Page 59 of David

“Go on.”

“There’s nothing else to say,” she mumbles, jerking her hand dismissively.“They had a fight, and he insisted she wasn’t his girlfriend, which annoyed me even more. Even if he had broken up with her, she was still very much in the picture.”

“When did you run into her?”

“We walked out and headed to his car. She was waiting for him. I wanted to leave immediately, but he didn’t let me do that.”

I know Chloe. Nothing can keep her anywhere. Not even the strong grip of a man.

She must’ve really liked him if she stayed.

“So I stayed. I had to witness all their fucking drama. Eventually, she left, and then we argued, so here I am. I sent him away. I told him I couldn’t make sense of that stupid situation, and he wouldn’t be able to change my mind.”

She pauses and looks at me.

“We haven’t even slept together, and I’m in the middle of some domestic mess, which is not even my doing.”

I slump against the bar, my elbow on the counter, my head prompted against my hand.

“What are you going to do?”

“Forget about him?”

I study her face, and something strikes me as weird.

We’re doing all this ‘life stuff’ when all we initially wanted was to have some fun tonight.

“You like him.”

She flicks her gaze to me.

“Yes, I do. I wanted something different for a change. Different good, not different bad.”

She seems defeated, and that is so not like her.

“I’ll see how I feel about it tomorrow morning. I’m here another week. But I’ll most likely give up on the idea of him. I don’t have the time or disposition to deal with someone else’s problems. If he’s single, then he needs to be single. No woman would be as furious as she was if she hadn’t been led on by a man.”

I touch her hand.

“Listen, if it doesn’t work out with him, you can always find someone like him.”

A smile splits across her lips.

“As if that’s easy to do.”

“Speaking of that. Oh…”

My eyes move away from her as Keith heads my way.

“I’m sorry. It took me longer than I thought,” he says. “I have to leave now. Are you still going upstairs?” he asks, and Chloe looks at me, waiting for my answer.

“I don’t know about that. I need to be with my friend right now,” I say, tilting my chin to Chloe.

“All right. It was nice meeting you,” he murmurs before nodding his head and walking away.

“What was that all about?” she mutters, her eyes trailing him across the dance floor.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. It might be one of those situations you just dealt with. He seemed okay. Not okay to sleep with him, but okay as a friend.”

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