Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“I see you and Alex seem to be getting along,” Hailey said, following my gaze. “He’s so nice. He helped me and Sean move.”

“Oh yeah?” I couldn’t help but be distracted as Alex elbowed the big guy and then slapped him on the back. I wondered what they were saying.

“Yep, he met us at Sean’s old apartment and helped carry some of the heavier stuff that I couldn’t help with.”

“Where’d you put your stuff?” I asked distractedly. “I haven’t seen any of it here.”

“I didn’t bring any of my furniture with me,” she said easily. “I just gave it to my roommates.”

“You what?” I asked, finally paying attention to our conversation. “Why would you do that?”

She laughed. “You’ve seen this place! It’s not like we could fit all of it in here.”

“Hailey, that’s—” I started to tell her what a bad idea it was for her to give away all her stuff, when Sean came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He was far past drunk and sliding into sloppy.

“Babe,” he slurred. “Kegs’r almost gone.”

“That’s good, right?” she replied, looking up at him with a smile. I realized then that she must have had quite a bit of alcohol, too, because she hadn’t even noticed the annoyance in his voice.

“No,” he said slowly, as if she were an idiot. “People won’t have anything to drink.”

“We have soda,” she said, laughing a little as she rolled her eyes at me. “And water.”

Her face changed and her shoulders rolled in a little as Sean tightened his arm around her.

“We’re not giving them soda,” he said, his voice dropping. “Are you fucking kidding?”

“Hey,” I said before I could think it through. “Knock it off, Sean.”

“Bitch, why don’t you get the fuck out—”

I took a startled step back at the vehemence in his words and ran straight into a muscular chest.

“What’s going on?” Alex said from behind me. I was too rattled to move when his hand squeezed my shoulder gently and then stayed there. “Looks like the kegs are getting low, so Clover and I are going to run to the store. You have any requests?”

“Nah, man,” Sean said, letting go of Hailey. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll—”

“No problem at all.” Alex cut him off. “You can pay me back later, yeah?”

As soon as Sean nodded and moved away from us, Hailey smiled at me. “Whoops! Guess we should have planned ahead,” she said happily, like the last few minutes had never happened.

“You want to ride with us?” Alex asked, leaning close to my ear.

I wasn’t quite ready to leave Hailey with her asshole boyfriend, but I didn’t exactly want to stay in the same vicinity as Sean, either. When he’d looked at me, I’d seen him. Not the face he showed the world, but the asshole that he tried to keep hidden. I glanced around the room, and when I saw the familiar faces of some of my classmates, I decided that Hailey would be okay if I went with Alex.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I need to grab my jacket.”

Alex waited while I grabbed my coat from Hailey’s room, and then led me out of the house. The rain had stopped sometime when we were inside, and the air smelled fresh and clean after I’d been breathing in the scent of other people. I took a deep breath as he held my coat up so I could thread my arms into the sleeves.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat, relieved that no one had stolen my wallet, phone, or keys, and followed Alex to his truck. I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going and was startled as the big guy from the party stepped out of the shadows.

“Hey, I’m Keegan,” he said, reaching out to shake my hand. “I saw what happened in there. You okay?”

“Sarai,” I replied. “And I’m fine.” I waved my hand nonchalantly and then dropped it when I realized I was overplaying my answer.

Keegan looked back and forth between Alex and me.

“Why don’t I stay here,” he said, taking a step backward. “I’ll help you unload when you get back.”

“You sure?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, man,” Keegan replied, grinning. “Your truck ain’t really built for three.”

He walked away with a wave as Alex opened up the passenger door. I took a deep breath as I climbed inside the truck and watched Keegan’s broad shoulders disappear into the house, then Alex shut my door and went around to his side.

“All set?” he asked, starting the engine.

“Yep.”

We pulled out onto the street and I tried to relax into my seat, but it wasn’t really happening. I was always a little nervous riding with new people, and on top of that, I was closed in with the guy I’d been thinking about for weeks.