Page 101 of The Friend Zone

The bartender slid my tequila in front of me, and Kyle dropped a bill on the bar. I slid it back to him. “No.” I shook my head incredulously. “What is it about the look on my face that is encouraging to you right now?”

I never understood men who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I opened my purse and paid. “Keep the change.” Then I picked up my shot and gave Kyle my back, shaking my head.

He grabbed my arm from behind. “Hey, don’t be fucking rude…”

I was looking down on his hand, ready to introduce him to my elbow, when suddenly Josh was there.

He pushed between me and Kyle, knocking him away from me. “Hey, get your fucking hands off her.”

Then he lurched forward with a shove, crashing into me, sloshing my shot all over the bar.

Josh moved so quickly Kyle didn’t know what hit him.

Josh was big, but he never struck me as someone who could be fast.

He was a viper.

In a split second he had Kyle shoved against the bar with his arm twisted behind his back, his cheek pressed into the counter.

The bouncer showed up out of nowhere. “You and you, out,” he said, pointing at Josh and Kyle.

Josh let go of his drunk idiot and I grabbed my purse and jumped from my stool, making my escape before he tried to get me to go with him. I threaded my way through empty high-top tables toward the ladies’ room, but Josh caught up and grabbed my arm.

“So you’re just gonna run from me? We’re not going to talk about this?”

I whirled on him and yanked my arm down. “No, we’re not. There’s nothing to talk about. I’m single, we’re not a thing. You knew that from the beginning.”

The pain rippled across his face.

I’d never seen him like this. I’d never seen him worked up before about anything. He was always so laid back, and all I could think was that I’d managed to hurt this sweet man. It gutted me. I couldn’t keep looking at him.

I made to move past him to the ladies’ room, desperate to hide from the damage I caused, but he blocked my way. “How can you act like today didn’t happen, Kristen?”

“Josh, I don’t want to argue with you. Move,” I said, glaring at him.

His jaw set and I pushed past him. Then he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like I was a fire hose. Hooting and cheering erupted in the bar.

“Josh! Put me down!”

I struggled uselessly against his grip. He had seventy-five pounds on me, and he was on a mission. I wasn’t going anywhere. His arms locked like a cage.

“You’re not running from me anymore,” he said. “You’re talking to me.”

He came out through the double doors into the parking lot, and he didn’t set me down until we were on the grassy divider by the street.

As soon as I got my feet under me, indignant rage bubbled over. “Don’t ever do that again. I’m not your fucking possession,” I hissed at him.

His eyes flashed. “No, you’re not my anything, are you? I’m allowed to touch you as long as I don’t act like it means something, right?”

The emotion on his face twisted my insides. Anguish and despair swirled in his eyes.

I turned back for the bar to escape that look, and his arms were around my shoulders in a second, locking my back against his chest.

His lips went to my ear. “I can see the way you feel about me when you don’t think anyone is looking. I fucking see it, Kristen.” His voice cracked. “I remember what you said to me that night in Vegas. I remember.”

All of the fight drained out of my body in an instant.

He breathed into my ear. “Why won’t you just let me love you?”