The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(39)

I decided to mess with her. “That’s interesting. Because I’m single. Why didn’t you want to introduce her to me?” I snapped my finger. “Oh, let me guess. You think I’m too much of a manwhore or something? So you chose Brayden?” My eyes seared into hers. “Or…is it something else, Lala?”

What looked like a faint rash started to form on her neck as she lowered her voice. “I don’t know why I chose Brayden. And I knew she would want you if she saw you. I just—”

Before we could get into it any further, Tia returned from her phone call. Now that I knew fucking Brayden was going out with them, I decided to take Tia up on her offer.

“You know what?” I flashed an evil grin. “I don’t have any plans tonight. If it’s not a girls’ night, I think I will join after all.” I turned to Lala. “If you don’t mind.”

Lala blew out a long breath and shrugged.

A half hour later, it was all aboard the Clusterfuck Express, also known as an Uber SUV Brayden had called to pick us all up. It turned out to be a bigger group than anticipated, since Brayden had also decided to invite Owen, who apparently had a rare night off where he wasn’t buried in work. I had to wonder, though, if Owen wanted to come merely to keep an eye on me when it came to Lala. Pretty sure that was it.

Brayden seemed somewhat interested in Tia, asking her some questions about her job and flashing that flirty smile he was known for. But unfortunately, Tia only seemed to have eyes for…me. Whoops. Not only had she asked Lala if she could switch seats to be next to me, she kept placing her hand on my knee as she talked. I wasn’t one to get uncomfortable from such things, but I felt awkward because I sensed Brayden getting annoyed. He could be competitive sometimes—especially when it came to me stealing his thunder. But you know who was getting even more annoyed? Take one guess. Yeah. Lala sat there looking miffed, and her eyes kept landing on Tia’s hand whenever she touched me.

Owen was being Owen and seemed disinterested in the entire thing after having forced himself to go out. He certainly wasn’t expressing any interest in Tia. He was probably one of the pickiest dudes I knew. He had to be equally as mentally stimulated as he was physically attracted to someone. In the past, I’d been the opposite: it didn’t matter to me if a hot girl had marbles. But lately? I could definitely relate to how Owen felt. Brains and beauty got me off these days. More specifically, scientists with crazy-curly hair who wore hot-ass thongs and carried vibrators in their purses.

Once we got to the club, the dynamic was weird, to say the least. Tia continued to stick by me, even though I tried my best to seem uninterested. My eyes wandered over the club as she talked my ear off, and I was looking anywhere but at her. This girl just did not take a hint. Clearly, she also couldn’t see that she was pissing off her friend. Lala had a permanent look of annoyance on her face.

Tia returned from the bar with a drink—I’d declined her offer to get me one. “Would you want to dance, Holden?”

“No, I’m good,” I told her. “Thanks for asking, though.”

That was finally the beginning of the end. Tia now started to gravitate away from me—thank fuck—spending more time talking to Lala while scoping out the place for fresh meat. Brayden had already started chatting up some girl he’d met, so he’d given up on Tia a while ago.

When Lala and Tia took off to the bathroom, Owen slipped into the spot next to me.

“I assume someone’s getting laid tonight?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “That Tia chick has made no secret of the fact that she wants you.”

I tried not to make a face as I responded. “Yeah, well, I’m not interested.”

He arched a brow. “Oh yeah? Why ever would you not be interested in a hot piece of ass like that?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. Why aren’t you interested in her?”

“Come on, Holden. Cut the shit. You know you don’t typically come out and not flirt with a zillion women. You haven’t so much as looked at anyone because your eyes have been on Lala all night. Once again, you’re setting yourself up for trouble.”

Brayden suddenly appeared next to us, placing his hand on Owen’s shoulder. “Who’s in trouble?”

Owen was about to fill Brayden in when Lala and Tia returned from the bathroom, stopping all further conversation on the matter. I wore a scowl on my face for the next several minutes. Owen had once again managed to piss me off, so I decided to take it out on him by asking Lala to dance. That killed two birds with one stone: piss Owen off and get a few minutes to talk to Lala in private, something I hadn’t been able to do all night.

“Lala, let’s dance.” I pulled her gently by the arm to the dance floor. We could barely move to the music amidst the crowd of sweaty people. “I’m sorry,” I told her.

“Sorry for what?” she shouted through the noise.

“Sorry for ruining your night. I know my coming out made you uncomfortable. It was a dick move. I got pissed that you invited Brayden and not me. But I should’ve trusted your judgment on that. You wanted to set him up with your friend and didn’t need me around messing that up. I should not have acted like a fucking child about it.”

“Pretty sure I’m the one acting like the child, because she wants you, and it’s pissing me off.” She wiped her forehead. “I don’t have a right to gatekeep you, Holden, just because you and I have had some awkwardness lately.”