Keeping You Away - Kennedy Fox Page 0,23

bar mirror as they find a table, giving me the perfect view of them.

After I finish eating, I order another beer and notice Donald McDouche walking toward their table. The guy was a total asshole in high school, and even now, he looks like a grown-up twelve-year-old.

He leans against the table, and he offers to buy them all drinks while obviously checking them out, though none of them are showing any interest.

Everleigh isn’t having it and rolls her eyes, then asks him to go away, but he doesn’t get the blatant rejection. When he continues to bother them to the point they all look uncomfortable and annoyed, I grab my drink and walk over.

I’m not sure whose eyes are wider—the douchebag’s or the girls’.

Everything goes silent as I look at Donald. By the way he swallows hard, he knows exactly who I am. “Can I help you with something?” I ask.

“I was just offering to buy these ladies a round,” he slurs.

“And they said no, so you can move on.” I wave my hand in the air, eyeing the space behind him.

“They can speak for themselves.”

I look at Everleigh, and she smirks. “We did...twice. So here’s a third: you can fuck off.”

Grinning, I hold out my hand with the beer in it. “Well, there you go. Fuck off.”

Donald hisses, then walks away with his dick tucked between his legs.

I suck in a deep breath, hyper aware that Gemma is staring at me.

“And my brother saves the day! Reminds me of when you threatened the seventh-grade bully who kept throwing spitballs at me.” Everleigh laughs.

Chuckling, I nod. “You good now?”

“I think we can handle ourselves,” Everleigh says, then takes a sip of her drink.

“Alright, good.” I turn to walk away.

Gemma speaks up. “You should join us.”

I look at her like she’s lost her mind. “Join you?”

“Well yeah, unless you have other plans.” Her voice lowers.

“Yes, come sit!” Everleigh scoots over and pats the empty seat next to her.

“As it gets later, the creepier the guys get. It’ll be nice having you scare them off for us,” Katie says.

“I’d be intruding. You’re obviously having a girls' night.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Everleigh smacks the seat again, demanding me with her scowl.

“C’mon, sit.” Gemma gives me a sweet smile, and that’s when I know I’m fucked.

It’s easy to be a disappointment when I’m so far away, but when she’s staring at me with such a deep intensity, it’s hard as hell to say no.

Chapter Six

GEMMA

Tyler looks at me, and my breath hitches. For a moment, I think he’s going to walk away, but then he sits down in front of me next to Everleigh. Though he continues to avoid eye contact, I’m well aware of how close he really is. I can’t help but notice how his shirt hugs him in all the right places. When he reaches for his beer, his biceps peek from under his sleeves, and I force myself to look away.

For just ten minutes, I wish we could talk about our past. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening any time soon. Considering he’s pretending I’m invisible right now, I’m not sure that’ll ever happen. Maybe he’s forgotten it all, but I haven’t. The pain he caused still runs deep, but maybe now that he’s back, I’ll finally get some closure. At least that’s what I’m hoping for, so I can move on for good.

The silence draws on, and my cheeks heat as I finish my margarita. Having him here with us is suddenly awkward, and I try to think of something to talk about, but my mind goes blank. Maybe I shouldn’t have spoken up and invited him to join us, but once the words were out of my mouth, there was no going back.

“So...” Everleigh looks at us with a mischievous grin. “How about a round of whiskey?”

“The hard stuff, huh?” Tyler chuckles, then empties his mug in a big gulp.

“Only for my favorite people in the world,” she sing-songs. It’s gonna take the hard stuff for me to get through tonight.

Everleigh calls the waitress over and orders double shots for all of us. When they come, Everleigh holds hers up. “To my amazing brother, Tyler. For kicking ass and taking names.” She looks around the table, then we clink our glasses together, and the liquid burns going down. When the server returns to clear the table, I order another margarita with an extra shot of tequila.

I think the only way I can be this close to Tyler is if I’m