Page 79 of Next in Line
Sterling’s brow furrows, and my eyes flash to Sam, who has literally just listed nearly every single thing I’ve done over the past few weeks and sent a picture of to Sterling. If Sam were sitting closer to me, I would kick his shin under the table.
“So Kate, what book are you working on right now?” I ask, my voice robotic as I try to force the subject change.
“So Sterling, what do you love most about our Maggie?” Sam asks, blatantly ignoring me.
Miles’s face turns sharply to Sam this time, clearly taken aback by his buddy’s aggressive conversation skills. “Sam, what’s going on?”
“Nothing!” Sam replies and exhales heavily. “I guess I’m feeling big brotherly to Maggie here. I want to make sure this guy is good enough for her.”
Miles sits up a little taller, his eyes hard on his best friend, but instead of challenging Sam, he turns to Sterling, waiting for his answer.
Sterling leans forward, bracing his elbows on the table as he looks at me and stares at all the features on my face. “Well, she’s beautiful. Light eyes and dark hair are so unique, you know?”
Sam’s gaze locks on me, and his right eye ticks with annoyance. “That’s what you love most about her?” he asks.
I reach over and grab Sterling’s arm possessively. “We have a lot in common as well.”
Sam’s brows lift. “Do tell.”
I swallow slowly and flick my eyes to my brother. Miles is starting to figure out that Sam is basically in the middle of some sort of dick measuring contest with my boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend, I should say. “We both love the movies, and we love to go to parties.” I force a smile that Sterling halfheartedly returns. “We have really similar backgrounds growing up. Sterling was a football player. I was a football cheerleader.”
“How cute,” Sam says, propping his chin on his hand like he’s in rapture over this pathetic response I’m muttering like an idiot.
“We love pizza,” I add weakly. Sterling bristles beside me, so I quickly blurt out, “And when we met, it was love at first sight, so the rest is history.”
Sam sits back in his chair, bringing his ankle up to rest on his knee. “How cute. Both of you couples are so cute. You make me consider actually attempting monogamy.”
“Bro, that’s awesome!” Miles exclaims, his mood lightening as if he now understands why Sam is acting like such a maniac. “Is this interrogation all because you’re falling for that ice fishing hottie you told me about?”
Sam doesn’t reply to Miles. Instead, he hits me with a look that’s so intense, so telling, so mind-blowingly overwhelming that I can’t breathe.
My chair scrapes loudly on the floor as I move to stand. “Would you guys excuse me? I’m just going to hit the bathroom. Too much margarita,” I state and wave my hand in front of my face.
I make my way to the long hallway at the back of the restaurant that leads to the bathrooms and a back exit. Feeling claustrophobic, I bypass the ladies’ room and burst through the back door, finding myself in the back alley next to a couple of dumpsters and vents blasting out steam of God only knows what. I inhale the frigid night air into my lungs and begin kicking the packed snow beneath my boots in a childish attempt to relieve some of this anxiety coursing through me.
What is even going on tonight? Why is Sterling here? Why is Sam here? Why is my brother such a sweet idiot, and why hasn’t he figured out that I’m a complete fraud? Why is Kate not helping me get out of this freaking mess? This feeling in my chest? This is the reason I don’t read novels with love triangles!
I lean against the stone wall and see a figure walking down the alley toward me. At first, I think it could be a murderer, so I turn to head back inside, but then Sam calls out my name. “Maggie!”
My brow furrows. “Sam?” Why are you walking down the alley?”
“I went out the front door so no one would think I followed you to the bathroom.”
“You and bathrooms,” I murmur, shaking my head.
Sam reaches me finally, cold air puffing out of his mouth as the single blue light in the alley shines down on us like a spotlight. “What are you doing? It’s fucking freezing out here.”
I cup my hands in front of my mouth and blow hot air into them. “I needed some air. I was being suffocated in there.”
He barks out a haughty laugh. “I can see why. What the fuck are you doing here with that guy?”
I cross my arms over my chest defensively. “He just showed up.”
“And just like that, you’re taking him back?” he snaps, his eyes wide and accusing. “He’s a fucking idiot!”
“You spoke to him for five minutes!” I retort, defending not only myself but also Sterling incidentally.
“Five minutes is all it took,” he grinds and stuffs his hands into his pockets, his broad shoulders lifting up to his ears as he attempts not to freeze his ass off out here.
