Page 19 of Ghosted By Texas

“Nooooo!” He interrupted by drawing out the word before I could say anything more than his name on repeat. “And she shoots me down again, ladies and gentlemen!” He offered up loudly to anyone who would listen. “How will I ever live without you?” He asked while dramatically clutching his chest.

“You’re a fucking nut.”

Cory winked at me. “Takes one to know one, sweet cheeks.”

“If you value your family jewels, you’ll never call me that again.”

His hand moved from over his heart and straight down to his balls. That was the typical path for most men I knew. They thought they were leading with their heart, turned out that it was the balls leading the show all along.

“You wound me, Becs.”

“Not yet, I haven’t.” It was my turn to wink at Cory.

“Looks like our fearless leader is over there,” he nodded toward Clea, who stood exceptionally close to Houston as they spoke. That could have been because the music was loud, but I didn’t think so. Six years ago, I knew they’d be perfect for one another. Seeing their chemistry in action only proved that I’d been right.

“Come on, let’s go see what she has in store for us tonight.”

We got to Clea about the same time Houston started to walk away, and while I liked to think that Austin was completely out of my mind, it felt as though someone was staring a hole in my back. Whether that was Austin, Jordan, or both while they talked about me, literally behind my back, I had no clue. There was no way I’d look either. I didn’t want to know. It was more like I couldn’t handle knowing.

“Hey,” I called out to Clea and giggled as she jumped after being startled.

“Hey.” Clea smiled at me as she muttered the greeting, but there was a sparkle in her eyes that I didn’t miss, despite the way she tried to appear all nonchalant.

“You have that look in your eye.”

“What look would that be?”

“The one where you can’t take your eyes off a certain Mercer brother.”

“Am I an idiot for even thinking of going there this soon?”

I snatched my bestie’s arm and slung her around to face me instead of watching Houston’s ass as he walked away. Cory had wandered off somewhere instead of sticking by my side, so my advice to Clea was frank and unfiltered.

“The only idiot was your ex. You are a catch and I hate that you’re second guessing your own possible happiness because he blew it.” Hmm, maybe that was a poor choice of words because I think him being blown, or otherwise sticking his dick where it didn’t belong, was why they hadn’t worked out. “I guess maybe he got blown and that was the problem,” I amended for her since she couldn’t read my mind.

“If that was the problem, he wouldn’t have so many baby mommas lining up for paternity tests,” Clea snorted out a laugh at her own joke at Jeff’s expense. For some odd reason, I felt like a proud momma.

“Yeah, you’re ready for this,” I told her while glaring down at my feet. Being happy for my friend finally getting a re-do on that shitty night six years ago didn’t preclude me from feeling the burden that it would never happen for me.

“What makes you say that?”

“You can joke about what that asshole did without falling to pieces. That means you’ll be fine.”

I scanned the crowd, wondering what I could do to help, to keep my mind off everything. Staying busy meant staying sane, in my world. While my assessment was underway, my eyes drifted to where Austin and Jordan stood, side-by-side behind the bar. They seemed to be having an intense conversation in between filling orders. They would go to their separate ends and meet in the middle again while making drinks and grabbing beers. Their mouths moved almost imperceptibly, but the body language spoke volumes. She constantly pressed into the space between them while he would back away and relax until she pressed again. The only time that little dance wasn’t happening between them was when they had to walk away to take more orders.

Yeah, okay, I only noticed all that because I hadn’t been assessing what was needed of me. My heart and mind were lost to anything but the two people who worked so hard to break my heart the last time I dared to celebrate the dreaded V-Day.

“You ever going to fill me in on what happened there?” Clea asked me, after cluing into my all too obvious obsession.

“Oh, look, isn’t that your videographer trying to flag you down?”

Cory had come back from wherever he’d disappeared to before. If it wouldn’t give him the wrong idea, I’d kiss him for creating the best distraction ever to get my friend off my ass about Austin and Jordan. She already had her hooks in, so I’d have to explain things to her eventually. There was no way I could even attempt to do that while we were on his turf, with that bitch watching as my eyes sprung a leak. No, the best friend explanations would have to wait for another day and definitely another place.

I avoided everyone after that by keeping myself busy cleaning up after assholes who set their empties down on tables or railings even though there was a trashcan not five feet from where they left their garbage. I trashed the unattended empties along with some not-so-empty containers, too. Seriously? Did people not understand how easily an unwatched drink could be dosed with something? They couldn’t complain about me doing them a favor and throwing away their unwatched drinks. I’d probably saved at least one person tonight from a terrible outcome.

My fingers twitched to pick up the empty glasses and return them to the bar, but there was no way I would willingly go over there unless Clea called specifically needed me. Maybe not even then. It would probably take a whole act of God to get me near Jordan and Austin’s space. It wasn’t that I was a coward. Seeing the two of them interacting all night was like having salt rubbed in a wound though. It didn’t need to happen up close where I might overhear something that would make me sick on the spot.

One of the waitresses passed by me and I grabbed her. “Hey, I’m helping out tonight. Is there somewhere I can take all the empties, like to the back where a dishwasher is or something, rather than the bar?”

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