“I’m doing,” I finally said. “Do you know if it’s a boy or girl yet?”
“I find out tonight,” Julian said. I could hear a smile in his voice. “Sara’s been watching videos online about how people surprise their husbands with the baby’s sex, so I’m guessing she’s gonna pull some weird shit on me soon. I know in my heart it’s a girl, but I’ll let her do what she needs to do.”
“It’s funny listening to you act like you don’t love it… you giant fuckin’ pile of mush.”
“Yeah, you definitely sound alive again,” Julian said. “Anyway, I gotta get back to work. But I’ll let you know about the baby when I find out.”
“Thanks. Talk to you later,” I said, hit with that mix of both happy and sad when I hung up the phone. It was a combo I’d been feeling a lot lately, mostly because I couldn’t quite enjoy anything without wishing I could do it with her. I couldn’t listen to Julian talk about Sara without wishing I had exactly what they had.
I’d started trying the whole not-saying-her-name thing to see if it would help, but so far, it was almost making it worse. Honestly, despite the fact that I was faking normal a little better these days, it felt like I was at a breaking point. Almost a month later, and I wasn’t better.
I was worse.
So when Drew called tonight, I picked up the phone. And when he asked me to go out, I said yes. I’d survived the last time, and he could very well be traded next week, so it felt like I had to.
Though I probably should’ve asked before he picked me up that night where the hell we were going.
* * *
“Drew. There’s literally the same location of this place in the city. Why did we have to go to the one here?” I asked, still in disbelief that I’d gotten into the car without knowing we were headed for the Hamptons.
“Because this location is better. They pick all the hottest girls from their Manhattan location to work here for the summer,” Drew said, pointing at Iain as we headed for the doors. “Iain agrees with me.”
“Sure,” Iain said, barely needing to nod at the bouncers at the door before they stepped aside to let us in.
“Come on. Admit it. This place is awesome,” Drew said as we walked into the probably the last club on Earth that I wanted to be at tonight. The place was called Godsend and it was the same club where I’d found her at the start of the summer.
Aly.
Some girl had spilled her drink all over me on the dance floor, I’d gone to a bathroom to wash the stain out, and half a minute later, Aly walked out looking like a vision from my fucking dreams.
It was a memory I’d actually forgotten about since I’d made so many with her after.
But now that we were in this club, in the same place I’d first seen her again, I could see every moment of that night again. I could practically hear the sound of her breathy laughter from when I flirted with her in the bathroom, and within the first minute of sitting down, it was starting to tear at me.
“Hey, man, don’t make that face, alright? There’s a girl here that you’re really going to like,” Drew yelled over the music. “You’re going to think she’s awesome!”
“Right,” I yelled back. “Haven’t heard that one before.”
“Look, I promise she’s gonna be your type, asshole. I knew it the second I spotted her when I came here last week,” Drew said, wiggling his eyebrows at me in a way I’d never seen happen on his face. “She’ll be here in a sec. She’s just gotta finish with that table over there first. See her?”
I followed Drew’s eye line and let my gaze land on
the bottle girl serving the round booth next to ours.
She had her tray held up high next to her head, but I could see her high ponytail bobbing around while she talked animatedly with the table of guys who tried to play it cool around her. But I could see from the way they stared at her – from the way their eyes moved wildly all over her body – that they were fucking fixated. Shit, so was I. I hadn’t looked at anyone this way in what felt like ages, but her body was everything I wanted and missed. It was tiny and tight with perfect tits sitting high on her chest, looking like they could spill out at any second.
“See?”
I didn’t have to look at Drew to know he was grinning wide. He could see this girl had my attention and he was counting it as a personal victory. I would’ve turned to at least shoot him a smirk, but I was too busy watching the guy sitting closest to the her.
As she leaned over to pour their drinks, he tilted his head, hanging damned near out of his booth to check out her ass. Little shit. Looking was fine, but staring like she was a zoo animal was fucking excessive. I was a second from pointing out the dickhead to Drew, but just as I did, the girl lowered her tray.
And I processed Aly’s face just as the dickhead lifted his hand to slap her ass.
“What the fuck!” he yelped before I could even process what the fuck I’d just done. I had him by the collar and I could feel his weight in my grip, but I wasn’t looking at him.
My eyes were fixed on Aly in a little shot girl outfit that had me pissed off, turned on and feeling like my heart might jump out of my fucking throat.