Page 57 of Personal Foul
“You should finish getting ready, so you can meet them. I’ll see you later Wren.” He grabs his coat and wallet.
Before I can say another word, he’s out the door and gone. My heart sinks hard because I know I’ve fucked up, but I don’t know how to fix it.
* * *
That nightwe’re out at an upscale bar in the heart of the little downtown area. It’s a converted theater and the place is swanky as hell. Makes my little sports bar look like a seedy hole in the wall in comparison. The place is packed, and we’ve managed to get a table on the second floor where we can overlook most of the first floor and people-watch. Which has been interesting since we’ve already spotted a few celebrities. Although most of them appear to be ensconced upstairs in the top floor VIP balcony area away from prying eyes, a few have wandered down to mingle with us normal folks.
“I can’t believe how many are here. It must be half the people in town,” I say, looking out over the crowd.
“It’s a seen and be seen kind of place I think.” Liv takes a sip of her drink, and her eyes drift over a group of people near us.
“The guys are here somewhere, or at least they were headed this way a bit ago. Waylon texted,” Kenz adds, looking at her phone and then putting it away.
“Did they all go out?” I ask because I never heard from East, and I was afraid to text him. Afraid that he wouldn’t text me back and that it would hurt even more than the way he ran out on me did.
“Yep. They all went.” Kenz nods her head along to the music.
“Chelsea didn’t want to come?” Liv looks to Kenz.
“No. She said she was just gonna stay in the room. She seemed a little bummed. I really hope she didn’t think she could push Ben for a relationship. He said he was worried about it before the trip, but he’d had a conversation with her, and he thought they were both clear on it.”
“My guess is he was clear, and she was not.” Liv frowns.
“Yeah. I’m honestly surprised Ben hasn’t found anyone. He really seems like he’d be the relationship type,” I say, trying to reconcile the incredibly sweet guy we all know with the one who seems to break so many hearts by never settling down.
“Seriously. East I can understand. He’ll never commit to anything but Ben? I feel like he’s overdue,” Kenz adds.
And right on cue, my eyes catch on a very familiar figure, surrounded by his friends, his brother, Xavier, and several women, one of whom is hanging all over his arm while he stands and talks to his friends. My heart picks up its pace, and I fish in my purse for my phone bringing it out and seeing that I still have no messages from him. I open the text window, ready to type out a message asking him what the hell he’s doing and who she is.
And then I realize how crazy that sounds. I’m gonna what—yell at the manwhore for being a manwhore? Tell him that he needs to remember that he’s staying with his non-girlfriend in a hotel room while we have a hateship? I burst out into laughter, and both Kenz and Liv look at me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I just saw the guys down there. And Easton’s brother Tobias is here.”
“The NFL player?” Kenz asks.
“Oh shit, and he’s here with Xavier.” Liv follows my line of sight.
“I’m going down there.” I stand up abruptly.
“Wait! What about girls’ night?” Kenz asks.
“Um… Tobias Westfield?” I point down at him.
“That means nothing to me.” Kenz, who only knows anything about football because of Waylon, shakes her head.
“He’s incredibly talented. And hot. Arguably hotter than Easton.” Liv looks to me and then down at the crowd. “You know him?”
“I met him last night.” I smile.
“Whoa. Was he the guy?” Kenz asks.
“I didn’t say that.” I shrug and start walking down the stairs. Because while Tobias definitely wasn’t the guy, I am betting his ego is big enough that he would play along. I toss the rest of my drink back and set the glass down, making a beeline for a Westfield.
Tobias sees me approaching, and his eyes flit between me, his brother, and the woman on his brother’s shoulder. He smirks and gives me a chin jerk, and I grin at him because we’ve just made a silent pact to start shit, and I kind of love him for it.
“Tobias! I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
