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Chapter Thirty-Two

AURORA

I feel out of place.

This doesn’t feel like going out for a drink or two with people after an indie show. Those people are friends, almost family. You go through the same struggles; you know them because you are them.

This is going out with three strangers that I don’t know. Jules had something else to do, surprisingly not Hext related. She offered to cancel if I needed her to, but I didn’t want to come off as clingy. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.

But I feel so…weird. I’m sitting in the corner of the booth of some bar. The guys are laughing and joking, occasionally shooting glances toward me to see if I find their not-so-funny jokes as hilarious as they do. Austin keeps his gaze on me, making me sink into the corner a little bit more.

It’s doing nothing to make me stop thinking about Theo. I’m so angry at him. He got me a job and then threw it in my face. I didn’t ask him to do that. I didn’t ask for anything he’s done.

Fighting with him today is actually bothering me. Wiggling underneath my skin and making me feel…wrong. I keep pulling my ph one from my pocket, checking to see if he’s texted me—he hasn’t. Maybe I finally succeeded. Maybe I really did push him away this time.

The thought makes me miserable.

“Waitin’ on a call?” A smooth voice graces my ears, the delicious Australian accent making me perk up to look at Micah Duvall.

Gorgeous is the simplest way to describe Micah. Shoulder-length blond hair that’s usually pulled back at the nape of his neck, stubble, deep blue eyes, and that damn accent. Tattoos line his forearms. There’s a reason people obsess over this man, and it’s not just because of his wrestling skills.

“Sorta. Just…checking,” I mumble, bringing my drink to my lips and taking a small sip. I’m not even sure what it is. Austin keeps buying them for me. Something with peach juice and tequila, maybe?

Micah takes a sip of his beer, nodding. “Checkin’, ah.” He looks around us for a moment. Austin and Jameson are up, heading over to the pool table. He doesn’t follow, he stays right by me. “Somethin’s wrong, sweetling,” he says. “Austin’s been tryin’ to get ya to come out every night for the last month. Why now?”

Theo isn’t the only person who can see right through me. Maybe I’m just much more translucent than I thought I was. “Just wanting to not think for a little bit.” This time, when I go to take a sip from my drink, I keep the straw between my lips and sip from it continuously, needing the alcohol to hit.

Micah looks amused but doesn’t say anything about it. “Somethin’ on your mind? I don’t mind listenin’.”

I must be a lot drunker than I originally thought because I hear myself saying, “Theo.”

“Right. That bastard.” Micah chuckles. There actually sounds like there’s a bit of fondness in his voice. Is he close to Theo? No, right? The only people I know Theo talks to are me and sometimes Alex. “I know workin’ with him can’t be easy. Did he say somethin’ especially asshole-y today?”

Yes. No. He told the truth. I think that’s what I’m more pissed about. All Theo’s done is told me the truth. Over and over again. I keep sipping through the plastic straw. The drink is basically gone on this point. It’s making an obnoxious sound as I slurp at the still melting pieces of ice.

Reaching out, Micah pulls the drink away from me, a smile on his face. His eyes wrinkle in the corners when he smiles. That’s cute.

I pout when my drink is gone.

“You’re a cute one, sweetling. If things were different…”

“What things?” Okay, officially drunk. Why do I care? Because you can’t just say riddle-like shit to people and expect them to not to ask for more.

Micah boops his pointer finger against my nose. “Your heart is taken, eh? So is mine. You deserve to be more than a body to keep someone warm.”

I pop my lips, fully prepared to argue. My heart isn’t taken, but that would be a lie. It is taken. Maybe that’s what I sacrificed when I made a deal with the devil, my heart and my damn sanity. “I can’t love him,” I admit quietly.

“And why not?”

“Because he’ll get bored and toss me aside. He’ll break my heart.”

“Don’t let the fear get in your way, Aurora.” The way Micah says my name makes it sound like poetry. If I wasn’t drunk off the liquor, I could get drunk on that. “Trust me on that one, all right? Fear will ruin everything if ya let it.”

He has to know that I’m too intoxicated to press on about whatever he’s getting at because he drops it there. I want to push. I want to know more, but I also don’t know if I’m going to remember this conversation in the morning .

“I need another drink,” I murmur. I try to stand from the booth, and my body teeters, the alcohol definitely hitting me. Fuck.

I’m not a big drinker. Usually when I go out, I sip a drink or maybe have a glass of wine. I’ve only been allowed to legally drink for a year so it hasn’t exactly been high on my list of things to do.

“Aye, I think ya might be done, Aurora.” He reaches up to steady me, and I plop back down in my chair.

Instead of arguing, I pout again. “Probably. But I don’t wanna think about Theo.”

He snorts. “So you admit it, yeah? Once your head hits your pillow, I don’t think you’ll be thinkin’ about much. I’ll get Austin to take you back to your hotel.”

Instead of arguing about how I don’t want Austin anywhere near me or taking me to the hotel, I just nod and grab my empty cup, sipping at the faintly peach flavored melted ice as Micah gets up to grab Austin.

He says something to him, his face stern and serious. Austin doesn’t look like he’s as serious about it and waves Micah off. It’s too loud in here to hear what they’re bickering about, but it looks serious.

When Austin goes to walk past him, Micah roughly grabs his arm and says something again, to which he nods.

Curious.