Page 99 of Choosing Forever
“It’s not in your cup.”
“Just drink it before I actually do go and poison it,” she snaps.
Leaving me standing alone, she goes behind the booth and sets her cup on it. Bryce joins her, glancing between her drink and mine with the same knowledge that’s dancing in my mind.
“Did they only have two?” Bryce asks, poking at her.
Delaney doesn’t react the way I expected. The tease plops onto the ground and dies.
“Poppy has yours. I didn’t have enough hands.”
“No worries,” Bryce mutters, eyeing me like I’m supposed to know what’s wrong.
My stomach drops as I realize it has to have something to do with Sasha.
“Are you going to continue now? Or am I kissing again?” Delaney asks when neither Bryce nor I speak.
I shake my head. “No, I’ll continue. Unless you want to go.”
“Go for it.”
Bryce takes it upon herself to open the line again and invite the lingering women and even a couple of guys back to the booth. I take a long swig of my lemonade and watch Delaney, not caring if she gets pissed off with my hovering. Her good mood from earlier is gone, extinguished with one look at Sasha, and I want it back more than anything.
She takes two steps to the right and stands beside the booth instead of at my side behind it. I don’t blame her for keeping her distance.
Going ahead with this doesn’t feel right. It’s really fucking wrong now, actually. I don’t want her jealousy when I’d rather have her smile and ridiculously lame banter.
“Maybe we should call it quits for today. I’m sure we’ve got more than enough money in the jar,” I offer.
Delaney finally looks at me again, hope filling her eyes despite her cheeks still lacking their natural flush. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. This has already been bigger than I?—”
“Is the booth still open?”
The familiar voice strikes right through the minuscule amount of progress I’ve made. Delaney glances at the woman who spoke, andfuck. I drop a hand to the booth and watch in awe as her entire demeanour shifts, my lemonade forgotten.
It’s not the same as the way she shut down with Sasha, her emotions hidden behind thick walls of steel. No, there’s not pain in her eyes this time. It’s fire instead. A scorching, wild flame that threatens to burn everything in its path.
“I figured I’d shoot my shot one last time before I took off. What’s one more opportunity, right?” the same woman asks.
I’m lost in the wave of possessiveness rippling off Delaney, too stuck to drag my attention to anyone else. She’s not even looking at me. Fuck, I wish she would. She could scorch every inch of skin on my body as long as she had her eyes on me.
Someone pokes my arm, a pointy nail pressing into my shirt. “Darren? I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Frustration lashes at me when I force myself to look at the woman speaking. It’s the same one from earlier in the day. The one Delaney all but shoved away from the booth with a silentgood riddance.
“Hey,” I force out, hoping I don’t actually soundthatbreathless.
The woman grins so wide two rows of teeth appear. She shifts her touch to fall fully on my arm, holding me there.
“Hi again. I don’t know if you heard me earlier, but I wanted to stop by one last time to try and convince you to take my number. And maybe, see if I could snag another kiss?”
My first instinct is to lurch backward. I don’t want to embarrass her, so I stay in place, my arm hanging like a foreign weight at my side.
With a gnawing sensation in my chest, I open my mouth to reply before stamping it closed.
“We’re closed.”
