Stand-In Saturday (Love For Days #2) - Kirsty Moseley Page 0,91
and turn my head sharply, seeing Lucas standing next to us. His eyes are wild, his jaw is clenching with anger, and his hands are in tight fists. Up close, I can see the darker flecks of blue around the pupils of his pale blue eyes. Theo was right; they’re blazing with fire. It’s like staring down the barrels of a gun. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so mad, and I’ve seen him mad! My chest constricts.
“Mind if I cut in?” Lucas asks.
My hand instinctively tightens in Theo’s. I don’t want to dance with him.
Theo nonchalantly smiles over at Lucas. “Actually, I do. Her dance card is filled for the night. Sorry, buddy.” He sends him a playful wink, which just makes Lucas madder.
His top lip twitches with a barely contained snarl as he turns his attention back to me. “Lucie, I’d like to talk to you.” It’s a command, not a request.
The hair on my nape prickles. His jealousy is palpable; it hangs in the air so thickly that I can almost taste it. Surprisingly, it doesn’t bring me the joy or closure I was hoping for.
“I’m busy, Lucas.” My voice is clogged with emotion and cracks on his name. Theo’s hand strokes my back gently, as if offering me support. “Go talk with your sofa-shag girl instead.”
“I’m not with Meredith. We were never a thing.”
Meredith. I didn’t know her name until now. It’s not what I expected a fiancé-stealing ho to be named.
“You looked like a thing last time I saw you.” I challengingly raise one eyebrow and then turn my attention back to Theo, ending the conversation. Or so I hope.
“Lucie—” Lucas’s hand shoots out, wrapping around my upper arm, roughly yanking me away from Theo, his fingers digging into my skin with bruising force.
Theo instantly reaches out, too, grabbing Lucas’s hand and shoving it off me. “Wind your neck in, shithead. She said no.” His voice is practically a growl as he steps closer to Lucas, eyeing him harshly.
The height difference is so apparent that Lucas has to tilt his head as they lock eyes. I bet he hates it.
My mouth pops open in shock, and I grip the back of Theo’s jacket, giving him a slight pull. “Don’t, Theo. Please don’t.”
Starting a fight in the middle of my father’s party is the last thing I want tonight. Theo obliges and steps back to my side, but his posture doesn’t loosen. He is seething mad. It’s weird how, even at a time like this, I can find that a little hot. I like that he’s stepping up to my ex and defending me.
I wave my hand at Lucas in a shoo gesture. “Lucas, please just go back to your date.”
His rage-filled eyes flick to me. “I don’t have a date. I came here alone tonight. I was hoping you and I would be able to talk things through.”
My breath catches. He didn’t bring a date?
He came here alone, and now, I look like the bad one, bringing someone with me. This is the reason for my mother’s shocked and disappointed face at the door when she saw me with Theo. She knew Lucas was going to corner me tonight. They likely all knew. This was probably all cooked up and planned over a Maitland-Gordio game night. Operation Get Lucas and Lucie Back Together Again. No wonder Marie and Fred were looking at me so disparagingly earlier. They think I’m parading Theo around just to hurt their son.
And they’re correct.
That is the exact reason I brought him here with me. This is literally what I signed that lift contract for. This moment. This hard, blazing look in Lucas’s eyes, where I can see that he regrets what he did, that he misses me, that he might even want me back.
I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know what I want. My brain is all over the place, firing too many thoughts for me to be able to process them properly. This is all too much; it’s like sensory overload. I’m a little light-headed.
Before I can recover, Lucas’s mother stalks over, her arms folded across her chest, a wide-eyed Fred trailing along behind her.
Marie leans in, her glare accusing, her voice low so the people around us can’t hear her words. “Lucie, how could you do this? You knew Lucas was going to be here tonight. This is not fair on him.”
Not fair? Not fair is walking in exhausted from your exercise class, only to