Page 5 of For Eva

“Hey, hi, excuse me. Do you guys know each other or something?”

Eva stepped back slightly and bit her lip, glancing at me before turning her attention to the dark-haired girl—Deanne? Denise?“This is…um…this is Danny.”

“What?” She leaned in, straining to hear her over the music that had been cranked up.

“I said, this is Danny!”

Deanne/Denise narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, Matt just introduced me. But how doyouknow him?”

“Because he’sDanny.” Eva emphasized my name, her face tightening and eyes widening, as though she was trying to transmit a telepathic message.

“Yeah, but I don’t—” The other chick’s mouth dropped open, and she grabbed Eva’s hand, yanking her past me so fast I barely had time to turn before I saw them bump into Matt, who was weaving his way back to us.

I’d been so focused on Eva I hadn’t realized he’d left. The girl whose name started with a Dexchanged a few words with him, while Eva glanced at me over her shoulder. And then they disappeared.

My pulse picked up, my eyes darting back and forth through the sea of people as Matt approached me. “Wait, where are they going? Did they leave? Are they leaving?”

He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Dude, calm down. They’re coming back. Denise said they were going to the bathroom.”

I released the breath I’d been holding. I didn’t fully understand the panic I felt thinking she’d walked out the door, bidding me one finalfuck you. After all,Iwas the one who’d left. I was the one who’d made the decision five and a half years ago that I couldn’t live out my dream with her in my life.

“Come on,” he said, turning to work his way through the crowd. “Nikki’s working tonight, and she hooked us up with a table.”

I nodded and followed behind him. Our drummer’s sister escorted us to the booth, and I told her we needed two of whatever girls liked to drink, adding that I didn’t care what she brought me as long as it was strong and cheap. With the unexpected turn of events, I was gonna need as much alcohol as I could afford—which, admittedly, wasn’t a lot.

“What’s with you and that chick, anyway?” he asked as we slid into opposite sides of the booth. “You’ve known her forthirty seconds, and you’re acting like life as you know it will be over if you don’t see her again.”

More like life as I know it will be over if Idosee her again.

With that thought, I should’ve left. Stood up and gotten the hell out of Dodge while I had the chance. But I kept thinking about how beautiful she was and how much I hadn’t let myself think about missing her. And that’s what kept my feet glued to the floor.

“Earth to Danny.”

I startled as Matt waved his hand in front of my face. “Yeah, sorry, I, uh…This is all kinds of fucked-up, man.” I shook my head and blew out a breath. “That girl, Eva. She was my girlfriend. In high school, back in Illinois.”

“Are you serious? What the fuck is she doing here? How does she know Denise?”

“No idea. But I don’t know what the hell to do right now.”

He snorted. “What do you mean you don’t know what to do? You get drunk, you fuck for old times’ sake, and that’s that. Denise said she doesn’t even live here. This isn’t a hard decision.”

I lit a cigarette and leaned back against the booth, staring up at the colored lights strung overhead. “It’s just that it’s more…complicatedthan that.”

“Dude, it washigh school. How complicated could it have been?”

I ran my hand through my hair and shrugged. “I know it sounds stupid. But she’d been through a lot before I left for LA, and I told her we’d stay together, but I—”

He reached across the table and nudged my arm. I looked up to my left to see Eva standing there. Long blond hair, bangs swept to the side. Tight white tank top that made it impossible not to stare at the way it hugged her tits. Jeans that made itimpossible not to notice the way her waist curved perfectly into her full hips.

“So, Danny Kincaid.” She slid into the booth and turned to face me as she took a cigarette from her purse, placing it between her glossy pink lips. With her head cocked, she leaned toward my lighter, then pulled back and blew a stream of smoke from the corner of her mouth. “Let’s start by you telling me what the fuck you’ve been up to for the last five and a half years.”

I swallowed, sweat beginning to break through the skin above my brow, wondering when she’d break the stare that had me feeling like I was under interrogation lights being questioned by the hottest detective on the whole goddamn planet.

I tried to smile. I tried to laugh. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

And it was then I knew I was fucked.

Totally and completelyfucked.

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