Page 272 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 9
"Your friend from touch football. He’ll be back in a second, he was getting us drinks."
"Wait, are you herewithReggie?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't have known about the party if he hadn't told me about it. That would have sucked to miss out on all this fun." This was literally torture.
"I was going to invite you, but you were avoiding me again. Every time I stopped by Sweet Cravings you either sent me away or were missing.”
"I wasn't avoiding you. Besides, I didn't want to interfere with any of your plans with that blonde girl you've been hanging out with. Actually, she's looking for you right now." I gestured to her. She was staring at us.
He looked over at her. "We’re just friends.”
“Oh…like us?”
“No, not like…what, are you here with Reggie because you're mad at me?" He started laughing. "Come on, let's go dance. Stop being weird."
"Hey, J.J." Reggie was holding three cups and looking down at us. He looked kind of pissed.
How much of that conversation did he hear?
"Hey, man." J.J. stood up. "The rest of us are over there." He pointed to a group of people nearby. "Come on."
I looked up at Reggie. "I don't mind staying here, if you want."
"Nah, let's go over." He handed me one of the cups and put his hand out for me. After he helped me to my feet, he kept his fingers intertwined with mine.
Now J.J. was the one who looked pissed. We followed him over to the other lifeguards.
"Hey, Mila?" Reggie stopped me a few feet away from everyone.
"Yeah?"
"Does J.J. know that you guys aren't dating? He looks like he wants to kill me."
I took a sip of my drink. It was strong. "Honestly, I told him I liked him a little while ago and he said he just wanted to be friends." I shrugged.
"Do you still like him?"
"It doesn't really matter. Nothing's going to happen between us."
"Gotcha." He took a long sip from his cup as he stared at me. “And your friend Kristen?”
I saw Kristen a few feet away absolutely eavesdropping.
“I wasn’t sure I was ready to go on a date so I asked her if she’d come along. Actually, I think you two have more in common than we do. But it was also her idea to try to make J.J. jealous.”
“What?” She closed the distance between us. “That’s not fair, you roped me into this mess. This craziness is all your doing.”
I was relieved when Reggie laughed. He handed Kristen her drink.
“Well your diabolical plan is working,” he said. “J.J. seems really jealous right now."
I looked over my shoulder at J.J. He did seem pretty mad.
"I'm sorry, Reggie. I didn't mean to drag you into this. I'm just going to go."I'm such an asshole. What is wrong with me?I still liked J.J. I should have never agreed to this date.
"I can help you if you want."
"What?"
