Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)(42)

One . . .two . . .three . . . Adrian, Josh, and Bo followed behind us almost immediately, taking stock of the situation with their eyes.

“You ladies need to get home,” Adrian asserted as he dug in his pocket for his keys.

“Come on, Mon,” Josh encouraged as he reached for her, causing her to flinch backward.

“Don’t you touch her,” I snarled, slapping his hand away. “You lost your right to do that days ago Josh.” Monica gave me an appreciative smile as Josh stood there looking helpless. He ran his hand through his hair.

“What the f*ck, Ember? What do you want me to do, leave her here on the sidewalk?” His voice was slightly louder than I cared for.

“What I want you to do, Josh, is leave us alone and go work on finding your thousand lifetimes somewhere else. I promise you it’s not on this sidewalk.” My resentment bored through his eyes. Josh and Bo exchanged an uncomfortable glance that, thankfully, escaped Adrian.

Josh swallowed hard, turned on his heels, and walked away with his head down. For a split second I felt bad for him, until I saw the tears streaming down Monica’s face.

“Thank you,” she managed, “If you weren’t here I probably would have let the * take me home and made a fool out of myself trying to get him in to bed.”

As I made a move to walk toward her, dizziness overhauled my brain. I swayed too far to one side and fell toward the sidewalk.

“Shit, November!” Bo’s voice cut through the haze just before his hand grabbed my forearm, yanking me upward and into his chest. “Dammit,” he exhaled into my hair. “Are you OK?”

“Yea. Sorry.” I left my forehead on his chest while I grappled for some sort of equilibrium.

“Nice save, man.” Adrian’s voice confused me at first, as if I was having a dream, forgetting he was in my real life again. “I’ll get her home.”

“It’s OK, Adrian, Bo can drive me.” Regret slapped my drunken mouth.

“Ember, don’t be crazy, you know I’d never let you leave with a guy you barely know. I’ll take you and Monica home. Catch up with you tomorrow, Cavanaugh.” Adrian looked at me like I was crazy before wrapping his arm tightly around my waist, guiding my arm around his broad shoulders. Monica fell into his other arm.

Adrian’s words twisted Bo’s face in angst. What was he to do? He couldn’t chase after me without revealing everything to Adrian, causing a host of problems for everyone involved. No, he had to stand on the sidewalk and watch as I stumbled to the parking lot in the arms of Adrian Turner.

I chanced a glance backward before getting into Adrian’s car; Bo pressed his forehead on the brick building and thumped his hand listlessly against it once, before turning and walking back into the bar. If my ears weren’t ringing I’m sure I would have heard a testosterone-filled growl.

I started pointing the way to my apartment when Monica insisted we drop her at her place. She said the heated exchange between Josh and I sobered her up quicker than she would have liked. I shrugged and guided Adrian. As Adrian walked Monica up her stairs, I pulled out my phone. My drunken ambivalence to Adrian’s personal escort was boiling into anger as I thought about Bo walking back into the bar. Thumbing for his number, I wondered if he went back in to the bar to get drunk. Maybe he went home with someone. I hit send.

“November,” Bo answered in a tone so clipped I couldn’t tell yet if he was drunk. Or with anyone.

“Bowan.” Brazen. That’s what I was going for.

“November, where are you? Are you OK?” Anxiety and concern absorbed his voice.

“You, Spencer Bowan Cavanaugh, know precisely where I am. I am in the front seat of a very nice BMW that, incidentally, belongs to one Adrian Turner.” I paused for a minute.

“You. You just stood there . . .” While I knew it wasn’t fair to accuse him of abandoning me, I was livid at his assumption that I had things to work out with Adrian.

“Are you going back to your apartment?” He was nearly yelling out in frustration. Or concern. Or both.

“Adrian’s going to take me wherever he’s going to take me, Bo. Thanks to you.”

Wow, that was cold Ember. Even for you.

“I was trying to respect your privacy. I don’t know what you and Adrian talked about, and I’ve already been accused once of peeing on your leg - as you put it. I couldn’t do it Ember, I couldn’t go face-to-face with Adrian about who was going to take you home in front of everyone on the sidewalk.” I thought his voice cracked, but the liquor scrambled my signal.

“Oh really? Not even with the power of a thousand lifetimes behind you?” I turned off my phone and threw it into my clutch with renewed resolve.

Adrian climbed back in to his car, giving me a curious once over.

“Monica’s fine. You look pissed, though. You ok?”

“Just drunk as hell, Adrian . . . take me home.” I don’t care how that sounded.

“As you wish.” He smiled. Oh, you think you know what I meant.

Adrian pulled up to my building and opened the car door for me, since I evidently lacked the capacity to do so in my current state. It wasn’t until I stood up that I felt the full effects of my foolishness, and stumbled for the second time. Adrian caught this pass.

“Whoa,” he forced through gritted teeth as he righted me. “Let’s take it slow on the stairs. Take off those ridiculous shoes and hand them to me.” I did as he asked. Damn, he’s being rather thoughtful.