Page 11 of Fate Forever and Always

He looked down at her finger and back at her face. “I would love to, but I’m celebrating with my best friend tonight, so she’s the one getting all my attention.” He smiled. He said it so calmly. Her bony ass finger did not faze him at all. Her scrawny body didn’t seem to interest him either.

She didn’t even move away an inch.

“Are you sure I couldn’t change your mind? I bet I could be a lot more fun than her.”

The bitch didn’t even look over at any of us. She bit her lip and was trying to be sexy. Honestly, although she could use some meat on her bones, she was kind of hot, but seeing her touch him made my chest feel weird.

He chuckled, and I felt almost dumbfounded looking at their interaction. I don’t know if I have ever seen someone hit on him before, or maybe I just haven’t noticed. I usually only hear about girls he’s seeing. I’ve only met one of his girlfriends the whole time I’ve known him. Now that I think about it, he really doesn’t bring girls around at all.

“Yeah, I’m sure. She is more fun than anyone else I’ve ever met.” He pulled her finger away from his torso and placed it on her leg. “I hope you enjoy your night.”

She gave him an irritated look, stood up, and walked away.

I stared at him for a moment.

“What?” He started wiping his face. “Is there something on me?”

“What? No. I just…I hope you didn’t turn her down on my account. Go have your fun.”

He was quiet for a beat. “Nah, that girl wasn’t my type. I didn’t actually mean any of that. That would imply I enjoyed spending time with you.” He smiled, so I knew he was joking. I playfully threw a chip at him, and instead of dodging it, he caught it in his mouth.

“Thanks, Sweets,” he said as he leaned back and took a swig of his beer. Then he hopped right back into conversation with Brie.

That weird feeling was still lingering in my chest.

Is the salsa giving me heartburn?

Chapter four

Nick

Ilied…horribly, I’m sure. I didn’t have a type unless you counted “women you can’t have, aka Callie,” as a type. Pining after my best friend didn’t exactly let me have any fun in the dating department because I was constantly comparing every woman I met to her, and they never measured up.

I didn’t keep many things from my best friends, but one thing I’d always kept secret was that I’d never had sex. I was probably the only virgin I knew over the age of twenty. Logically, I knew it wouldn’t always stay that way, but I always held out hope that Callie and I would end up together.

When she got engaged, I vowed to start seriously dating. I saw one girl I worked with a few times back in January, but I broke it off when she asked to be exclusive. As bad as I felt about Jake cheating on Callie, it gave me this newfound hope that Callie might finally see me as more than her annoying best friend. However, I was unsure of what to do with that hope. She had only been single for about a week, so I couldn’t exactly bring up the fact that I loved her now, could I?

Link and I started watching the girls dance again, and Shane joined them this time. Although Link and I are having a full-blown conversation over the music, we have not looked at each other once. We couldn’t take our eyes off them. The only time we looked away was when the server brought over another round of drinks.

After giving her a tip and picking mine up, I looked back at the girls and noticed they had attracted the attention of a group of men and women. I motioned over to Link, and he didn’t waste any time going and claiming his girl. I’m jealous that I can’t do the same.

My fist tightened around my beer bottle when two guys approached Callie and put her between them while they danced. She put her arms around one guy's neck. The other guy put his grimy hands on her hips and was grinding into her. I couldn’t see everything, but I saw her look back at him with a sexy smile. It made my blood boil even more. A moment later, her smile was gone, and she was pushing him away.

I saw Callie mouth, ‘What are you doing?’ and that was my cue.

When I got to her, she was trying to wrangle her wrist from the guy who was originally behind her.

“You have one fucking second to release her and walk away before you no longer have fingers,” I yelled sternly. The guy didn’t move. He scoffed at me with a dumb smile on his face.

“Move on, beanpole, get your own fun for tonight.”

I instantly saw red. No one will ever get away with talking about her like that in front of me. I grabbed his wrist and bent it backward. His eyes went wide. By this point, Link had come up behind the other guy, holding him away from Callie. I don’t know what he whispered, but the guy got the message and started walking away, unlike his friend, who was about to have a broken wrist.

“Nick, don’t,” Callie pleaded. “He is just drunk. He will go away.”

I looked at her, and she had a genuine concern in her eyes. Then I looked back at the douchebag. “Are you ready to leave, or am I breaking this wrist?”

“Dude, I didn’t realize she was taken; you need to keep a better leash on your slut next time.”

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