Never Far Away (The Never #2)(65)
“Maybe he’ll surprise you and show up,” Ella offered hopefully.
“We’ll see,” she said and then her eyes darted up behind Ella and went wide with shock.
“Here you go, Babe,” Ella heard Porter say in her ear as a glass appeared in front of her. She had to hide the smile that came from watching Kalli react to Porter. Yes, he was hot.
“Porter, this is my friend, Kalli,” she said motioning towards her friend with her mouth open still. “Kalli, this is my boyfriend, Porter.” He held out his hand to Kalli and she placed her hand in his. Ella knew what his handshake felt like, firm and strong. Powerful. Just like him.
“Kal,” Ella said, trying to get her attention. When Kalli’s eyes returned to hers, Ella mouthed the words ‘close your mouth’ at her. She promptly snapped her jaw shut and started blushing.
Megan laughed loudly at Kalli, the alcohol obviously having an effect on her.
“Let’s dance!” Megan shouted.
“You guys go ahead. I don’t want to be the fifth wheel,” Kalli said with a frown.
“Don’t be a Debbie Downer!” Megan said. “Come on ladies. We’re dancing. Let the boys guard our purses.” It became obvious to Ella that there was no arguing with Megan this evening and the woman wanted to dance. Ella quickly took a gulp of her drink and then turned to Porter who already had one eyebrow raised at her.
“I have been nominated as the purse bitch, haven’t I?”
Ella kissed him on the cheek and said into his ear, “Take care of my purse now and I’ll take care of you later.” She pulled back from him and saw a smile on his face. Megan grabbed hers and Kalli’s hand and began to drag them towards the dance floor. They stood in the obligatory triangle that women always seemed to form when dancing as Ella strained to hear the lyrics to the song beyond the thumping bass. It was some poppy princess song she didn’t recognize, but the melody was catchy. She smiled as she watched her sister sing the lyrics word for word, eyes closed, enraptured in the music.
Ella let the beat take her over and felt her hips begin to sway to the beat. Her hands came up over her head and she happily swayed back and forth with the rest of the crowd. The girls continued to dance and every once in a while Megan would point out a couple that were nearly having sex on the dance floor and they would all laugh and wrinkle their noses. Whenever Ella snuck a peek back at their table to check on Porter, he had his eyes on her. Sometimes he was simply watching, making sure she was alright. Other times he looked pissed, usually when a guy was trying to get one of the girls to dance with them. Megan and Ella did a fabulous job of shooing guys away, or sending them to Kalli if they were cute enough and didn’t use an opening line that made them roll their eyes.
One brave guy approached their sacred triangle motioning towards the table where Porter and Patrick were sitting.
“There’s two guys at that table taking their job of possessive boyfriends very seriously. I’m hoping they belong to you two and that you,” he said motioning to Kalli, “are free to dance with me.”
“Oh, um,” Kalli stammered.
“She’s available,” Megan said, gently shoving Kalli towards the interested man. Kalli stumbled into him, but regained her footing with the help of his hands bracing her arms against him. Ella saw him whisper something in her ear and Kalli gave him a twinkling smile. She tentatively placed her hands on his shoulder and he rested a hand on the small of her back. Ella smiled as she watched them, glad he had perhaps eased her mind about Scott not showing up. With Kalli occupied, Ella shouted to Megan that she was going back to the table for a drink.
She walked up to the table as Porter and Patrick were engaged in conversation. Without missing a beat or even looking in her direction, Porter opened an arm to her, allowing her to sidle up to him. They were in tune with each other and everything about it made her heart sing. She watched his jaw move as he spoke with Patrick, noticing the stubble that had grown in over the course of the day, wanting to feel it scrape along the side of her neck. The thought of the scratchy skin roughly scraping over the inside of her thighs made her belly flip and her core heat. He turned to her in between sentences and gave her a wink, as if he could hear her thoughts. She blushed and pressed a kiss to his neck just below his jawline.
Ella looked around for Megan, wondering where she had wandered off to. She finally saw her dark brown hair over at the bar.
“I am going to go get another drink. Want anything?” She asked the guys. Patrick declined, as did Porter. She leaned up to kiss Porter’s cheek and made her way to the bar. By the time she made it there, Megan has disappeared again and Ella felt a twinge of frustration. The bartender came over to her quickly and asked for her order.
“Vodka sour, please.”
“Coming up,” he said automatically. When he handed her the drink she gave him Porter’s name to add it to the tab and he nodded at her, moving along to the next customer. Ella took a sip of the drink, enjoying the sweet and sour taste that flooded her mouth. Vodka sour was one of the first drinks she ever ordered when she had turned twenty-one and she always seemed to return to it, never wanting to try anything else if she wasn’t sure she’d like it. She looked back towards their table, but an enormous group of women had clouded the path back to Porter. One woman in the middle of the group was wearing a blinking sash that said ‘Bride’ on it and the rest of the women were all wearing matching tiaras. The bride-to-be looked completely trashed and Ella laughed, thinking about how the woman might feel the next day. Not wanting to contend with twenty drunken bridesmaids, she went around the group of women and took another route that led her along the far wall of the club.