Before You (Before You #1)(58)
Bre turned to look at Cam, smiling. “No. I didn’t think you noticed it.”
Sitting down next to her, Cam draped his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear, “Of course I noticed. I notice everything about you. You look absolutely beautiful in that dress, but I know I’m going to love the way you look without that dress tonight even more.”
Bre kissed Cam on the cheek and turned to greet everyone at the table. She cringed when she noticed everyone at the table watching the interaction between her and Cam.
Marc’s ghostly light blue eyes lit up as he smiled wickedly and said, “Bre, it’s good to see you again. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you around.” Bre had never seen Marc or Alec dressed up before. They looked nice, almost presentable, but it didn’t change the fact that she never really felt as though she had bonded with either of them.
“Cam and I have both been really busy,” Bre said, absentmindedly looking through the contents of her purse.
“Yes, we’ve heard all about how busy Cam has been lately,” Marc responded.
Bre heard a few snickers of laughter and she looked up, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the people at the table. Cam’s arm that felt warm and loving a minute ago felt unexpectedly tense and cold, like dead weight hanging on her shoulders.
“Right, I guess that makes sense since you see each other regularly.” Bre’s voice was strained and awkward.
“Bre opened a new art gallery in Aspen, Colorado. She has some great artists there, including herself,” Jax cut in. Bre nodded and smiled weakly, grateful for Jax’s comment.
“Really,” Marc replied with one eyebrow raised. “Cam has never said anything about that. He did say you liked art or something though, but we haven’t heard much about you lately. I wasn’t even sure if you two were together anymore.”
Cam cleared his throat. “Bre, you haven’t met the guys’ dates.” Cam gestured toward the women at the table. “Angela, Mandy, and Anna.”
“Nice to meet all of you.” Bre smiled, making eye contact with each woman. Neither Angela nor Mandy seemed the least bit interested in her, but Anna held her stare, her eyes narrowed, and then she looked away from Bre, purposely cutting her.
Anna had straight blonde hair that was so light it was almost white. She was beautiful in an artificial way. A twinge of envy shot through Bre, as Anna pushed her long hair off her shoulders and leaned into Jax. She trailed her long red fingernails up Jax’s arm and giggled as she plastered herself to his side.
Jax smiled fondly in Anna’s direction and whispered into her ear as he ran his fingers through her hair. The fact that Jax could sit there, openly flaunting his relationship with this Anna woman who he, not less than five hours ago, claimed he disliked, proved to Bre that she was just like every other woman who had passed through Jax’s life— meaningless, faceless.
Jax stood up and grabbed Anna’s hand, leading her to the dance floor. Anna’s black dress flaunted a body that was all legs and fake cleavage. Morosely, Bre thought if Sara were here with her tonight, they could have wasted a full hour trying to find one part of Anna that was a god-given feature. From her artificially orange skin to her white hair and gravity-defying breasts, Bre couldn’t find one thing natural about her.
Jax and Anna danced as if they were the only two people on the dance floor. Jax’s hands roamed idly up and down Anna’s bare back. Cam slammed down his drink, and Bre hoped that her jealousy of Anna wasn’t plainly written on her face as she turned to look at him. Cam wasn’t paying attention to her. His angry eyes were trained on Anna and Jax.
Without saying a word to Bre, Cam got out of his chair and made his way to the dance floor. For a moment, Bre thought that Cam might have figured out that something happened between her and Jax, but her mind cleared and she realized that was impossible.
“This should be interesting,” Marc commented, leaning back in his chair as though he were getting ready to watch a movie.
“Shut up. It’s not your concern,” Alec remarked, staring pointedly at Marc. Abruptly, he stood up and grabbed Mandy’s hand. “Let’s get a drink.”
Strangely enough, Marc and his date, Angela, got up without saying another word, following in Alec’s wake as he walked toward the bar near the back corner of the ballroom. Normally, when Marc got on a kick about something, he wouldn’t stop.
Bre sat alone at the table. She spun around to look for Cam again, but Cam, Jax and Anna were conspicuously absent from the dance floor. She didn’t want to feel slighted by Cam again, but it was hard not to when yet again she was left alone without an explanation. Worse than feeling abandoned by Cam, she felt betrayed by Jax for letting Anna hang all over him. Even though they agreed that they couldn’t be together, it didn’t mean that she wanted to watch Jax hang all over someone a few hours later.
After fifteen minutes of sitting alone, she decided to look for the bathroom. There was nothing worse than being noticeably alone at a large party. Grabbing her gold clutch purse, she walked disconsolately through the ballroom toward the hotel lobby. Bre wished she had stuck with her initial instinct and told Cam that she couldn’t come to LA this weekend. Staying home had definitely been the right choice. Before she could be around Cam or Jax, she needed to come to terms with her feelings for them. She tried to convince herself and Jax that she slept with him due to a momentary weakness because she was drinking, but she knew that wasn’t the entire truth.