After (After 1)

I let him drink out of my glass, which I’m usually against, but I am so uncomfortable right now that I can’t think straight. He gulps down half my Coke and I nudge him.

“Sorry, babe, I’ll order you another,” he says smoothly. He really is very attractive and looks more like a model than a college student. If he didn’t have so many tattoos, he probably would be a model.

A noise comes from the other booth, and my eyes dart to Hardin. He clears his throat loudly, staring at me with blazing eyes. I want to look away, but I can’t. I’m caught in his gaze as Zed lifts his arm up and rests it on the back of the booth, directly behind me.

Hardin’s eyes narrow and I decide to have a little fun.

Remembering that he was pretty adamant about me not hanging out with Zed before, I lean into Zed ever so slightly. Hardin’s eyes go wide, but he quickly recovers. I know how immature and ridiculous this whole thing is, but I don’t care. If I have to be around him, I want him to be as uncomfortable as I am.

The biker woman returns and takes everyone’s food order. I go with a burger and fries, minus the ketchup, and everyone else orders hot wings. She brings Hardin a Coke and the rest of them another round of beers. I am still waiting on my Coke but I don’t want to be rude by pointing that out to the woman.

“They have the best wings here,” Zed informs me and I smile at him.

“So are you going to the bonfire next weekend?” I ask him.

“I don’t know, it’s not really my scene.” He takes a drink of his beer and brings his arm down from the booth to rest fully over my shoulder. “Are you going?”

I don’t look his way, but I imagine Hardin’s irritation at this. Truth is, I do feel guilty flirting with him this way, and I’ve never really tried to flirt with anyone before, so I’m sure I am terrible at it. “Yeah, with Landon.”

Everyone bursts into laughter. “Landon Gibson?” Zed asks, still laughing.

“Yeah, he’s my friend,” I snap. I don’t like the way they are all laughing at him.

“He would go to the bonfire! He is such a lame,” Molly says, and I glare at her.

“No, he isn’t, actually. He is really cool,” I say in his defense. I understand that my definition of cool is not the same as theirs, but mine is better.

“Landon Gibson and cool do not belong in the same sentence,” Molly says and brushes Hardin’s hair back off his forehead.

I hate her.

“Well, sorry if he isn’t cool enough to hang out with you guys, but he is . . .” I start to shout and sit up straighter in the booth, knocking Zed’s arm off my shoulders.

“Whoa, Tessa, calm down. We are just teasing,” Nate says and Molly smirks at me. I get the feeling she doesn’t care for me much, either.

“Well, I don’t like when people tease my friends, especially when he isn’t here to defend himself.” I need to calm down . . . My emotions are running wild from being around Hardin and the way he’s hanging all over Molly in front of me.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Besides, I do gotta give him some credit for that black eye he gave Hardin,” Zed says and wraps his arm back around me. Everyone excerpt Hardin laughs, even me.

“Yeah, good thing that professor broke the fight up, or Hardin would have gotten beat even worse by the loser—” Nate says and then looks at me. “Sorry, it slipped,” he says and gives me an apologetic smile.

A professor? Their fight wasn’t broken up by a professor—it was broken up by Hardin’s dad. Either Landon lied, or . . . wait, I wonder if these guys even know Hardin and Landon are soon to be stepbrothers. I look at Hardin, who now looks worried. He lied to them. I should call him out on it right now in front of everyone.

But I can’t. I’m not like him. I find it harder to hurt people than he does.

Except Noah, my subconscious reminds me, and I push her back.

“Well, I think the bonfire will be fun,” I say.

Zed looks at me with interest. “Maybe I will make an appearance after all.”

“I’m going,” Hardin adds randomly from the other booth.

Everyone turns to look at him, and Molly laughs. “Yeah, sure you are.” She rolls her eyes and laughs again.

“No, really, it won’t be so bad,” Hardin softly insists, earning another eye-rolling from Molly.

Hardin going because Zed said he was? Maybe I’m a better flirt than I thought.

The server brings out our food and hands me my burger. It looks great, except for the ketchup dripping off the side. My nose scrunches up and I try to wipe some of it off with a napkin. I hate sending food back, and I’m already having a hard enough time tonight. The last thing I need is to draw even more attention to myself.

Talk of the party tonight circles the booths while everyone digs into their wings and I pick at my fries. Eventually the server stops back and asks if we need anything else.

“No, I think we’re good,” Tristan starts to say, and she begins to walk away.

“Wait. She ordered her burger with no ketchup,” Hardin says loudly, and I drop a fry onto the plate.

The waitress looks at me with concern. “I’m sorry about that. Do you want me to take it back?”

I’m so embarrassed, all I can do is shake my head.

“Yeah. She does,” Hardin answers for me.

What the hell is he doing? And how did he even know it had ketchup? He is just trying to make me uncomfortable.

“Here, honey, give me your plate.” She smiles and holds her hand out. “I’ll bring you a new one.” I hand it to her and look down while I thank her.