Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Turning away, I started back to the table.
“Haven!” Rosie called out.
Once I returned to the table, I said, “Guys, I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“What?” Josephine said. “No, don’t go. It’s been so fun catching up. Sit down and have one more drink.”
Unfortunately, the chair she offered gave me a direct view of the dance floor—and Nate and his little salsa partner.
I looked away when she lifted up to say something in Nate’s ear.
The song changed, and Sia’s “Gimme Love”’ started. Nate looked like he was going to walk away, but the girl pulled him back and wrapped her arms around him. Nate reached up and untwined her arms from around his neck. He leaned down and was saying something in her ear.
Was he asking her to leave with him?
Rosie took my hand. “Haven, don’t watch.”
As if he could sense I was watching, he looked over to the table. Our eyes met, and I hated that the sting of tears burned my eyes. The girl reached up and placed her finger on his chin, drawing his attention back to her.
Looking down at my hands in my lap, I closed my eyes and cursed myself. I was being silly. It wasn’t like Nate and I were together. So we had a couple of days where it felt like we might be able to be…friends.
Friends. Was that what Nate wanted? I had stupidly stood up there and sang that damn song with him watching me, and now I felt like an idiot. He had smiled, but maybe he had simply thought the song was good.
Oh, God. I didn’t want to sit in a bar overthinking everything about Nate Shaw.
“I’m leaving,” I said as I stood. Surprising Rosie, and even myself, with my sudden decision.
“No!” Rosie said as she stood too. “What about…”
We both turned and looked where Ted and Lizzy had been sitting.
“Where did they go?” I asked.
Candice said, “I just saw the two of them leaving.”
“What?” Rosie and Josephine said together.
“Is she cheating on her fiancé?” Rosie asked.
Turning to face me, Josephine asked, “What about Ted and Haven?” As if Ted’s departure broke my heart. Far from it.
I quickly said, “We’re not together.”
Turning to Rosie, I pulled her to me so only she could hear me. “I need to leave.”
Rosie drew back and looked at me. I hated that Nate had once again nearly brought me to tears and that she could see it. I wasn’t even sure why I was so upset. Nate hadn’t ever promised me a single thing. So he was kind to me and seemed like he wanted a friendship. That was going to have to be good enough.
Rosie pulled me in for a hug. “Oh, Haven.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
She nodded. “Let me walk you out, at least.”
I shook my head. “I’ll get the bouncer to walk me to my car. Stay and have fun.”
Rosie pulled me into a hug. “He’s not worth the tears.”
If she only knew what he had done for me in my past, and even recently. And how confused I was. “We’re not together, either. He can dance or do whatever he wants. I’m just tired after a long day.”
She smiled before she kissed my cheek. “Text me when you get home.”
“I will.”
Turning back to the table, I called out over the music. “Bye, girls!”
“Call me!” Candice said.
Josephine hugged me. “Maybe I’ll see you again before I leave.”
Without looking out at the dance floor again, I made my way around groups of people and to the exit.
“Hey, Jonny,” I said to the bouncer. “Would you walk me to my car?”
He grinned. “Of course I will, Haven.”
Jonny was two years older than me, and we had known each other in high school, but not that well.
Once I got to my car, I unlocked it and slipped into the driver’s seat. I waved goodbye to Jonny. Once he was walking back toward the club, I dropped my head against the headrest.
“Why can I not get over you, Nate Shaw? And what is so wrong with me that you can’t make the next move in my direction?”
Chapter Eight
NATHAN
Once I returned to the table, I glanced over to where Haven and her friends sat. I had wanted to talk to her after she had sung that song, tell her how I was feeling, but that asshole Ted showed up, and the last thing I wanted to see was him hanging all over her. So I went back to the table and got suckered into dancing with one of my friend’s cousins who was in town. I couldn’t wait to get off the dance floor; her hands had been all over me.
Frowning, I searched but couldn’t see Haven. Or Ted. They were gone.
“Shit,” I said as I quickly made my way over to the table.