“Hey, who’s that?” She points back to our tent. I look over and see long, wavy hair covered in glitter standing there with her back to us. Before I can speak, May starts pulling me in the direction of our tent. When she gets there, she stops and the girl turns around smiling. Ryan smiles, lost in his own world as May slips up to him and puts her arm around him, claiming him in front of her.
“I thought that was you, but it was hard to see. Gunner told me to leave you be, but I wanted to say hello,” Isadora says. She smiles at May who raises an eyebrow.
“He’s here?” I ask her.
I didn’t expect to hear that. To be honest, I didn’t expect to ever see him again. Our paths haven’t crossed since the night of my parents’ party, so why would they now?
“Yep, sitting over there with Jasper.” She waves in their direction and I see Jasper smiling my way with Gunner next to him not looking at me at all. “We saw you dancing in the crowd, and I wanted to know if you want to have a drink with me? As you can imagine, the boys are boring, and I don’t do any of these things. It’s all new to me.”
I look back to May who’s currently not paying much attention as she leans over Ryan, her face fused with his. Buck was meant to be coming later, once he closed the bar, and I was looking forward to seeing him. Now that I know Gunner’s here, it might be harder to get enthused to see him. Gunner has this effect on me—I think it’s called buzzkill.
“Sure.”
She smiles at me and reaches for my hand, pulling me in her direction. At first, I think we’re going straight to where the two men are, but she turns at the last minute and heads to a private bar. She orders drinks.
“Jasper asked me to bring you over, but I first thought you may need one of these.” She chuckles, handing me a tequila.
“Or ten,” I murmur, but she hears me and laughs. “Why are you here again?”
“Gunner and Jasper have a business deal, or so I heard. I tend to stay out of all of Jasper’s dealings unless I’m needed.”
“Are they friends?” I ask as she downs the shot. She coughs and places the glass down, and I do the same.
“I don’t really know. Does Gunner have friends? I don’t even know if he likes him or just puts up with him. He doesn’t make conversation and always has a sour look on his face.” She smiles. “But you’d know that… you married him.”
“Divorced,” I say, rectifying that little misconception.
“Oh, wow! Sorry. Or should I say congrats?” She bites her lip.
“Congrats,” I say, taking a deep breath.
“Okay, are you ready? Or do you want another shot?”
“Ready.” We start walking and I watch him the whole time. His back is to me, so all I can see is his head—the back of it anyway. His curls aren’t as tamed as they usually are, but they are tied back loosely. I remember running my hands through that hair, and how much I loved it.
“Everly, what a surprise,” Jasper says while standing. He walks over and touches my arm as he leans in and kisses my cheek. He pulls back and smiles.
“Gunner,” I say, smiling down at him. It’s fake. I’ve mastered the art of fake smiles, and if I do say so myself, they actually don’t look it. But if he looked up, he would see that it’s fake because he knows me so well. But he doesn’t.
“Everly….” is all I get in return.
Isadora lets go of me and sits next to Jasper, who in return, offers me a seat, right next to Gunner.
“I can’t stay, I’m here with friends.” I turn around just in time to see Buck arrive. I cringe when they all start looking around for me. Buck spots me first and offers me a wave, so I return it and turn away. Hopefully, they won’t come over, and May will keep him there with her.
“Of course. We wanted to say hello, it’s been so long since we’ve seen you,” Jasper says.
It’s then I notice another guy standing not too far away from Jasper, eyeing everything.
“Oh, don’t worry, that’s just one of my men,” Jasper says, watching me.
He takes his attention from me and turns to Gunner. “You aren’t going to say hello to your wife, Gunner? Not very professional of you.”
I can feel him sitting next to me, but not once does he speak or even look my way.
Sunglasses cover his eyes, and when I look at him, he’s looking in the direction of Jasper.
“Ex-wife,” I say, rectifying that little fact.
Gunner’s head snaps to me then. Looking me over he shakes his head. “Yes. Thank God for that. What are you? A teenager?” he asks, and I feel his eyes on my bare legs.