My steps wobbled a bit, the alcohol getting to me more. Nathan’s hand reached out to mine, steadying me. I looked up to find his emotions secured back in place, his anger stifled for the moment, hidden away, stewing beneath. His fake smile was plastered in place, and inside I cried out for the real Nathan to show himself again. I wanted to know him, not the pretty picture he presented to the world. Brief glimpses were not enough to satisfy me.

God, we were the perfect pair with the way we handled ourselves.

It would be nice to be normal, not to have to keep the act up all of the time. To end the masquerade.

Somehow the nightmare escalated as I ended up sandwiched between Andrew and Nathan. The most awkward place in the world to be—at least for me. Trapped between the guy I used to date, and the guy who was secretly f**king me into oblivion. It didn’t help that Nathan’s hand had returned to my thigh under the table.

Andrew hiked his thumb toward Nathan. Subtlety be damned. “Okay, so who’s this newbie?”

We all laughed then everyone launched into the whole Vivian debacle that led to Nathan being my new partner in crime. Oh, if they only knew how true that was in reality.

The waitress came by with the round Caroline ordered. I got one sip in before a hand grabbed it from me.

“You don’t need that,” Andrew said.

My glare was icy as I grabbed the glass back from him, taking multiple large gulps until the majority of the liquid was gone. “Don’t mess with my drink, Drew. I need it.”

“No, you don’t.”

“It’s the only way I can sleep, okay?” I admitted in a huff, and rubbed my eyes. I was so tired, exhausted to the point of tears. Add in the downers of the booze and I was about to burst. “I just want to get some f**king sleep. I can’t f**king drink every night, so let me sleep tonight. I can get more than a couple hours in and my brain will shut down.”

Caroline thankfully jumped in, which was good because I didn’t want to go into it any further. “Her insomnia’s back.”

Nathan was already staring at me, I could feel it. My attention moved down to where his hand was, the skin tingling beneath.

“All right, off topic Lila. I’m not interesting enough. Next topic,” I rambled, trying to steer the conversation away from my depressing self.

Andrew snorted. “I see you still love to be the center of attention.”

I rolled my eyes, which caused my whole head to spin. “Yeah, yeah. Drunk, depressed, center-of-attention-hating, stupid, ugly…” I choked as the words began swirling in my head. I tilted the rest of my drink back, trying to drown them out.

“Okay, enough.” Andrew took the glass out of my shaking hand. “I think it’s time to get your drunken ass home.”

I let out a whimpering sigh. “I drove.”

“You definitely aren’t driving. I can take you,” Andrew said.

Nathan’s fingers dug into my thigh, and I could swear I heard him growl. “I can take her home.”

Everyone at the table turned to stare at him, myself included.

I couldn’t hold back the laughter that escaped. “Oh, Caroline, I forgot to tell you.” I placed my hand near my mouth to block people from hearing as I whispered across to her. “The ass**le lives in my building!”

“You know I can hear you, right, drunkie?” Nathan quirked his brow at me, while his fingers caressed my thigh. It was a dangerous thing to do in the company we were keeping, but I loved it.

I turned to him, contemplating what to say in response. He was distracting me again, not that it was a hard thing for him to do. “Do I look like I care?”

“Don’t hold back on me now, Palmer, let it out.”

Fine, he wanted to play, my drunk ass would play. “I was going to go into great detail of where to stick it, but thought it might be a little too rough for our party here.”

Ian laughed. “Oooh, Lila’s getting surly.”

“Surly wench, that’s my name,” I agreed.

Nathan smirked at me. “I’m going to call you that from now on.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Bite me, Thorne.”

“You are so f**king asking for it,” he whispered in my ear, his hand sliding up under my skirt.

“Alrighty!” I jumped, startling everyone at the table. “I need…home. Who’s taking me?”

Andrew turned to me. “I can, babe.”

There went Nathan, glaring at him again. “I live in the same building. Why waste the gas when we’re going to the same place?”

And pissing contest round two, commence!

I had to try to pull their attention away from each other. “Asshole has a good point.”

“Would you stop calling me that?” Nathan’s face turned red and a vein pulsed at his temple. His jaw flexed as he exhaled in a rush.

“Nope. You threatened to call me ‘surly wench’ at work; if that’s the case, I have every right to call you ‘asshole.’”

“Are you sure you’re okay to go home with him?” Andrew asked; his eyes locked on mine.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” The tone of Nathan’s voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“I just thought you’d want to stick around and pick up someone for dessert,” Andrew answered with a smile on his face. It was becoming obvious they didn’t care much for one another.

Nathan sneered at Andrew. “No thanks, I’m full.”

“And on that note,” Caroline piped in.

“On that note, I’m calling it a night and taking ‘drunkie’ here with me.” Nathan scooted out of the booth so I could get out.

“Well, it’s been fun all!” I added. “Drew…good to see you.”

I had turned to leave when Andrew’s arms wrapped around me. “You call me if you need anything, okay? I’ll always be here for you, you know that, right?”

“I know, Drew.” I placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “See you.”

Nathan led me through the club, his hand wrapped around my wrist as we worked our way to the entrance. It was a silent walk to his car as most of my concentration and energy was focused on walking straight. He held open the door to the car like a gentleman, and I slid in.

The tension was thick in the car, and I didn’t have to look at him to know he was riled up. I just hoped he didn’t explode before we made it home.