Page 104 of Give Me Love

“You’re Kathrine, right?” he asks.

“Yes,” I reply.

He nods. “Go have a seat at one of the tables.” He points toward the back wall. “You’ll be taken care of.”

“Okay.” I look at my friends with a smirk, remembering what Bryce said to his bartender the last time we were here.

Take care of her like you would me.

Bossy, bossy, boy.

“Well, let’s go,” Austin says.

Once we get to a table, we all take a seat and a server walks up immediately.

“What can I get you three?” she asks.

We each tell her what we want, and Claire leans in after she walks away. “Guess this is what you get if you’re fucking the boss.”

I hit her arm. “I’m not fucking him.”

“Looks like I’m not the one getting us the hook up anymore,” Austin says over the music.

I give him a tight smile. “You two have no right to judge me. I know your secrets,” I say, pointing at them both. Claire laughs as the waitress walks back up with our drinks and I feel the tension finally easing between us. I’m so relieved.

“Damn, that was fast,” Austin says.

“Enjoy,” she says. “Your night is on Mr. Grant.”

She smiles. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need.” We all look at each other.

“Thanks,” I reply. “But that’s not necessary.”

The waitress looks confused.

“You heard the woman,” Austin says. “Tell Mr. Grant he can take care of this one, but we’ve got the rest.”

I smile over at him because he gets me. The waitress nods and then turns to walk away. We three reach down and pick up our shot glass. I’m sure Bryce is just trying to be kind, but paying for our drinks is not needed. We all work. We can pay for our own shit.

“Here’s to a great fucking night.” Austin holds up his glass.

“And to many more,” Claire says. We clink our glasses and down the shot.

Music that Claire loves comes on, and she grabs my hand. We leave Austin to enjoy his beer and head out to the dance floor.

Time passes, and more drinks go down with some burning more than others. My legs start to hurt, and my feet start to throb, but I’m having a blast.

We’re standing at a table nursing some beer as we take a break from dancing. Austin’s talking to some girl he used to date over at the booths, and I still haven’t seen Bryce. I texted him earlier and he wrote back saying he would meet me here.

“So, you wanna finish telling me about that kiss?” I ask Claire.

She takes a sip of her beer and wipes under her lip. “Nothing to tell, really. We were drunk. He kissed me.”

“Oh, that’s it. Nothing else you can mention?” I ask sarcastically.

She rolls her eyes. “It was a long time ago. I made him stop, afraid my brothers would see and kill him. I’m not sure if he came to his senses when I stopped him or what, but he never tried again, and it was like something lit up inside of me. I feel like we had the exact opposite feeling from it.”

“What do you mean?”

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