The Wright Mistake(22)

Morgan slipped forward. Her long dark hair curtained the front of her face, and she giggled. Oh, she was fucked up. “Yes. Make out. Everyone should make out.”

Heidi put her hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “You all right?”

“I’m amazing! Dream job, here I come!” she said, tipping backward and nearly falling off of her barstool.

“How much did you get her to drink?” Emery asked.

Patrick shrugged. “We did a couple of shots. She was fine before you got here.”

“We did eight shots!” Morgan said. “I’m great at counting.”

Julia snickered and then covered it with a cough.

“CEO material right there,” I said with a shake of my head. It was hard not to be bitter even though I knew Morgan truly deserved the job…and this time, right now, to kick back and relax. She didn’t do it enough.

“Oh my God!” Morgan screamed. “I love this song!”

I widened my eyes as she jumped up and started singing, rather poorly, to Britney Spears’s…“Baby One More Time.” Heidi jumped up and started singing with her. And, eventually, she grabbed Emery and Morgan and pulled them out to the dance floor. Patrick realized pretty quickly that he was now alone with Julia and me. Then, he hightailed it out to the dance floor. Smooth.

Julia snagged her beer and took a long drink. I didn’t take my eyes off of her.

We were in a packed dark bar, alone at a table in the back. All of our friends had miraculously disappeared out onto the dance floor, acting like fools. I might be a bit drunk, but I wasn’t a fool. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by.

“You want to go out with me?” I asked point-blank. No point in beating around the bush with her.

She nearly spat out the beer at my question. “What?”

“A date. You, me, together. I’ll pick you up. We’ll do normal human things instead of running into each other over and over on accident.”

She went from confused to amused to angry in the seconds it took to finish my sentence. It was sexy as hell.

“Are you out of your mind?” she asked with round eyes.

“Not that I know of.”

“Austin,” she groaned. “We tried this. We broke up. We’re awful together.”

“Maybe things have changed.”

She snorted. “They haven’t.”

“Sometimes, I really don’t get you.”

“Sometimes?” she asked with raised eyebrows. She leaned forward toward me and poked me in the chest. “I’m pretty sure you never got me. Ever! If you understood me at all, then we wouldn’t have gone through the shit we went through two years ago.”

I eased into her personal space. Our faces were mere inches apart, and she didn’t back down as I met her gaze.

“I do get you, Jules. I get you better than anyone you’ve ever met. I see you. I know you. And that’s why this didn’t work. You can blame me all you want, but the truth is that you won’t open up.”

“I won’t open up?” Her voice was low and deadly. “You think that’s the reason? So, you’re blind and stupid.”

“I think that you’d rather have someone safe in your back pocket than have someone who challenges you.”

I ran a finger down her exposed arm. She shivered under my touch, but her eyes were still hard.

“And you think that you’re a bright ray of sunshine? You’re completely open and honest? What happened Memorial Day weekend, Austin? Why didn’t you tell me about the CFO position? You had the opportunity, and you fucking choked. You might think that I can’t open up, but if that’s the truth, then you’re just as bad.”

She huffed and jerked her arm back. But I remained immobile.

Is it that obvious, what had happened? Of course, she had looked at me at the meeting this afternoon. She’d known something was up. I just hadn’t talked to anyone about it. After blowing up on Jensen, I’d wanted to get the fuck away from the whole thing.

Now, Julia was expectantly looking at me. Her eyes were searching, waiting to see if I’d explain…or if I was exactly like she’d said. I didn’t like to back down from a challenge.

“The board didn’t approve me,” I finally admitted to someone other than my family. I hadn’t even told Patrick, but I was sure someone else had.

“This fast?”

I sighed. “Jensen put my name up for CFO when he moved Morgan up to his job. The board had some…concerns about my behavior.”

“That shouldn’t be reason enough not to give you the job. You’re a Wright. Maybe they’ll change their minds.”