Page 38 of Good For Me

Will nods, still smirking, apparently not catching on to the severity of my reaction. “I don’t know what you did to her friend, man, but Brie isnota fan of yours.”

Jasmine’s best friend is named Brie. I don’t know her last name, but I saw her enough times at the bar. I realize my heart is beating crazy fast, my mouth suddenly dry, and I reach for my beer, cursing when I see Fox drank the rest. I reach for a bottle of whiskey instead and pour myself a glass.

“You okay, man?” Fox asks in an undertone.

I ignore him and turn to Will. “What did this Brie girl look like?”

My cousin rolls his eyes. “So many girls you can’t keep track by name?”

“Something like that,” I say through gritted teeth. I understand his instinct to tease me, because that’s basically what we do, but I’m seriously not in the mood for this shit right now. “What did she look like?”

He shrugs. “She was pretty badass. Lots of tats. Couple piercings. Blue streaks in her hair.”

I close my eyes, feeling sick. Definitely sounds like Jasmine’s Brie.

Bodhi whistles next to me. “You clearly remember this chick.” I open my eyes and see the three of them smirking at me.

“What’d you do to the friend?” Fox asks.

“Spent the best fucking night of my life with her before she totally blew me off the next day,” I say flatly, then reach for my whiskey and down the entire glass while they all stare at me in shock.

“Riv—” Will begins, but half our cousins choose that moment to join our table, red-faced and out of breath from dancing, loud and laughing and happy.

I kind of want to throw up.

“Are you going to sit here like losers all night?” Everly asks, reaching for a pitcher of water.

“That’s the current plan,” I mutter, pouring more whiskey into my glass.

“Hey,” Fox says quietly while the girls chatter about God knows what. “Dude, you never said anything about this. Who is this girl?”

I glare at him. “We are not talking about it here.” Or ever. I’m already regretting saying anything. I should have just laughed it off, made a stupid joke about what a dumbass I am and how there are probably women all over the greater Los Angeles area waiting for a chance to kick my ass.

But I just couldn’t make myself laugh along like I always do. Not when it comes to Jas.

Jesus. I’ve spent the last three and a half months trying my best not to think about her—and failing pretty miserably. It’s so fucking stupid. We were together for one night. She didn’t want it to continue. No big deal, right?

But itfeltlike a big deal. It felt like such a big deal that I knew there was no way I could keep working there, seeing her every day. It had been bad enough standing there in that hallway while she completely shot me down. But the next afternoon? Seeing her walk in there with Brie, all happy and gorgeous, I just knew I couldn’t take it. So I quit. Told her uncle my plans changed. I didn’t even give him notice. Didn’t even say goodbye to her.

Maybe that was cowardly of me, but I told myself she wouldn’t care. It was just a night of uncomplicated, no-strings fun—that’s what she told me.Iwas the one who was probably going to cry like a little girl if I had to look her in the eye and say goodbye for good.

So I left. Just like I have a dozen jobs before. I left and I told myself I was going to get over it and that would just be that.

And if you had asked me two hours ago if I’d succeeded, I would have said yes. It was one night. It was more than three months ago. I barely even knew her. Of course I got over it.

I would have been a fucking liar.

I steadily drink my way through the rest of the bottle of whiskey, trying to ignore the worried looks I’m getting from Will, Fox, and Bodhi. Rose is starting to look at me funny, too. She may not have heard my little admission but my sister is damn perceptive and I’ve never been able to keep a thing from her.

Great. So now I’m bringing down the vibe of my cousin’s bachelor party. Excellent job, River.

I’m relieved when the party starts to break up after one. I just want to go back to the house and try to forget this entire stupid night. The entire last three and a half months. If I have to drink another bottle of whiskey alone in my room to forget, so be it.

But the universe wants to keep fucking things up for me, apparently.

“I need food,” Everly announces, once everyone but the family has left. She sways a little bit on her heels and I bite back a groan. Tipsy Everly is generally a good time, but I don’t think I can handle it tonight. “Take me to the food!”

“Why didn’t you order food here?” Alex asks.