Shattered King(101)

Hunter had given me the space I’d asked for. He still texted and called me every day, but our conversations were strained.

I hadn’t seen him or touched him in four long, lonely, miserable days.

Sara had been more than happy to have us stay with her, but she was worried. I should’ve probably told her what was going on, but I couldn’t bring myself to rehash the whole mess. I missed Hunter, terribly. I was also beginning to think that maybe I’d made a huge mistake, walking out like I did. That maybe we could have worked something out? But what? I couldn’t see a solution to our problem. Despite everything, I didn’t want Hunter to give up his business for me. He’d worked so hard to get to this point in his life. But I couldn’t just turn my feelings off. I tried that before, and look how that turned out.

Was I being unreasonable?

“Yes, you are,” Ruby said from beside me, plucking a cherry from her drink and sucking it.

I swiveled in my chair toward her. Her eyebrows went up and I realized I’d been blabbing my thoughts out loud. Thank God the table beside us empty. I must look like a crazy person.

I poked her in the shoulder. “How can you say that?” There was a slight slur to my voice. Hmm, maybe I’d had one too many delicious fruity cocktails. Nah.

I deserved to have some fun, to let loose a little. To have one night where I could ignore the pain in my chest and the constant queasy feeling in my stomach. Hell, I hadn’t gotten this drunk since . . . well, I couldn’t remember how long, but I knew it was a long damn time.

Ruby was eyeballing me, and those eyeballs were a little on the bloodshot side. Maybe she’d had a few too many cocktails as well? Nah. This was girl’s night. Being irresponsible with alcohol was expected, right?

“Hunter’s a good guy, Lu. And he looooves you. I mean, if I had a guy love me like that?” She shook her head, a far-off look drifting across her unfocused gaze before her striking, dark blue eyes swung back to me. “I’d hang on with both hands and never let go. I know you’re scared and everything, but Hunter’s one hard, scary motherfucker. He’d never let anything happen to you or Josh.”

“You sound just like Hunter.”

She grinned. “Because I know it’s true.”

I wanted the conversation off me. I didn’t want to talk about this tonight. I’d been thinking about nothing else for the last four days. So I changed the subject. “What about you, Miss Ruby Styles? Do you live your life to the fullest?”

“Well, yeah, I try.”

“Hmm.”

She poked me in the shoulder. “Hmm, what?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What’s going on between you and Neco?”

She squirmed in her seat, a frown stealing her features. “Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that. I see the way you look at him. The way he looks at you.”

She glanced away and took a sip of her drink. “He looks at me the same way he treats me, like a little sister.”

I snorted. “Well, if I had a brother who looked at me the way Neco looks at you, I’d . . . well, I’d be creeped right the hell out.”

Her eyes got big. “You think Neco’s creepy?”

After my fifth drink I was obviously having trouble expressing my thoughts in a clear and concise manor. So I tried again. “Umm, no . . . that’s not what I meant. What I was trying to say is, he looks at you like he wants to tear your clothes off your body and have his wicked way with you, not . . . um . . . whatever the hell big brothers do . . . are like . . . with their sisters. If you know what I mean.”

She jerked back in her seat. “He does not!”

“Does too.”

“Does not!” she squawked.

“Does too.”

She opened her mouth to fire back another “does not” when our waiter dropped our bill on the table, giving us a look that, if I wasn’t half drunk, might have made me quiver in my shoes, or at least made me feel bad about the scene we were obviously making.

Ruby covered her mouth with her hand and the laugh she was trying to suppress came out like an explosive raspberry against her fingers. I quickly grabbed my purse and threw some cash on the table. I was using the last of my savings, but I’d decided a night out was worth it.

I glanced up at our sour-faced waiter. “We’ll just be on our way.”

Ruby shot up in her seat, grabbed my hand, and we wobbled out of the place on our stilettos. We’d just gotten out the door when Ruby swung around to me. “Let’s go to a club. I feel like dancing.”

I kind of felt like dancing, too. I hadn’t been out dancing in . . . well, as long as it had been since I’d gotten drunk. “Okay, let’s go dancing.”