Bad for You (Sea Breeze #7)(19)

“You should have seen the guy drooling over her as she stood there with him and introduced us. She was completely unaware that the guy wasn’t hearing a word she said. He didn’t give a shit who I was. He just wanted to get her alone. She even asked about you. Wanted to know if you were okay. I told her she was welcome to come up anytime, but her eyes went wide like she was terrified and she shook her head. How the f**k you went from hanging out with her and making her laugh to the idea of her seeing you scaring the shit out of her I don’t know.”

Blythe climbed into the car and the douchebag holding her door leaned down and . . . Did he kiss her? He stood up, jogged around the back of the car, and climbed in. Then they were gone.

I walked back over to my chair and sat down. I wasn’t talking about this with Green. He wouldn’t understand. Fuck, right now I didn’t understand. All I could think about was that guy kissing her. Touching her. My heart was pounding in my ears.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have one or more hot babes to have a cheap f**k with tonight. Just like last night. No need to worry about the one girl you wanted to actually talk to and wasn’t a used groupie. You made sure to shut her out.”

Closing my eyes, I refused to listen to him. “She is just a nice girl I spent some time with. I made her feel welcome—that was it. Don’t give a shit who she dates,” I replied in a bored tone, then took another drink of my beer and picked up the remote control.

And that lasted about five minutes.

Throwing the remote down, I reached for my phone and sent a text to Blythe.

ME: WHO’S THE GUY?

I deleted it before I could send it. That wasn’t the right thing to send to her. It would give her the wrong idea. I wasn’t jealous. I just wanted to protect her, if no one else was going to f**king do it.

ME: THE BAND WILL BE PLAYING AT LIVE BAY TONIGHT. ABOUT TIME YOU CAME AND LISTENED.

I sent that one. And I waited. A minute later my phone lit up.

BLYTHE: I’M OUT WITH A FRIEND TONIGHT.

No shit.

ME: BRING YOUR FRIEND, TOO.

A minute later there wasn’t a response. I stared at my phone for five more minutes, then decided I was acting like a damn chick. Tossing my phone on the sofa, I stood up and headed back to the bathroom to take a shower. Blythe wasn’t mine to protect.

Chapter Seven

BLYTHE

KRIT: BRING YOUR FRIEND, TOO.

I had read that last text from Krit at least ten times over the past two hours. I didn’t respond to him. I wasn’t sure how. He had ignored me completely for two weeks, and now this.

I glanced over at Linc. Dinner had been nice. He had talked a lot about his family and soccer. He was a big fan of soccer. The problem was nothing he said made my heart flutter the way it did when I looked down at Krit’s text message.

Linc hadn’t asked much about me during dinner. He had told me a lot about himself, and I had listened. Krit always asked me about myself. I had to find ways to gloss over the truth about my past, but at least he asked me.

“Where to now? Any suggestions? Mini golf maybe?” Linc asked, breaking into my thoughts. I felt guilty even comparing him to Krit. That wasn’t fair. Linc was a nice guy, and he liked me. Krit was . . . I didn’t know what Krit was.

Glancing back down at my text, I let the words fall out of my mouth before I could stop them. “There’s a band playing at Live Bay tonight. You met the bass player when you came to pick me up. I haven’t gone to listen to them yet.”

What was I doing? Linc had mentioned playing mini golf, and I’m asking him to take me to a club. Did pastor’s sons even go to clubs? Shaking my head, I looked up at him. “Never mind. That’s not an appropriate place to go. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”

Linc grinned as he turned the car around. “I’ve been to Live Bay before, Blythe. Jackdown is a great band. I’ve heard them play several times. They headline the place and bring in the biggest crowds. If you want to hear them play, then I’ll gladly take you there.”

“Oh. Okay. If you’re sure it’s okay with your dad. I don’t want to upset him.”

Linc’s face got serious for a second. I would have missed it had I not been looking at him. A forced smile quickly formed on his lips. “Not worried about my dad. I think I made that clear to him once this week already,” he said.

I wanted to ask him what he was talking about, but I didn’t. We were pulling into the parking lot of Live Bay, and all my excitement about seeing Krit perform took center stage in my head.

“Parking is fierce tonight. I’ll let you out at the door, and you can wait for me inside while I go park around back. I don’t want to make you walk that far in the gravel with those heels.”

Linc stopped in front of the entrance. I didn’t want to walk in there alone, but I didn’t want to sound like a baby, either. He was trying to be nice. “Thank you,” I said before opening the door and stepping out.

The muffled sound of the music inside filled the night air as I walked toward the door. A guy with a tight black T-shirt on and the largest arms I had ever seen in my life stood there. Both of his arms were wrapped with chainlike tattoos. I lifted my eyes to meet his and realized he was watching me. An amused smirk was on his face.

He opened the door and nodded for me to go inside. “I’ll let your man pay your cover. You go on in, sweetheart.”