Page 69 of The Bachelor

I did one-night stands.

I did women who knew exactly what I was after. I took care of them, and they took care of me, and it was a mutual agreement.

If I made her mine, that meant commitment.

A relationship.

A level I hadn’t reached since high school, which my sister had recently pointed out.

What the fuck do I know about any of that?

Why am I even thinking about it?

Macon was gazing at Oaklyn again, their faces semi-close. Their speech quiet enough that I couldn’t hear it from over here.

The more I looked on, the worse I felt.

The harder my hands shook.

The tighter my chest became.

Tearing her away from him would do nothing but stir up drama that I wasn’t going to deal with tonight—or anytime soon. I didn’t need that kind of questioning from my sister. I didn’t need that kind of shit from my cousins, considering they all knew I wasn’t the type of guy to want more.

And I didn’t need to make Macon feel like I was ripping her away over some surge of fucking jealousy.

What I needed was to get the hell out of here.

I brought the glass up to my lips and shot back the rest of the liquor, and the moment I pulled it away from my mouth and set the empty on the table, Declan clasped my elbow and said, “I’m going to steal Camden for a second,” and he led me away from the group.

When it was just the two of us, I pulled my arm back. “I was just going to leave and head home.”

“Not until I talk to you first.”

He stood in front of me, eye-level, his stare almost haunting.

I couldn’t imagine what he needed to speak to me about.

Work.

Hooked.

Another one of our cases.

Couldn’t any of that fucking wait until we were in the office?

“Take it from someone who knows … when you think you’re being inconspicuous and not a single motherfucker is tuned in to what you’re doing, there’s always someone in the crowd who’s watching. Who misses nothing. Tonight, because I haven’t had enough of these quite yet”—he held up his tumbler—“that person happens to be me.”

I searched his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, man. There’s no reason to hide in front of me.” He paused. “I saw your face the second you walked into the bar. The way you froze when you noticed your best friend chatting it up with Oaklyn. You ran right over there like a puppy whose owner was paying attention to another doodle. You’re not fooling me.”

“Bullshit.”

He laughed. “Oh, it’s bullshit that the entire time you were standing with Ford, Jenner, and me, you ignored almost everything everyone was saying because you couldn’t stop staring at Oaklyn?”

Ignored them?

I had been talking to Jenner.

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