Page 14 of The Spare
“You need to come out more,” Tristan said, and wrapped me into a hug. He and Xander got their first jobs out of school together. If you could distill the essence of a golden retriever into a human, it would be Tristan Alders: cute, with his big hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair, lovable and fiercely loyal.
I scanned the group. It was the usual suspects—Tristan Alders, Jackson Prince, and Rohan Malhotra—until my eyes landed on Henry. “I would if you’d stop inviting my brother.” I retorted.
“Trust me, I would, but your husband insisted.” He motioned at Xander while his arm was still wrapped tight around my waist. We often engaged in harmless flirtation, primarily out of boredom. It would quickly stop when either of us found something more interesting. Or someone.
“Hi, Sloan.” Henry rolled his eyes.
“Why is he here?” I turned to Xander, who got lost in conversation with Rohan. He was too preoccupied to answer me.
I turned back to Henry. On the rare occasions he’d joined Xander and me on a night out in the last couple of years, he always managed to ruin any fun for me. “Shouldn’t you be out on some romantic dinner with Marcus now that he’s finally back?” I asked Henry.
“He’s not really my type,” Marcus’s voice said from behind me. My smile dropped, and I heard Xander stifle a laugh. I felt Tristan’s arm retreat as he pulled away and walked over to the opposite end of our occupied tables. Whatever face Marcus gave him, it wasn’t pleasant. I turned around to find Marcus beginning to laugh at my expense.
He answered the question that popped into my head. “Got here a second ago, right behind you two.”
The group of us occupied a few high tops toward the back of the bar and a couple of lounge sofas. It was secluded enough to talk, but not so much so that we couldn't dance.
Henry sighed with annoyance. “Can you go a single day without throwing a hissy fit about—”
“Hissy fit?” I snapped. He was the one being crushed under the pressure of taking control of the company, yetI was the one being reprimanded. “I don’t know, Henry. Can you go a single day without making it on the cover of a tabloid?”
“You wouldn’t be nearly as haughty if you had them following you around.”
“Well, they don’t, so find something else—”
“Because nobodywantsto see you.” He recoiled after he said it. Somedays, I went too far. Other days, he did. Like everything else about us, our tempers were equally matched.
Xander quickly crossed the short distance between tables and interjected. “I feel the need to remind both of you that we are, in fact, in public.”
Hearing Xander’s voice with that serious intonation was like being doused in ice water.
“Relax, Sloan. I’ll leave you alone,” Henry grumbled and allowed Xander to drag him away to the other end of the group, getting another round.
I turned back to Marcus, who looked stunned and then winced. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I shifted uncomfortably at the high top next to the couches. That little tableau happened a lot these days and was not something I was proud of. After a drawn-out pause, he skeptically looked at my dress, lingering on my legs. “You look…”
Did he just check me out?I stifled an inner laugh at the idea.
“Devastating?” I twirled. After saying it, I realized how silly I felt.
“Cold.” Half a smile crept up the side of his mouth. “You’re wearing a cocktail napkin.”
My dress was short, purposefully so. I had long legs, and there was no point in hiding them. The rose gold sequined fabric complimented my slightly tan complexion.
“A sparkly one.” I put my drink down next to his. "I wasn't expecting to see you out."
"I gathered that much." He looked at me intensely, as though he was trying to solve a puzzle. It was unnerving. "I didn't mean to interrupt whatever was going on with Tristan."
He had known Rohan, Tristan, and Jackson for years and knew nothing was happening between us.
I scoffed. Why did he care? “We’re friends," I reminded him.
"Doesn't look like it," he said plainly.
He’d been witness to enough nights out with all of us to know better. Usually, CeCe would have joined us. The six of us ran like a pack sometimes. We got into our share of antics, enough stories to fill books, but we kept things close to the vest. It was an agreement between us. We figured things out on our own.
