I followed her gaze. Jason, Luke, Ryan, Ethan, and a guy I didn’t know entered the bar. They saw us and made their way to our table.

“Hey, ladies,” Jason said, standing behind my chair. His hands landed on my shoulders.

Everyone greeted everyone. The stranger stared at me with curiosity in his eyes.

Luke noticed. “Gabe, this is Jessica, Jason’s sister. Jess, this is Gabe. He’s from Charlotte, but sometimes comes down to hang out with us.”

“Nice to meet you,” Gabe said, shaking my hand. Like the others, he wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and boots. They might not be a motorcycle club, but they certainly could’ve fooled me.

I withdrew my hand. “Likewise.” On their own accord, my eyes shifted to the guy standing beside him. Ryan had a frown on his face and his neck muscles looked strained.

He nodded at me before turning to the others. “I’m gonna see if I can find a free pool table.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ethan said.

Both of them walked around us, to the corner with all the tables.

“They found one,” Gabe said. Without another word or glance, he strolled away from our table.

I patted Jason’s hand. “So, what’s your motorcycle club’s name?”

He chuckled. “Right, because that’s our thing.”

“You guys play the part well,” Sophie said.

“First we need to switch our street bikes for cruisers,” Luke said.

Rachel waved her hand in dismissal. “Small detail.”

Laughing, Jason and Luke left us to join their friends at the pool table. When I looked at them, I found Ryan staring at me while setting the pool table. He averted his gaze.

“That’s it,” I announced. “I need something stronger.”

I called the waiter and asked for a shot of tequila. For some reason, the girls asked for one for each of them too. In less than two minutes, we were toasting with our tequilas.

“To a fun girls’ night out,” Sophie said.

Rachel and I repeated Sophie’s words, but I was starting to believe that it wouldn’t be that easy. I downed the shot, savoring the burn in my throat, willing it to take the pain, the hurt, the frustration, and the anger away.

As I set my glass down, Rachel handed me her cell phone. “I would ask someone else to take a picture of the three of us, but since I know you’ll say no, can you take one of Sophie and me?”

An uneasy feeling revolved in my stomach. “Sure,” I said, though my hands began to shake.

Noticing my discomfort, Rachel nodded at me. If I analyzed this too much, I would think she was asking me to take a picture—again—to help me with my trauma. So far, I couldn’t say it was helping, but who knew? Maybe after she had me take about a hundred, I would be over it.

I raised the phone between us and fit them both on the screen. They looked so great, so happy, and they would probably post that picture everywhere with a ‘what a great night with my bestie’ caption, and I wouldn’t be in it. Jealousy stirred in my chest, quickly followed by anger. Anger for not being over this fucked-up trauma.

I snapped the picture and returned the phone to Rachel before I threw it at the wall, as if it was responsible for my hang-ups.

“Thanks,” Rachel said.

Beside her, Sophie lost her smile and her eyes went wide. “Uh-oh,” she said.

“What?” I snapped my head back and saw what she meant.

Caryn strutted into the bar with two other girls. They all dressed similarly: a short, too tight dress, with their breasts almost spilling from the ample cleavage, hooker heels, and too much makeup.

Without faltering, Caryn weaved back to the pool tables and halted beside Ryan, putting her arm on his back. Nausea rolled in my stomach. Ryan stepped to the side. They were talking. What would I give to be a fly right now?

What was I thinking? I shook my head and tried to focus on my friends.

“I swear, she has a where-is-Ryan sensor,” Rachel said. “She’s always where he is.”

A force pulled me, and I dared to glance at them again. Ryan took a shot with Caryn right by his side. As he stepped back from the table, she put her hand on his arm. He jerked his arm away, but turned to talk to her.

I lowered my eyes, unsure I could watch anymore. The waiter passed us, and I asked for another shot of tequila.

“Easy on those,” Sophie said.

“I just need to take the edge off,” I complained.

The girls tried to keep my mind off the pool corner by telling me about their colleges, the cute guys, the parties, and things like that. I swear, I wanted to give them one hundred percent of my attention, but I was only half-listening. The other half of my brain was battling between spying on Ryan and Caryn, or not.

It shouldn’t matter. I was leaving in ten days. Soon, this town would be behind me. I would move on and forget about this summer. What Ryan did was none of my business. He could get together with whomever he wanted. I had done all I could to help him, and I hoped it had helped, because it certainly had helped me. My conscious was clean.

I was so into my thoughts, I didn’t see the guys approaching with chairs until they were all seated around our table with us. Thankfully, Jason sat on my left and Luke sat on my right. Ryan sat between Luke and Sophie.

And where was Caryn? I looked around and met her fuming gaze. She was beside the pool table, her arms crossed and her evil eyes on me.

Whatever.

The group engaged in conversation. It was nice to see they all were friends and got along well. I felt like an extra piece of the game, one that could be tossed aside and wouldn’t be missed. The worst part was that I had been the one to toss myself aside in the first place, and now I found it hard to fit again.

I glanced at Ryan. Like me, he was quiet too, only interjecting when necessary. Every so often, he looked at me. This time, his eyes looked up from me and around. I didn’t need to follow his gaze to know he was looking at Caryn. She made her presence known when she strolled behind me and sat down at the table beside ours.

Damn.

The waiter came for another round of beer, and a Coke for Ryan, and I asked for another tequila. Sophie and Rachel shot me worried glances, but I didn’t care. This was too much. I would drink until the edge was off, and I didn’t care about Ryan and Caryn, or I would leave. Knowing they would ask me to stay, I went with my tequila.

I confess that after three shots of tequila, my mood improved. Or maybe it was the cloud muffling everything in my brain. It didn’t matter. At least I wasn’t about to claw Caryn’s eyes out anymore.

When I realized, Luke and Ethan were gone. I scanned the room and found Luke by the bar, talking to a girl, and Ethan was playing pool again.

Ryan took Luke’s seat. “Hey.”

I nodded. “Hey, yourself.”

“I didn’t see you at the site today.”

“Yeah, I had stuff to do.” I picked at my nails, staring at them as if they were the most interesting thing in the room.

“I see.” He leaned forward, bringing his torso an inch or two closer to me.

I leaned back in my chair, keeping some distance. “Everything all right today?”

“Yes, yes. Things are going well. In fact, I need to talk to you about it.” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the bangs away from his eyes, but they fell back a moment later. “I want to th—”

“Ryan!” Caryn shouted. She scooted between Ryan’s chair and mine. “There you are, baby. I was thinking about our conversation earlier—”

“Caryn,” Ryan said.

“—and I don’t agree with you. I think—”

“Caryn,” he repeated through gritted teeth.

“—I may have something to convince you otherwise.” She slid her hands down her waist to her hips and shifted her weight, pushing her ass back and forth.

I put a hand on my stomach, certain that I would be sick.

“Caryn,” Ryan tried again.

“Oh, here.” She offered him a closed bottle of beer. “You can drink while we talk.”