Page 120 of Mr. Flirt

And here she was, in a bar with a man who wasn’t me, and she was happy.

She was laughing.

Her body swayed as their conversation continued. Her smiles lit up the booth as the server brought their order.

My friends kept talking, but I had no idea what they were saying.

I just wanted it to be me sitting across from Lucy.

But I screwed it up.

And I had to deal with that. I had to realize that Lucy wasn’t mine.

She never was mine. She’d told me that time and again.

Yet that morning, when I’d brought her breakfast, I felt that connection. I knew we’d put down our fears and opened up our hearts that night when we’d finally had sex.

I ordered another beer and a chaser while Mike and Brendan traded worried glances.

“Dude, you’ve basically shredded that napkin to pieces.” Brendan scraped the bits into a pile. “You okay?”

“Does it look like I’m okay?” I asked, laughing as my fists bound tighter with every passing second watching Lucy and Cliff.

The truth of it was that Cliff was the better match for her. The better man.

He was responsible, acted like a grownup, and didn’t involve himself in ridiculous bets.

Cliff had always been honest about why he showed up here so often. He wanted a wife and had tried everything under the sun, from joining clubs to online dating.

Whenever he’d told me about his adventures, I just thanked God I wasn’t looking to get married.

And now, here I sat with my two best friends while the woman I loved sat with Cliff.

The server brought over the beer and chaser. I chugged the beer in mere seconds and followed it with the shot. I smiled at the bartender, and he nodded, readying another round for our table.

When he brought over the tray of drinks, I raised my beer to my friends. “To Lucy.”

My friends looked at each other and lifted their drinks. “To Lucy.”

“May she find love and true happiness with the doctor.”

Mike smiled. “To Lucy,” he repeated again.

I took another drink of beer and heard Lucy’s voice drift over.

That could have been me.

Damn it.

I stood, leaving my unfinished beer and shot, and glanced at my buddies. My stomach roiled with nausea as I glanced toward Lucy. She looked like she was really enjoying herself.

Good.

She deserved the best.

I cleared my throat and dragged my eyes back to Mike and Brendan. “I’m going to leave you two ladies to finish your drinks, but I’m headed home. I’ve seen enough for the night. Buy yourself some dinner.”

I slid a couple of hundred bucks onto the table and smiled. “And don’t worry. Good Ol’ Shep will be back in no time. Seeing this was good.”

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