Page 92 of Reckless
“What,” I said.
She stared one beat longer.“You tell me.”
I could have said it was nothing but instead I heard myself ask, “You know him well?”
There was a pause.
Then Michael, because he had chosen this exact moment to become useful, took Britney’s hand and said, “We’re getting another drink.”
Britney’s gaze flicked between me and Kelly once.Then she let him lead her away.
Hope, God bless her, grabbed Charlie by the front of his shirt and hauled him after them with more strength than should’ve lived in that body.
It was Kelly and me at the high-top table while the bar moved around us in noise and light and bodies, the rest of the world giving us exactly enough cover to either recover or make this much, much worse.
Kelly folded her arms and found my face.“You don’t get to do that with me.”
I held her gaze.“What.”
“I knew him from work.I didn’t go out with him.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“You were being territorial.”
“He offered to buy you a drink.”
“Yes.Like people do in bars.”
“You didn’t mention him.”
Her mouth fell open slightly.“I didn’t mention every man on earth to you because that would take years.”
I kept my face still.“You said he wasn’t a date.”
“Yeah it was a work event one afternoon where the drinks were all paid for by the firm.”
“He wanted one.”
Kelly laughed once, incredulous.“Why exactly are you asking me this like I owe you a romantic audit.”
“Because I want to know.”
Silence.The honest one.
The room seemed to tighten around it.
Music thumped from the speakers overhead.Kelly looked at me like she was finally seeing the exact shape of the thing I had almost managed to keep contained.
“Xerses,” she said slowly, “are you jealous?”
I held her eyes.“Yes.”
She blinked.
Then her whole face altered.And she recognized the truth.
She leaned one elbow onto the table and took a slow sip of her drink, watching me over the rim.
