Page 114 of Love at First Ride
‘Is everything okay?’ I ask. ‘You look freaked out.’
She calls me away from the men. ‘I am freaked. This cute college sophomore just asked me to go out with him,’ she says, fanning her pink cheeks with her fingers, ‘and I turned him down.’
‘Okay,’ I respond with a confused frown.
‘I told him I had aboyfriend,’ she says, looking like she’s about to hyperventilate. ‘The words just came out.’
My lips twitch. ‘I don’t get it.’
Her eyes go wide. ‘I never referred to Reyes as myboyfriendbefore now. We’ve always just been friends with bens, you know? Hookup buddies. Nothing more than that.’
‘So…?’
‘So, why’d I just turn down the opportunity to have sex with a random hot stranger?’
‘Maybebecausehe was a random stranger?’
‘Hollie, I wasn’t supposed to catch feelings for Reyes. I mean, how do I know? We never say that shit to one another. We hang out. We have sex. That’s all it was ever meant to be.’
I wince. ‘Technically, that’s what I do with AJ. Hang out and have sex.’
‘Y’all aren’t looking to hook up with anyone else though, right?’
‘True. Did you ask Balthazar if he wants to hook up with anyone else?’
She looks horrified. ‘You think he wants to?’
‘Maybe it’s time you had the conversation? You know… how you feel about one another.’
‘Did you have a conversation with AJ?’
I bite my lip and nod my head. Nicole’s shoulders sag and she looks like she might melt. ‘You guys are too cute. Who all said it first?’
Warmth hits my cheeks. ‘He did. But I said it back.’
‘Never thought I’d see the day when AJ Callahan fell in love,’ she says with a wistful sigh. Though a moment later, the dreamy expression slides from her face. ‘But what if Reyes don’t love me?’
‘Do you love him?’
‘I mean… How do I know?’
‘I don’t know. Do you get butterflies when you think about him? Do you crave his presence when you’re not in the same room? Can you see yourself growing old with him?’
Nicole blinks at me, like I’ve said something revelatory.
‘I gotta get back to work,’ she says, as though in a daze. She picks up her crate and walks away from me robotically, picking up bottles and glasses from the tables as she pushes through the crowd.
When I push my way in the other direction through the crowd, back toward the pool table, I find AJ about to lose another game to Chase, a sour look on his face. The moment I approach him, he holds out one arm, then snakes it around my waist, holding me close. My chest swells when he brushes a tender kiss against my lips.
‘Where’d you go?’ he asks.
‘Nicole was freaking out.’
‘About what?’
I tilt my head. ‘Do you think Balthazar is in love with Nicole?’
‘I dunno. Guys don’t talk about that shit. Why? Did she say she’s in love with him?’
