My heart drops at the thought of him, I wish I didn’t miss him. The side of him I saw that day…I mean, I knew what he was like when he got upset, but I’d never seen him direct that on another person before.

I shiver as Ava breaks me from my thoughts, “He was looking, looking at you.”

I halfheartedly chuckle, “Yeah, I noticed.”

She scoffs, “Pretty sure everyone noticed. Get his number! You haven’t been with anyone since the billionaire psycho.” She stuffs a bite of French toast into her mouth as she shakes her head.

I ignore the comment, taking another good look at the waiter. He’s built like a damn linebacker; you can tell he works out a lot. His green eyes meet mine as he smirks, turning back to wiping the counter. Not much for subtlety. Men that know they’re hot are usually obnoxious about it. Which is definitely not hot.

“See, Lay! Fuck him, right now. I gave you yourgetting laidhomework three months ago and still nothing.”

She’s so interested in people’s sex lives; Ava is all about free love. Which is fine, I’m far from a prude, but I’ve always lacked her confidence. Especially afterhim.

“I haven’t gotten a single match on Tinder, not one.” I muse, shoving a bite into my mouth. Ignoring how the truth behind that statement stings.

God, I love food. Yeah, think about food and not how undesirable you are.

She abruptly swallows “Bullshit!”

I wish it was bullshit, I haven’t even gotten a reply from the people I’ve contacted. I’d be lying if I said my confidence hadn’t taken a hit. I’m not ugly I know that, men have always stared at me. I used to kind of enjoy the attention until Mr. Danvers took it too far on a daily basis. Until it would set Liam off, in the weird inward way it did. Like he was in a constant struggle to contain it all. I didn’t think he was like that at first, but I think he just… hid it better. It wasn’t a slow build either. Like one day he woke up and flipped a switch. Ava says it was always there, in the way his eyes followed me, always putting himself at my side. Lingering, watching. I put up with it all, his irrational jealousy. The way he liked to control my every move in the enduring roundabout way he did it. There was an odd and wonderful intensity I came to expect with Liam. I didn’t mind it, not at all. It was actually nice the way he fixated on me. His attention to detail was always something I admired about him. Something I had never experienced before, and never will again.

He made me feel special. Like only I existed to him.

“Stop it, Lay. Right now!” Ava orders, flicking a spoon of whipped cream at me. It lands on my chin, slopping down onto my chest.

I look at her, gesturing vaguely at my breasts as she laughs at herself, “You need to stop thinking about him! Move on, it’s been months, seriously.” I nod, looking around to make sure the coast is clear before I tug down my low-cut top, exposing the black lace of my bra as I dip a napkin in my water, wiping at the mess. After I finish cleaning myself, I look up again. The waiter meets my eyes, raising a sculpted blonde eyebrow, plucked more effectively than mine. A small smirk draws across my lips. I can feel my cheeks reddening and I may or may not take my time fixing my top.

My phone vibrates loudly on the table, pulling my attention from him. I glance over at Ava who is nose deep in her phone again before I pick up mine. Liam never wanted us to have our phones while we ate, which I didn’t mind. It feels weird still, after these past months alone. Adjusting to life without him, slowly realizing how odd his behavior was. Even if it worked for me for the most part, I can acknowledge how far from normal he was. Or as Ava puts it, creepy, obsessive and toxic.

I unlock my phone. My heart races as I read the words on the screen, trying to tilt the phone away from the glare of the window we’re seated against.

Unknown: Keep your eyes to yourself.

I frown, quickly locking my phone and looking around me. I don’t honestly know what for. Nobody is staring our way, nobody I recognize is here at all. I look over at Ava, still blissfully staring at her phone.

“Hey, did you text me?”

She lowers her screen, narrowing her eyes at me. Probably picking up on the anxiety in my voice. I’ve never been good at hiding that part of me, not that I need to hide it from her. Another lovely personality trait I can thank my father for.

“No? Why?”

I shake my head, “Bot message probably.” The explanation seems weak even to me. She shrugs as she downs the last of her iced coffee, “Okay, my lunch break was over ten minutes ago.”

I chuckle, shaking my head at her. She does real estate, she’s so damn good at it too. Her bosses practically worship the ground she walks on.

She waves the waiter over for our bill, insisting on paying like always. I don’t put up too much of a fight this time, knowing she’s charging it to her company card. She hands the waiter the card, his eyes glued to me, “You know my band is playing at the Moonwalk Lounge tonight, if you two were interested in stopping by.”

Ava looks at me, comically mouthinghe’s in a band,“What time?” She asks, turning back to him with a flip of her hair, not giving me a chance to back out of my casual flirting from earlier. I can’t help but smile as his face lights up, “We start at seven. My name is James, by the way.”

“WellJames,we’ll be there. This is Layla and my name is Ava.” His eyes meet mine, “Pretty name.” Nodding and smirking as he heads off to get our receipt. Butterflies fill my stomach for the first time in months as I meet Ava’s hopeful eyes.

“Rebound sex.” She sings softly to the tune ofBirthday Sexas she gets her things together. I wad up my napkin, throwing it at her face, “We’re going to watch his band, that hardly means I’m going to fuck the guy.”

“You’re gonna get your cheeks clapped.” She continues singing. I shoot her daggers, willing her to shut up as he walks back with her card. She laughs, “See you tonight, James.”

“Can’t wait.” He winks at me before a lady from behind the counter calls him back. I watch him longer than necessary as he walks away, his thick muscular arms straining against his white long-sleeved t-shirt that looks intentionally too small for him. The equally as large muscles in his back rippling as he moves.

“No driving there. We’re taking Ubers so we can get fucked up. It’s been forever since we had a girl’s night.” She whines as we walk back out to my car. The cool fall breeze whips my long unruly curls into my face. That’s going to be a bitch to work through later.