Page 66 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

You’re never going to get over Phoenix if you don’t force yourself to,I think to myself.

“Do you want to join us?” I ask him, my boldness fueled by my two best friends, vodka and tequila.

He gives me a grin as he takes a sip of his beer. “I’d love to. I’m here with a few of my buddies though, can they come as well?”

“Sure.” I order a couple more bottles for the table and we head towards the area. It’s cordoned off but security waves me through into the space.

Bellamy and Thayer are gone, probably dancing, and Nera is making herself a drink with the remnants of our last bottle.

She straightens and grins when she sees me standing with Spencer and three of his friends.

“We’re having a party?”

One of the guys breaks off from the group and steps towards her.

“Yeah we are,” he answers, suggestively.

“This is Spencer, he was at that fight a couple of weeks ago. He was my…escort, I guess you’d call it?” I turn towards him, scrunching my nose.

He laughs as we all sit, yelling over the club music to speak to each other. “More like security to protect you from anyone trying to get their hands on you in that outfit, you looked fucking hot.”

“She really did.” Nera chimes in from the other couch.

I flush as I remember the way he’d ogled me when I’d come out of that locker room. “Thank you.”

“We barely got to see you though. I wish the fight had lasted longer but Phoenix laid Fraserout, it was wild.”

“You know Phoenix?” I ask, surprised. “And Fraser?” I add hurriedly, not wanting to reveal my interest in the former.

Not that there is an interest. He was very clear the last time we spoke that this engagement is for show only. I didn’t expect him to be faithful, obviously, but maybe a small part of me had been hopeful and naive.

I look down at my left hand. I keep doing that as if I’m going to find something there, but of course there isn’t. And when there will be, it’ll be a ring my dad chose, not my unwilling fiancé.

And unwilling he is.

His hurtful words about fucking other women have played on a constant loop in my mind. Either he’s just cruel or he has no grasp on the feelings I have for him and have always had for him.

Like I told him, two can play at this game though. I’m not sure where I got the guts to provoke him like that, but I saw in the way his step faltered as he walked away that the blow landed.

If this is going to be nothing but an alliance and not a marriage then I should force myself to have some fun as well.

Fighting fire with fire seems to be the only path forward for me.

“They’re both legends, although MMA is more Phoenix’s style. He wasn’t supposed to win that fight, let alone win it with one punch. It was sick, even though it meant the time I got to look at you was cut short.”

I give him an empty smile, incapable of finding anything interesting to say in response to that borderline creepy comment.

Bellamy comes back into the area with a smile on her face and Rogue in tow. I have no idea how he knew to come here, but she looks radiant and that fills me with joy.

Not long afterwards, Rhys and Thayer come into the VIP section. I feel a small pinch in my chest area at the fact that both Rogue and Rhys came to Baroque for my friends, but Phoenix didn’t show up, probably so he could avoid me.

He’s known me almost half my life. Even if the engagement isn’t real, you’d think that’d mean something.

And you’d think I’d learned my lesson by now. I shouldn’t let myself be constantly disappointed by reminders that I don’t mean anything to him.

I throw the girls a quick wave as I continue half-listening to Spencer who’s telling me about his band.

He’s had more than a few beers and is starting to get very touchy feely. He sits facing me with his hand wrapped around the back of the couch behind me and when his other hand comes down on my knee, my breath catches between my lips.

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