Sinner(152)

He smiles and shakes his head.

“What I was going to say is that she got drunk at a neighborhood Christmas party a few years back and tried to drag me into the garage to…you know.”

I grin at him, crossing my arms over my chest and shaking my head. “No, Landon, I don’t think I do know. But I would love to hear this story.”

He visibly grits his teeth and mutters under his breath as I needle him, giggling at his discomfort.

“She wanted to blow me.”

I snort.

“She kept trying to grab at my belt while I was pushing her hands away, and then she…” he stop and shakes his head. “Look, it was a while ago, and-”

“Oh my God you are not leaving me hanging on this doozy of a story.”

“She puked on me.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” he chuckles. “Right on the crotch of my pants.”

I laugh deeply again as I bring a hand up to wipe away a tear.

“It’s worse. She and her husband Terry weren’t divorced yet, and I had to help her inside, come up with some reason why his wife threw up in my damn lap, and then borrow a pair of pants from him.”

The laughter just keeps tumbling out of me, my eyes tracing over the only half-serious scowl on his face.

“Jeez, I can’t believe I’ve slept with you.” I wink before making a dramatically prudish face. “I feel so dirty now.”

“No you don’t.”

My eyes snap back to his - less jokey and much more sharp this time. But suddenly, I’m not listening to what he says. And I’m not looking at him.

I’m looking past him.

At David.

David, sitting at the bar grinning and leaning close to a girl. David with his hand on her thigh, the other one tracing over her lips as she blushes at something he says, batting a hand at him flirtatiously.

A girl who most certainly isn’t Lisa.

I can feel something tightening inside of me - a dull ache that starts somewhere in the pit of my stomach and spreads until I’m numb and cold.

“Hey,” Landon leans in, his brow furrowed. “What’s-” He turns, his eyes following my gaze and landing on David and the girl at the bar before he glances back at me.

“That’s not-” His eyes narrow. “Is that him? Your ex?”

I nod dumbly, and his eyes flash.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” I say flatly, unable to pull my eyes away.

And then David looks up.

Shit.

He smiles curiously, as if surprised to see me here, in Denver, where he knows I live now. He whispers something to the pretty girl at the bar before he stands and moves towards our table.

I tense.

“Hi, Serena.” He flashes that grin at me that used to make me smile, until I realized how phony it was. That smile I might have once told myself I loved before I realized how bullshit a sentiment that is. I’m mute, merely blinking at him as he turns to Landon.

“Hey, bud, David.”

Landon holds his eyes with a steely look, ignoring his outstretched hand.

“What are you doing here?” I finally blurt out, swallowing the lump in my throat as I stare at him. This was supposed to be one of the good points about moving away from Houston all the way to Denver - a zero percent chance of seeing my ex fiancé.

“Work thing,” he shrugs. “There’s this conference going on here this weekend they wanted me at, so we decided to come a little early and make a mini-vacation out of it.”

“We,” I say icily. I look past him, at the young-looking girl sipping a pink cocktail at the bar behind him. She looks up and waves cheerily.

“That’s not Lisa.”

David just spreads his hands with a shrug.

“Same old, same old, huh, David?”

“Don’t get high and mighty, Serena,” he shoots back. “Look I just wanted to come over and say hello, okay? No need to get all dramatic about-”

“That’s enough.”

Landon’s voice is like iron, his hand clenched into a fist on the tabletop

David turns back to him. “Look, pal, why don’t…” he trails off as recognition suddenly dawns on his face. “Oh, shit! Aren’t you- I mean, didn’t you used to play ball?”

“I used to.”

David grins, his eyes darting back and forth between us. “So you seeing my girl here, now?”

“She’s not your girl.”

“She was.”

“That’s wonderful for you.” I can see Landon’s arms tensing, his muscles bulging under his dress shirt as he narrows his eyes at David.

“Well.” David glances back at me. “So, you’re dating retired football guys now huh? Guess Daddy would be proud.”