“I wore it to make you laugh and feel better. You were having a shitty day.” Jace slinked away, putting his head down.
“You’re right, babe, and I was happy you did. I laughed hard. Damn did I laugh,” Elissa reassured him.
I laughed, as the image involuntarily popped into my mind. Addie smiled at me as she watched me. She then started to laugh, taking my hand and squeezing it.
“So it hooked on your ass?” I asked through my laughter.
“It wasn’t so much a hook. It was a flexible metal,” Jace continued and so did our roaring laughter. “You could manipulate it.”
“Did—did—it—hurt?” I tried catching my breath.
“Whatever, it was for Elissa.” Jace pouted.
“Yeah, it was.” Elissa snorted and took his face into her hand, squeezing his cheeks. “And for your question, yes, I will.” Elissa winked.
Jace’s face turned white. “Really?”
“Yes. I said yes,” Elissa announced loudly.
“You said yes to what?” Addie stopped laughing and leaned in closer.
“Relax. We’re not like you two crazy fuckers who get married right away. I said yes to moving in with him.” Elissa leaned in and kissed Jace on the lips, reawaking a stunned Jace.
“I thought you didn’t want to?” he said underneath his breath, as a slow grin appeared.
“That’s why I wanted us to go out. I wanted to tell you today,” Elissa shrugged.
“Congratulations to you both,” I said loudly as I hailed the waitress for more drinks, to celebrate.
“Thanks,” Elissa said, still looking at Jace.
“Wow, I swear I knew you two were good for each other,” Addie commented.
“Yeah, well, blame your wedding. I slept over. Literally, I slept over him,” Elissa joked.
“Yeah, I finally pegged her down.” Jace poked Elissa.
“Do you want me to move in with you?” she threatened.
“You said it now. You can’t take it back, right, Daimon?” Jace asked me.
“He’s right.” I raised my glass.
“Thanks, I guess you guys are going to be sticking together.” Elissa wrinkled her nose.
“Don’t bother with Daimon. It’s not a road you want to go down on,” Addie noted.
“Yeah, only you can handle him,” Elissa said knowingly.
The four of us were having a good time as the night progressed. I had to admit, it I liked her friends.
“Going to the bathroom, want to come?” Elissa asked Addie as she stood.
“Sure.” Addie jumped off her bar stool and headed down with Elissa.
“I’ll never really understand women,” Jace said to me. “Why the hell do they move in packs, especially when they need to go the bathroom?”
“Easy. They want to talk about us without us knowing.” I took my second glass off the tray of the waitress. The waitress lingered a little too long but I ignored her, and I knew the reason why the instant I took the napkin from her. Her phone number was written on the back. I crumpled it up, not bothering with it.
“Since they’re gone, we can talk about Darren.” Jace picked up his beer, swallowing nervously.
“What of Darren?” I asked annoyed.
“Look—I'm not going to pretend I know what’s going on, but he’s all fucked up. I figure you’re his friend. Right? I mean, I see Rafe at the bar but you’re never there,” Jace said as he scratched the back of his head and fidgeted around.
“I'm married now. It’s not that easy for me to leave Addie.” My tone was cold.
“Okay, listen, at the risk of fucking this up and Elissa getting really pissed at me for getting involved. Being friends doesn’t only mean the good times; it means the bad ones too. Darren feels like he fucked up a lot. He missed out on Addie for your sake and now both you and Addie are distant. I know you said it was okay for Addie to see him, but she hesitates, afraid of pissing you off.” Jace looked me square in the eye. I had to hand it to the fucker. Not many stood up to me.
“Anything else, Jace?” I hissed.
“No.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Elissa hopped back onto her stool while I helped Addie get on hers.
“Nothing. You? What did you girls talk about?” I watched Addie. Almost guessing she might have had a similar conversation with Elissa. Addie’s smile changed; it was back to the old Addie, distant and putting up an act. “Are you okay?” I looked right at her when I spoke.
“Yeah, I'm just not feeling well,” she said, not looking at me.
“Addie, look at me.” I willed her to face me. She turned her head and gazed up. She was pale. “What the fuck did you say to her?” I snapped at Elissa.