Page 10 of Our Bright Christmas Town
“Sharing is caring.” Right after I’d said it, I felt a light pressure at my back—someone bumping into me while squeezing past. I glanced back just as the man cast me alingering look. He was… fit, yeah—and it still felt strange to even realise that, to lean into the idea. Strong jaw and warm, interested eyes. My stomach lurched a little, and I ducked my head and quickly turned away.
Ashby was watching me, something sharp and intense about the set of his mouth. “Let me guess—not your type either?”
I held his gaze, sudden tension spiralling through my gut. He’d rejected me, yesterday. But this felt like an opening—the way he angled his body towards me, just slightly, and how he, too, had ignored the many looks flicked his way.
‘I don’t think a quick shag is what he’d want from you.’
“Like I said…” My heart thudded against my ribs as I held his gaze. “I’m selective.”
“Are you?” He sounded like he was feeling his way along some kind of realisation, still distant and foggy. Staring at me as though I might hold the answer.
“Hey,” someone said.
Ashby’s head snapped around, his expression instantly guarded. Huh. I shifted closer on instinct even as I turned more slowly to assess the intrusion.
Yeah, all right—the bloke was fit. If you were into the sulky type, at least. Short-cropped, brown hair and slightly squinty eyes, a tall, muscular frame. Something about the way his focus slipped from Ashby’s face to where our shoulders were pressed together made me raise my chin.
“Paige,” Ashby said in the tone of someone who’d stepped on a dead mouse. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Paige…? Oh. The ex. The ex who’d broken it off just recently. What anarse.
I slapped a beaming smile onto my face and tilted further into Ashby, reaching down to tangle our fingers. He threw me a surprised glance, and I quirked one corner of my mouth just very slightly, enough for him to read my intent—like the dozen othertimes I’d roped him into this or that idea.Play along, c’mon.Like when we’d redecorated Shelly’s entire bedroom in sticky notes, or when we’d ditched class, me faking a stomach bug that required Ashby taking me home.
“Honey,” I said sweetly, as though I were auditioning for some cheesy love-triangle drama. “Want to introduce me to your friend?”
Ashby blinked, then caught himself and leaned into my side just as Paige narrowed his eyes at him. “Seriously—already? You waited, what, a whole week to get with some new bloke?”
I was about to step in, but Ashby beat me to it. “Sorry if this hurts your pride, mate. But really, cheers for walking out on me—it freed me up to find someone who thinks I’m more than just a good fuck.”
Whoa, hang on. Wasthatwhat Paige had called Ashby?
“Ash,” I started, voice low, and Ashby shot me a quick smile, his face washed in blues and pinks by the sweeping lights.
“It’s okay, Kieran. I’ve got it.”
“Kieran?” Paige repeated sharply, like that changed something. His gaze flicked from me to Ashby. “As in your best mate Kieran? The one you justwouldn’tfucking shut up about?”
Oh? My heart gave a tiny, hopeful lurch as Ashby met my eyes for just a brief moment, then glanced away. The multicoloured lights made it harder to read him. “I’m surprised you remember,” he told Paige. “Listening wasn’t exactly your thing.”
Paige made a dismissive noise, only just translating over the heavy bass, and focused on me. His mouth pinched. “Aren’t you straight?”
I smiled, all teeth. “Evidently not.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t buy it.”
Ashby scoffed. “And I’m supposed to give a fuck… why?”
Something sparked in my gut—not jealousy, no, more like exhilaration, a sudden loss of gravity, caught halfway through a leap. “Hey,” I murmured, just loud enough for Ashby to hear me. He turned his head, and our gazes held for a beat before I leaned in slightly, my pulse thudding in my wrists, my throat, my ears.
Jump.
CHAPTER 3
Ashby
No.
No.
