Page 14 of Always. Forever.

He scratches the back of his head and throws his thumb over his shoulder, bringing my attention to the bar where a beautiful brunette stands, sipping on a glass of prosecco.

“I’m on a date. I heard this place was nice. Jace mentioned it a while back actually, and funnily enough, said how much you loved it, so I thought it would be a good place to bring a first date.”

It must have been a while ago, as Jace and James are not as close as they used to be. Jace said he changed and became a bit distant and snappy toward him. I see him around town, a lot. The last few times I have seen him, he’s appeared tired and worn out. The black circles under his eyes get more pronounced each time. He has lost some weight as well. I suppose it could be the job, but I may mention this to Jace.

I snap my attention back to James. “Oh, that is great, James.” I beam at him. His shoulders stiffen, and he gives me a pinched smile with a sour expression.

Weird.

“Yeah, well, I best be going, I don’t want to keep her waiting. I just thought I would pop over and say hi,” he says with a hard edge to his voice.

“No, you wouldn’t. Goodbye, have a nice date,” Toni says. I wince, but James just bends down and kisses my cheek and walks away.

He walks back to the bar and then I turn around to Toni.

“You’re a fucking nightmare sometimes, you didn’t have to make it so obvious that you don’t like him. Furthermore, I always seem to forget, why is it that you don’t actually like him again?” I scowl at her.

“He just gives me the creeps in general, there is something not quite right about him, Ry. I can’t pinpoint what it is, but I always listen to my gut, and he has red flags surrounding him,” she warns, furrowing her brows. “And no, not the good red flags either, the bad ones.”

“There’re good and bad red flags? Huh? Never knew that,” I mutter, rolling my eyes.

“You wouldn’t.” She smirks, her face softening “You’re walking around owning the biggest green one there is.”

“I’ll take that, I love my green flag.”

“You should, he’s perfect,” Toni adds. “Furthermore”—she raises her finger—“I recall you telling me you got a creepy vibe off him the day you returned from Jace’s after that night and after me telling you I had done you know what with him.” She raises her eyebrows at that as she can’t even bring herself to sayfuck him. She is right though, I said that.

“I know, I know. I used to, but when I got to know him through Jace, he grew on me, and I realized he was just very friendly.”

“My next door neighbor, Marilyn, is friendly,that”—she points over my shoulder at, I’m assuming, James—“is darn right creepy.”

Before I can say anything else, the waiter arrives at the table, placing down our drinks. James leaves our minds the minute the cocktails are placed in front of us. As soon as she has turned around, Toni and I dive for our drinks, but before we can take a sip, we raise our glasses and cheers.

“To the baddest bitches ever.”

“Here, here,” I say, clinking my glass with hers. We moan out at the same time, nothing hits like a cocktail, especially when it’s in the company of your best friend.

Chapter Five

“Youarenotgoingto believe what I have to tell you about what happened at work the other day.” Toni beams, wide-eyed, grabbing my hand placed on the table in front of her.

She always has some goss from work to tell me. She works as a recruitment consultant with large corporate companies in the city. This woman could talk her way out of a paper bag, so it’s the perfect role for her.

Apparently, it came out that there was a huge affair going on with two of her colleagues, and one of the wives turned up at the office going apeshit and smashed his car up outside in the parking lot. She also punched the girl he was having an affair with.

I have never known someone to always have a story to tell, but Toni sees and hears it all. She’s not one of those typical gossips, she literally holds it all in and then tells me as soon as she sees me.

Toni fills me in on a guy she met on a dating site she has seen a few times. I love how free-spirited this girl is and there is no shame, as there shouldn’t be. She is still young, enjoying her life, and will eventually meet someone she knows is the one. Until then, she is doing her, and I love her so much for it.

Neither of us realize we have been talking away and that two hours has passed. We have eaten our food and drank a good handful of cocktails. I get my phone out to order the Uber, as does Toni. She lives in the opposite direction, so it makes no sense getting the same one. Mine says it will be ten minutes, Toni’s will be here in a few.

We stand up and put our jackets on, and she sways a bit. We giggle as we head to the door. Toni has always been a lightweight. We walk past James and his date as we are leaving, and they seem like they are getting ready to leave too. I give them a small wave, and the girl smiles brightly at me, waving back. I’m sure James explained who we are.

Toni bumps my shoulder and says, “Don’t say I’m being silly . . .” She side-eyes me. “But don’t you think she resembles you a bit, Ry?”

Confused, I look at Ton. “Who?”

“James’s date.”

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