Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(43)

We ordered appetizers, and the girls continued drinking pretty heavily. I had a beer shot with them every now and then, but I’d switched over to water. My eyes kept scanning the door because there was only one person that I wanted to see tonight.

The one I lived and worked with.

The one who was probably coming here with a date.

“So, Del thinks we’re together, huh?” Kline asked, leaning close to me so only I could hear. The girls were too busy singing to the music and having a good time to pay us any attention.

“Yeah. It’s a long story. Thanks for playing along. That won’t mess anything up with Danielle, will it?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

“Nah. That’s very new. She’s cool. We aren’t exclusive or anything, so if you have a change of heart with me, I’m still available.” He raised a brow, and I chuckled.

“I think we’ve got a good thing going just how it is right now, don’t you?”

“Sure,” he said, his words slurring a little bit.

“What are you two talking about?” Del sidled up to me, standing between our bar stools.

“Just catching up a little,” I said, anxious to get this conversation over with. When Del wanted to know something, she never backed down.

“I’m not interrupting anything, then?” she teased, eyeing us suspiciously. “From what I hear, you’re good at more than making the drinks, huh, Kline?”

I spewed water all over the table and started coughing before reaching for a napkin and wiping up my mess.

“I don’t know, but I think so.” Kline winked at me.

“Be good to my girl. Ooooookay?” she slurred.

Oh my god. Please make her stop.

“Oooookay, Del. I’ll try.” Kline looked at her like she had three heads before Quincy called her away when their drinks arrived.

“Sorry about that,” I said, just as the door swung open, and Hugh and Brax stepped inside with two women I’d never seen before. The one standing really close to Hugh was pretty. She looked older than me, for sure, and she was very curvy. Her boobs were spilling out of her red tube top, and she was wearing dark jeans that fit her like a second skin.

Damn, I’d never seen a butt like that. It almost looked fake.

Her blonde hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, and her red lips were overfilled but managed to look sexy as hell.

She was a total bombshell.

And I instantly hated her.

I’d never had that kind of reaction to someone.

But her hand trailed along his upper arm, and she moved it to his hair, and my hands fisted at my sides. I was grateful that I hadn’t had much to drink because I wouldn’t want to do anything to embarrass myself, and at least I could control my reaction because I was completely sober.

He was laughing with Brax, and a few guys walked over to him because everyone knew Hugh.

And his head turned slowly as if he knew I was watching. His sage-green eyes locked with mine, and everything else stopped moving.

I smiled. I felt bad for the way we’d left things earlier.

I couldn’t stay mad at the man for caring and trying to help me.

After all, he’d been the one to go with me today.

I should have been thanking him, not getting angry at him.

His tongue swiped out and slid across his bottom lip, and he tipped his chin up just a little bit. Someone handed him a shot. He pulled his gaze from mine, and his head fell back as he downed the liquid. Hugh didn’t drink often because the man worked so much. So maybe he was blowing off some steam tonight.

“So how long has that been going on?” Kline pulled me from my daze.

“What?”

He smirked. “Don’t worry about me, Lila. I know what a crazy ass your brother is. I’m not going to say a word.”

“I think you’re misreading things,” I said, glancing back over to see that annoying woman squeezing herself into the space beside Hugh at the bar.

Kline chuckled. “Well, I may not know you well enough to read you, but I have been working with Hugh for a while now, and he doesn’t look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

My chest squeezed at his words. “How does he look at me?”

“Like you’re the only girl in the room,” he said, before taking the last pull from his beer. “And also, like he’s going to kill anyone who looks at you wrong. I’d been on the receiving end of that look a few times before I figured it out.”

“I think you’re probably confused. He’s Travis’s best friend, and he’s always been protective.”

He set his bottle down and chuckled. “I see how Travis is with you. And even though that bastard is crazy, there is no question that he’s your brother. But that’s not the way Hugh looks at you, Lila.”

“There’s nothing going on.” I shrugged.

“Well, if you’re telling the truth, and nothing’s happened between you, then that dude is fighting it hard. I know when a dude is struggling, and he’s definitely struggling.”

I watched as Hugh accepted another shot and downed it quickly.

Was he struggling?

I thought I was the only one who was having a hard time.

A part of me had wondered if what we’d shared was just a pity make-out session, and he’d wished it had never happened, and not only because of Travis.