Page 37 of Spar
Tori and Elle nodded enthusiastically and leaned in with their elbows on the table.
“Especiallynot Ryan or Chris,” Claire warned.
Tori made an X over her heart and winked at Claire.
Elle nodded.
“It was terrible,” Claire whispered before leaning back from the table.
“No way.” Tori crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “You two have been circling each other for months. The chemistry between you two is palpable.”
Claire placed her hands over her face and shook her head wildly, causing her whole body to shake. “Please, I beg you. Let’s talk about something else,” she said in a muffled voice.
She couldn’t believe it. She had been so preoccupied with her own happiness Tori had missed all the signs. Freshly manicured nails… a new outfit…
Tori eyed Claire suspiciously. “Is that a new lipstick you’re wearing?”
She kicked herself for not noticing the signs earlier. Claire was a classic over-compensator. When most girls were upset over a guy, they cried themselves to sleep and drowned their sorrows in cheese fries and greasy takeout. Claire gave herself a total body makeover.
“I was at Ulta, and they were having a sale,” she said defensively.
To her credit, Claire looked the tiniest bit guilty, as if maybe she would rather be home with a large pizza and garlic knots.
Before Tori could psychoanalyze her any further, her attention was drawn to the bar’s entrance. She had no idea what caused her to look up at the exact moment he walked in. Her body seemed to feel his presence before the other senses had a chance.
“Don’t look now, but he just walked in,” Tori said, not moving her eyes away from Chris.
Claire swung her legs around and stood next to the table, holding her empty eyes trained on the bar. Or the bartender. Most likely the bartender. “So much for girls’ night,” she muttered as she walked off.
“Don’t look at me!” Tori yelled behind her.
“Me either!” Elle squeaked out, but she smiled happily as Ryan followed Chris toward their table.
They guys made quite a sight. The whole lot of them. Even Charlie and Travis had come. They sauntered through the bar with every eye in the place focused on them. The fabulous five, Tori thought, never looked better.
“How did you know we were here?” Elle squealed, batting a hand at Ryan before throwing her arms around him.
Ryan drew her in against him. “We didn’t, but there aren’t exactly a lot of options for a Thursday night outing.” His voice became muffled as he nuzzled into Elle’s neck.
Chris and Travis pulled up another table and butted it up against the girls’, filled with empty shot glasses and beer bottles.
“Looks like we got here just in time for some table dancing and wild fantasy stories.” Charlie rubbed his palms together, eyeing the empties on the table.
“We have some catching up to do, it appears.” Ryan pulled out Elle’s chair for her and then stood behind it, hands on her shoulders. “I’m gonna grab drinks. First round is on me.”
Chris pulled a chair up next to hers, and the rest of the guys fell in around the table. It was just like a million times before. Everything felt different this time as they sat next to each other having drinks and chatting with their friends. While it wasn’t exactly a secret that she and Chris were… Hmmm, well, what were they? They hadn’t defined it, but it felt like so much more than a hook-up. None-the-less, they hadn’t exactly come out to their friends. She hadn’t said a thing to Claire or Elle. Her lips were sealed until she figured it out for herself. And judging by the way Chris and Ryan were still talking to one another, Chris clearly hadn’t told Ryan. Her brother wasn’t signing off on this.
As the guys took over the conversation, talking strategy and player stats on the basketball game currently playing on the large screen TV, Tori only half listened. She watched Chris out of the corner of her eye, trying to decipher his feelings, his thoughts, anything that might help her piece together the last week.
“Earth to Tori.”
“Oh, sorry. What was that?” Her face grew warm as she felt all eyes on her. She’d been so busy internalizing her relationship with Chris she had completely tuned out the conversation.
Ryan raised his eyebrows and studied her closely. “I asked if you had figured out a solution to the Autumn situation?”
“No, I haven’t,” she said, trying to regain her composure. “The insurance company won’t budge, and Susan and Dax won’t allow me to do any more than I already am for free.”
She chided herself for not spending more time researching a solution for the little girl. She’d been playing house with Chris in his big, beautiful home and let it get in the way of her usual tenacity for solving problems that weren’t easily solved. Her stubbornness had served her well professionally. If anyone deserved her stubborn work ethic, it was Autumn and her family.
