Holding her eyes, I tipped her drink to my lips—ugh, gross, gin and tonic—and drained the whole thing before slamming it back down on the edge of the pool table.
"Happy?" I asked her, licking my lips and cringing at the bitter taste her drink had left behind.
The dark scowl on her face confirmed my suspicions, and she hurled "my" drink on the ground in a bit of a diva tantrum before trying to get in my face. I was a few inches taller than her, though, and if intimidation was her aim, she was falling way short. Literally and figuratively.
"Watch your fucking back, bitch," she hissed at me, pointing with her sharp little red fingernail. "I'm coming for you."
Drew stomped off and I sighed. So much for her weak effort at "starting over."
Fake bitch.
33
Kody didn't immediately return from the back room, and after a couple of minutes, I started worrying. Big time. My palms were sweating and I couldn't stop staring at the door he'd disappeared through, even though I knew it hadn't been long.
"Maybe just have another drink and relax a bit," Jase suggested with a sneer, like he found me totally pathetic for being concerned. "You're so fucking uptight. Have the boys stopped fucking you or something?"
He was drunk as shit, but that was no excuse. I grabbed him by the collar and hauled his unkempt face to mine. "Insult me again, Jase. I fucking dare you."
But he just curled his lip at me, and I released him with a shove. Something was wrong, I could feel it. My stomach was churning with anxiety, and I could feel sweat rolling down my spine.
"Dallas, something isn't right," I declared, my worried gaze still on that back room doorway. "How long has he been gone?"
My friend shook his head. "Like, maybe two minutes? Don't stress, Katie. Kody wouldn't leave you out here with me for long." His smile was all arrogance, and I snorted a laugh.
"Uh-huh, 'cause he's so worried you'll put the moves on and steal me away?" I grinned, trying desperately to shove aside the gnawing feeling of panic that had seemed to manifest in me as physical illness. "Remember the one and only time we slept together?" I wrinkled my nose, expecting him to laugh with me.
I'd been a fourteen-year-old virgin, woefully inexperienced in anything sexual, and he'd been one of my best friends. We'd also been crazy high from smoking joints in my bedroom. To say it’d been awkward was an understatement, then we'd ended up in a huge argument because I saw Dallas's fresh Wraith’s tattoo...
"I remember it," he replied, but his tone was so much more serious than mine. He stepped closer to me, crowding me against the edge of the pool table and reaching a finger up to stroke my hair. "I think about it all the time."
"Uh..." The room was starting to spin, and I second-guessed what I'd just heard. Had he just hit on me? What the...? "Dallas, I'm not—"
I didn't get any further before Bree appeared beside us with an expression of pure betrayal and horror on her face. "Are you fucking serious?" she shrieked. "This is so fucking typical." She spun on her heels and took off in the direction of the bathrooms, leaving me feeling like a total fucking shithead.
"What the fuck, Dallas?" I shouted, shoving him in the chest to move him away from me. "What is wrong with you?"
He shook his head, swiping his hands over his face. "That's not what I meant! Fuck, fuck, dammit Kate, I wasn't hitting on you! Ugh, Bree thinks—"
"I know exactly what she thinks, you moron," I snapped, shoving him again for good measure. "I need to talk to her." I started to follow her, but Dallas caught my wrist with his hand.
"Wait, I should go," he told me, looking all kinds of tortured. "I need to explain. She'll be fine when I can explain."
I bit my lip, considering. As badly as I wanted to go and comfort my friend, I also cared about Dallas. He needed an opportunity to redeem himself. "Fine," I growled, "but you better grovel and kiss her shoes and, for the love of God, Dallas, make her understand that you're not into me."
He nodded frantically and took off after Bree, not even hesitating before barging into the women's bathroom after her.
I let out a shaky sigh, glancing around. Jase was nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly, and the Reapers we'd