Page 25 of I Love You, I Hate You
“When am I not suing Smorgasbord?” Owen replied. “I think this one has a real shot, though.”
“Gonna bring them down single-handedly?” Mark grinned.
“Something like that.” A woman at a nearby table flicked her gaze over at Mark for the fourth time in an hour, and Owen elbowed him. “Speaking of single, that woman has been checking you out,” he said lowly. There had been a few women throwing looks his way too, but he ignored them, not really wanting to think about what it meant thatVictoriawas the reason.
Andy surreptitiously glanced over and nodded in approval. “She’s pretty,” he agreed. “You should go talk to her.”
Mark’s ruddy complexion turned several shades redder. “Too pretty, maybe,” he said, glancing at the woman. She had long, dark wavy hair and satiny brown skin, and they made eye contact. She smiled at him over her drink and then looked away.
“Believe in yourself, man,” Owen said, and nudged him.
“I don’t know,” he said, still bright red. “She’s probably all smart and shit and out of my league.”
“According to Cassie, sometimes the smart ones want a big dumb one so you’re in luck,” Andy teased.
“Does that make you a big dumb one?” Owen asked.
“No comment,” Andy replied.
Mark looked over at her again. “Should I?”
“Yes,” Owen and Andy agreed in unison, shoving him towards her.
“What about you?” Andy asked when Mark was safely away.
“What about me?”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Don’t play cagey with me. You seeing anyone? You seemed kind of down the other day, in our text.”
“Not really.”
“That’s not a no. Who is she?”
“You’re worse than my stepmom, you know that? At least Ashley has an excuse,” Owen grumbled.
“Just want to see you happy, is all,” Andy said mildly. “Is she nice?”
Nicewasn’t really how he’d describe Victoria, but then again, he was realizing he wasn’t quite able to get a grasp on her anymore. He knew how he felt about her, past-tense, but wasn’t sure about his present-tense feelings for her. She was interesting, if nothing else, and definitely not who he thought she was. “She’s a challenge,” he said finally.
Andy’s face lit up. “Those are the best. Cassie was a challenge,” he said, face going just a little bit dreamy. “Is she a lawyer too?”
“I’ve said too much.”
“So she is. Do we know her?” Owen glared at him and Andy put his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine, you can tell me when you’re ready. Should we sneak out of here while Mark is busy? That’ll give him a reason to keep talking to her, or else he’ll bail too early and won’t get her number. Besides, Cassie is probably home from work by now and I miss her.”
“You guys are so fucking sappy,” Owen teased.
“Yep. And it’s awesome,” Andy said proudly. “You should try it some time.”
Safely back home, Owen toed off his shoes and scratched Luke’s ears in hello. The house was blessedly quiet after the roar of the brewery, and his ears rang in the silence. He was sure Andy and Cassie knew Victoria from law school, but he wasn’t sure exactly how he’d broach that.There’s this woman I sort of hate but also sometimes we hook up; what do you know about her?But some instinct made him decide he’d rather keep whatever he had with Victoria close to his chest. Ashley’s accusations rang in his ears, but puzzling out Victoria would likely involve spending significantly more time together, and aside from a few more scheduled depositions and then negotiations, he didn’t see that happening. And depositions were hardly a situation where you could get to know someone. Unless he started pulling more stunts like the stairwell or her office, which he really shouldn’t.
Luke bumped his face against Owen’s shoulder for attention and he sighed. “Don’t look at me like that, Rogue Leader,” he scowled. “I’m basically between a rock and hard place here.” Luke meowed, unperturbed, and he scooped him into his lap.
He checked his Twitter DMs to see a short, innocuous message from Nora. He should respond, but his heart wasn’t in it. He wished he could see her in person, or hell, even know her real name. The anonymity was wearing thin for him, and deep down, he wanted what Andy had with Cassie—a real partner. He had half of one with Victoria and half of one with Nora, but that wasn’t enough—with either of them. And that made him feel selfish.
Fine, he was lonely. He could admit that to himself, but only now, when it was late and he’d had enough to drink that he could face it.
His phone buzzed with a text message, but he ignored it. It was probably Mark, scolding him and Andy for bailing, but he wasn’t about to let Mark get out of it that easily. His romantic-but-shy soul needed a push sometimes, and if he wasn’t clicking with the pretty woman in the bar, he knew how to call an Uber home. Better to let Mark flail on his own a bit and make it up to him with lunch sometime in the next few weeks.