Page 74 of Wild Side
She brightens. “Oh! Chef Tabby?”
I regard her with a casual shrug. “That’s me.”
“Rhys talks about you all the time.”
Now my head tilts at her, piecing together how they know each other while ignoring the sharp jab of unfounded jealousy that just cropped up in my gut. “Does he?”
“Oh yeah. He’s been coming to my classes, and he’s quiet, ya know? So I’ve tried to get him talking a bit, and he’s always all”—she puffs up and drops her voice in imitation of him—“My wife this, my wife that. Did you know my wife owns that restaurant?”
My jaw goes slack, and she sighs dreamily. “He’s so proud of you, you know? God, it’s adorable.” She grins at me. “So, at any rate, it’s nice to meet you.”
I’m not sure what I was expecting her to say, but it sure as shit wasn’tthat. I don’t even know how to respond. All I know is my tummy feels warm, my chest tingles, and my fingers itch to run through Rhys’s hair again.
But Rosie’s snark doesn’t miss a beat.
“Oh weird. It’s like you’re putting on too much blush right before our eyes.”
CHAPTER 27
RHYS
We walkinto the Reach after winning our very first bowling match. Ford, West, Bash, and I are here to celebrate.
After weeks and weeks of losing, the competitor in me is preening. I only wish we’d beaten Stretch and his team, because I fucking hate that guy and will never forgive him for how he spoke to Tabitha.
In fact, sometimes in the ring, I imagine his face just to help with emoting for the crowd. Works every time.
But tonight, it’s Tabitha’s face that stops me in my tracks. Her head is thrown back in laughter, her eyes are bright, and her cheeks are warm. She’s surrounded by friends, and she’sglowing.
She looks happy, and god, I love to see it.
I’m not oblivious to the fact that she’s been feeling low since Erika’s death, but sometimes her stoicism makes it easy to forget how deep her grief must run. So the stark contrast of seeing her happy now hits me with a hard pang in the center of my chest.
It only makes me wish I could make her look like that. Instead, I’ve mostly succeeded at making her scowl, look confused, or look like she wants to rip my clothes off—which was great until she followed that up with awkward reasons sheneeded to leave. Most likely brought on by the reminder that I’m me… and she thinks I evicted her sister.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Bash grumbles, looking around at multiple tables, each one scattered with small pencils and squares of paper.
West shrugs as he assesses the bar. “Beats the fuck outta me.”
Doris yells out over the tables from behind the bar, “Last question. It could be a tiebreaker since we have two teams with the same number of points right now. What is a group of unicorns called? A herd, a flock, a blessing, or a rainbow?”
Ford’s brows knit together as he whispers, “What the fuck?”
“Oh, a blessing. Duh,” West says with an eye roll. Bash shoots him a scornful glare, which only makes him laugh. “You’re just mad you were thinkingrainbow, aren’t you?”
“You’re an idiot.”
“A happy one,” West volleys with a wink.
I turn my attention back to Tabitha’s table, watching the heads of four women drawn, all different shades of hair, but it’s the shiny black strands that I watch closely. Just her hair makes me think of how it felt to fist it, to have her climb on top of me, kissing me like nothing else in the world mattered.
My cock thickens as I recall our moment on the stairs. The thrill of chasing her across the basement. Thealmostthat will provide shower fodder for the rest of my life.
West bounces on the spot, peeking across the space at the sheet. “I swear Skylar knows this one. She’s got this. When did they start a trivia night? And why does it have to conflict with bowling? This would be so fun.”
Bash crosses his arms. “This would not be fun.”
“Rosie would kill me if we started crashing girls’ night,” Ford adds. And he’s got a point. Between him, West, and me, our significant others are all here tonight. Plus, one more who I have yet to meet.
