“What do you want to drink?” Dash asks in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
“Gin and tonic please,” I say, using my go-to drink. Sometimes I like to change it up, but I think I’ll stick to my signature drink tonight.
“Okay, I’ll be back,” he says, pulling out a chair for me to sit next to Ryan.
I sit down just as Ryan says, “He’s such a gentleman, our Dash.”
I grin and reply with, “He is, isn’t he? How come you aren’t working, but everyone else is?”
“I’ll swap with Reid and Summer in an hour or so,” he explains. “So they can enjoy a little bit too. We hired extra staff for the night, so it will be fine.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”
“I think Summer wants you to handle one of the raffles,” he says, pushing his blond hair out of his eyes. “I’m sure she will find you when she needs you.”
“Okay, no problem,” I say, just as Dash returns with my drink.
He places it on the table and says, “Reid wants help out the back, so I’ll be right back.” He kisses my cheek and looks to Ryan. “Keep an eye on her.”
Ryan nods, but as Dash leaves, he glances around. “What could possibly happen to you here?”
I shrug my shoulders and take a sip of my drink. “Who knows?”
“You better stay right here, Vi,” he says, pointing to the table. “He will murder me otherwise.”
“As if you’re not protective like that,” Taiya says, amusement flashing in her eyes. “You only realise how ridiculous it is when another man is doing it, but you do the exact same thing.”
“I’m not that bad,” Ryan huffs, lifting his chin.
“Last week, you threatened a guy who accidentally bumped into me,” she says in a dry tone. “He was trying to apologise, but you kept telling him to get his sleazy eyes off your wife.”
“He was looking at your tits!” Ryan growls, shaking his head. “I can’t stand there and let some guy ogle you.”
Taiya ignores Ryan and looks at me. “He wasn’t being sleazy. Ryan was just overreacting.”
“Xander’s the same,” Trillian says, rolling her eyes at him. “I think it’s all of them.”
I look at Clara. “Tag?”
“The same,” she replies. “Why do you think I’m here, even though he’s working? He refused to leave me alone at the house.”
We all share a laugh at that.
“Apparently, they’re all as bad as each other,” I say, biting on my straw.
“Bunch of alpha males,” Taiya adds, but shoots Ryan a look that says she doesn’t mind one bit.
“We all chose beautiful women,” Xander says, kissing Trillian on the mouth. “I’m not possessive; I’m territorial. There’s a difference. I will protect what’s mine, because I never want to lose her, but I don’t try and control her or stop her from doing whatever she wants. I just make sure I’m there by her side to keep her out of trouble.”
My eyes widen. “Fuck, that was sweet.”
“Totally,” Clara adds, looking impressed.
Trillian and Xander start making out until Ryan tells them to get a room.
Dash returns and we listen to a few people sing, most of them trying but not really succeeding.
When I hear Ryan mutter, “Fuck,” looking behind me, I turn around to see what he’s looking at. When I see Vanessa standing there, a good-looking man by her side, the same word leaves my mouth. Not because Vanessa is there, which is definitely a fuck moment, but because I know the man by her side.
The bitch had shown up here with none other than my ex-boyfriend.
*****
“Maybe if we ignore her, she’ll just disappear,” Ryan suggests, probably trying to calm Dash down, because he looks kind of pissed.
“Why the fuck would she show up here? She has no fucking shame,” he says, scanning my expression, probably to see if I’m upset.
“Actually, Dash,” I say, cringing.
“What?” he asks, and suddenly I have the whole table’s attention.
I look over at Vanessa and Riley and notice him staring at me. Well, fuck. Is he in on this with her? Is it a coincidence? I don’t think so. Riley and I didn’t exactly end on the best terms, and I have a feeling Vanessa is going to use him to start some shit.
“The man Vanessa is with is my ex-boyfriend,” I blurt out, rushing the words. “So I have a feeling she’s just here to stir the pot, so to speak.”
Dash’s eyes dart straight to Riley, and his scowl deepens. “You dated that fucker?”
I nod with my mouth set in a grimace. “Yeah, I guess you can say that.”
“Vi,” Dash growls, eyes boring into me. “Tell me, now. And don’t skip on any fucking details.”
“I was engaged to him about three years ago,” I say, noticing the ‘well, fuck,’ expressions on everyone’s faces. Well, they all might as well hear it. They’re going to find out anyway, one way or another.
“You were engaged?” Dash asks, eye twitching and his jaw tighter than I’ve ever seen it.
“Yes, I was, and I don’t like to talk about it, because it wasn’t a good time in my life, and apparently Vanessa must’ve somehow found this out, because there’s no other reason he’d be here. Things didn’t end well with us.”
That was the understatement of the year.
“How did it end?”” Dash asks, looking at Riley likes he wants to kill him.
“With me running away from our wedding while he waited for me down the aisle,” I say, cringing more and more with each word.
“Cutthroat,” I hear Xander mutter, while Ryan whistles. “That’s rough, Vi.”
I rush to explain. “I wasn’t ready to get married, especially not to him. He was a total douche, and I was young and stupid.”
“I don’t care what you did to him,” Dash says, muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’m just happy you didn’t walk down that aisle.”
I exhale in relief.
Trust Dash to see it that way.
Then he says, “But we will be talking about this later.” He pauses. “In detail.”
I gulp.
Chapter Nineteen
“I guess I can’t deny the fact you slept with someone else now, when the bastard is staring me in the face,” Dash says, drinking from his bottle of water. “What the fuck do they want anyway? Let them be together, as if we give a fuck. They need to just leave us the fuck alone.”
“So much anger,” Ryan says, sighing. “Do you want me to kick them out? You do realise this is our bar, right? We don’t have to put up with them standing there looking smug. Smug over what, I have no fucking clue, because they look like total dickheads right now.”
“No, don’t kick them out,” I say, not looking in their direction. “Then they will know they got to us. They want a reaction; that’s why they’re here. We need to just ignore them.”
“I feel like I’m in high school again,” Dash groans then gives me a look. “No, actually we never had to deal with shit like this in school either.”
“What about the Jackie thing?” I point out unhelpfully.
“Who the fuck is Jackie?” Dash asks, making me smile. He doesn’t even remember her. I like that more than I should, considering she was just some girl he kissed in high school.
“No one,” I mutter, laying my head on his shoulder. “No one at all.”
“Baby, we have bigger problems right now,” he says, kissing my forehead. “Because if that man even looks at you in the wrong way, I’m going to get arrested for beating the shit out of him.” He groans. “At a charity event, no less.”
That did sound pretty bad, I have to admit.
“Just let him be. He’s not even worth it,” I say, taking Dash’s hand in mine. “I’m so happy we decided it was me who gets to drink tonight. I see some shots coming my way.”
Dash chuckles, and I put my finger on his right dimple. If we ever have children, I hope they get his dimples. And his eyes.