Page 22 of Whiskey Promises
The thought amuses me. I hope she's looking over her shoulder, just waiting for me to appear like the goddamn Ghost of Kisses Past. That's pretty much the entirety of my plan. I've got two weeks to convince her that she belongs with me, not her dick of a boyfriend. If I have to play dirty to make it happen, I'm more than happy to do so.
"I have a plan to expand operations."
"Good for you," I grunt to my cousin, Ridley, as he slides onto a barstool beside me, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. I don't care about his plan. I'm too busy watching the way Zoya's hips sway as Connor leads her across the restaurant to the private dining room where the wedding party has convened for dinner.
Why the fuck did I open my mouth and practically demand that they stay at my place with me? That was a goddamn stupid decision. If he sneaks into her room and I hear them fucking, I'm going to lose it.
Christ. She wouldn't do that, would she?
Something tells me no, but I had to listen to her giggling for an hour while she was getting ready for dinner. I finally stomped out before I lost my mind.
I've been sitting at the bar since, trying to drink my way to sanity. Waiting for her to show up. I can't keep my eyes off her. Connor doesn't seem to be having the same problem. There's just something…off about the man. I can't even put my finger on it. But he looks at her like she amuses him. And the way she looks at him is nothing like the way she looks at me. There's no heat, no intensity.
And the way he keeps ditching her? Yeah, no loving boyfriend willingly dips out on a girl like Zoya five minutes after arriving in a paradise like this unless he's up to some bullshit.
I don't like him, and I don't trust him.
"What crawled up your ass?" Ridley asks.
"The jock," I grunt, narrowing my eyes on Connor. "There's something off about him."
"What jock? Teo?"
"No. The other one. Corey or whatever his fucking name is."
"Connor."
"Yeah, him," I agree, like I haven't already looked him up online to see what I could find out. Sadly, there wasn't much outside of news about his college baseball career, which is admittedly impressive. He'll go pro when he graduates. "I don't trust him."
Ridley laughs softly. "So she's the girl."
"What girl?" I turn a dark scowl on him, only to find him grinning at me, his green eyes full of humor, dark locks of hair sweeping across his forehead like he's been tugging on them all goddamn day again. It's a telltale sign that he's been dealing with Bastian today, too. The man stresses everyone out.
"The one that has you all fucked up in the head."
Jesus Christ. Do all my cousins know about her already?
"Don't know what you're talking about," I mutter, lifting my bottle to take a drink.
"Right. You're just a moody dick like Bastian every day," Ridley says, chuckling again. His gaze drifts from mine to Zoya. "She's cute."
A growl rumbles in my throat before I can stop it, my bottle plunking against the stone bar top.
Ridley hears it and smirks at me. "Nope, you aren't at all fucked up about her."
"We met in Los Angeles a few months ago." No sense trying to deny it when he already knows I'm full of shit. "I kissed her, and then she told me she had a boyfriend and skipped town."
"Ouch. Is she the reason we're having this wedding here and Bastian is stressing the fuck out?"
I shrug instead of answering.
Ridley shakes his head at me and then glances back at Zoya and Connor. Zoya is chatting a mile a minute with her mom, sisters, and Teo's mom. Connor has wandered away from the group to talk to Huck, our bartender.
"You sure they're really dating?" Ridley asks after a moment.
"She has pictures of the two of them all cuddled up together on her phone."
"Doesn't mean they're actually dating."
