite. I considered myself fabulously generous for that.
“You did it,” I said.
“I did. And I’m a happy motherfucker.”
He handed me a shot of something. I didn’t drink normally, no more than a glass of wine or two after my college days, but I decided this was a special occasion. I took the shot in one slug and winced.
“I can’t believe I’m giving you two weeks off.”
“Hawaii, baby. Kaylee and I have a private cabin on Kauai, and I plan to be naked the entire time.”
“I don’t need the details,” I said. I looked toward the dance floor and saw Jules in the arms of another man. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and she was wearing a strapless dress that made me realize she had exceptional shoulders to go along with her exceptional rack.
Not that I was ever allowed to think about her rack. That was out of bounds for us.
Instead, I mostly dated models who were all ridiculously thin. Jules had been right about that. I hadn’t felt an actual soft breast in…I couldn’t remember when.
“Hey, don’t mess that up,” Daniel said.
“Mess what up?”
Daniel lifted his chin in their direction. “I told Craig to give it a shot. Julia’s amazing, but all she does is work. I can’t remember the last time I saw her leave the office before me and I’m there until eight almost every night. She needs a life.”
I frowned at that. “What are you talking about? I gave her a life.” A highly profitable one at that. There was nothing Jules or her family would ever want for. Every goal she’d had in life accomplished before she was even thirty. That was the life I gave her.
“No, you gave her a job. She deserves more than that.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I snapped. “I’m not preventing Jules from dating anyone. That’s why I made her hire an assistant. Remember, Jordyn was my idea.”
Daniel held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not suggesting you are. Just don’t go over and there and break up that dance because you don’t like watching her in the arms of some other guy. That’s all I’m saying.”
I turned to look at them again. I didn’t like her in the arms of another man. I started toward the dance floor, and as I did, I heard Daniel behind me.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
On my way through the throng of people I found a waiter who was walking around with another tray of shots. I took two and downed them, one after the other. It wasn’t that I needed liquid courage to dance with Jules. I just had this feeling inside. Maybe it was the wedding. Watching Daniel pledge his entire fucking life to a person. Having the balls to do it.
Hadn’t I done that? Hadn’t I found Jules when she was only eighteen?
No, we weren’t married, but no one could say that we weren’t committed. We were a team.
Where was our celebration? When would people toast to us?
On the dance floor, the man holding her whispered something in her ear and I could see her physically pull back. She didn’t like him getting that close.
There was my girl. Didn’t he understand Jules was a thorn bush? You couldn’t just dive in without expecting to get pricked. You had to ease in, gently, bit by bit, while she decided if you were worthy.
This guy was not.
“Can I cut in?” I asked, tapping the guy on the shoulder.
“Is that still a thing?” he asked me with a smirk on his face.
“When my friend is looking at me like she’s desperate to escape your company, yes, it’s still a thing.”
