“For you,” she said, offering me the beer. She gave me a heavy-lidded look of seduction. “Obviously.”
“No, thanks,” I said politely.
Her eyes expanded in surprise. “Are you turning down a beer?”
“Just did.”
She laughed softly and pushed the drink into my hand. “Funny joke.”
The beer was cold in my hand. The bartender had just popped the top off the glass bottle, and it was still fizzing slightly. She’d grabbed my favorite, of course. But there was a difference between having a shot to keep from throwing up from withdrawal and casually drinking a beer for no reason. I swallowed twice, hard, before passing it to Patrick. He took it without comment.
“What are you doing here, Mags?” I asked, irritation lacing every syllable.
She shot me a quizzical look. “Enjoying the parade, like everyone else.”
“Uh, hey, Austin,” Mindi said, trying to crack the tension.
“Mindi,” I said with a nod.
“Why do you seem so offended that I’m here? Mindi was the one who told me that you were at our place. If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was ask.”
“Well aware of that. Not interested,” I said point-blank.
“What’s with you?” Maggie asked. “First, you aren’t drinking. I’ve never seen you without a drink in your hand. And, now, you can’t even carry on a civil conversation with me?”
“I’m dating someone.”
“So? That suddenly makes you unable to have any fun?”
“You should leave,” I told her.
Just being in her presence was making me furious. I never felt like I had to have a drink to have a good time with Julia. Maggie was making it sound like I was a crazy person for stopping when every other person in my life was insisting that I had to.
“I’m a paying customer,” Maggie said defiantly.
“Whatever.”
I turned to walk away from her and nearly ran right into Julia. I grabbed her by her shoulders to steady us both.
“I was just coming to look for you,” I said earnestly.
Her eyes drifted over my shoulder. “Before or after you talked to Maggie?” she bit out.
“She…I…that isn’t what it looked like.”
“I bet.” Julia shook off my touch. “God, I am such an idiot.”
“Jules,” I called as she shook her head and then walked out of the house.
Seventeen
Austin
I dashed after Julia as she disappeared through the back door. This was the exact reason that I hadn’t wanted Maggie to be here. I hadn’t had contact with her in weeks. I’d had no clue she would be at the parade event. And I certainly hadn’t wanted for Julia to see me talking to her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
“Jules!” I called after her.
She didn’t stop walking. She opened the gate to the fence and started down the driveway in the back and out into the alleyway. I followed her as she paced down the alley.
“Leave me alone,” she called over her shoulder.
“No way in hell.”
She finally whirled around and put her hands out. “I need space. Just leave me alone to process.”
“Can’t do that, Jules.”
“Stop calling me that!” I cried. “I hate that nickname.”
“You didn’t have a problem with me calling you that when I was inside you.”
“Sex! Is that all it’s going to fucking come back to with you?” She ground her teeth together and kicked a stray rock.
“This isn’t about sex. This is about you jumping to conclusions and getting pissed at me.”
“I’m not pissed at you!”
I raised my eyebrows in question as she nearly shouted at me. “Sure sounds like you are.”
“I’m mad at me.”
“What? Why?” I asked in frustration.
I really, really did not want to be dealing with this shit right now. Julia and I were finally back together, finally in a good place again. It had seemed too good to be true. Seemed like the saying was right. If it looked like it, it probably was.
“God, don’t you see it?” she asked. Her eyes met mine, and she looked ready to sprint away all over again. “This is the reason we broke up, Austin!”
“I know why we broke up.”
“Really? Should I give you a refresher? Because you must have forgotten if Maggie was here.”
“I didn’t even know she’d be here!”
“Yeah, and last time, I had to find out that you had a fuck buddy the hard way! When I found her at your house, naked!”
“I know,” I said softly.
“And then to find out that not only was she there, naked, as if this were some stupid mistake you had gone through, but she was also your fuck buddy! You had been together for a couple of years. On and off and on again. Apparently, whenever the other one gets bored.”