Page 64 of On Merit Alone

“Yeah or at least get across the room,” Stephens said. “I mean seriously, she obviously?—”

The way he trailed off caught my attention and I snapped my gaze up from my too sweet drink. It was instantly clear why Stephens stopped talking. Because across the room, in the little time it had taken me to take a sip, Merit was being chatted up by some guy at the bar.

My legs started moving immediately, but multiple hands stopped me, grabbing onto my shoulders or blocking me with an arm. I looked at my friends, growling, “You just told me to go over there.”

“Yeah, that was when you two were eye fucking each other from across the room,” McKivvey said. “You can’t go over there now, you’re going to look like a jealous wannabe boyfriend.”

I gave him a blank look. “That’s exactly what I am.”

They all snickered. Stephens took the lead though. “Yeah, man, we all know you’re whipped; but that’s us. You can’t come off as a controlling, jealous prick though.”

I lifted my gaze across the room again. Merit was still talking to the guy.

He was well dressed and tall enough. Still not as tall as me, but probably just as tall as that preppy prick who was talking to her at the game.

He was holding a beer between his fingers as he leaned down and tapped Merit’s bottle, probably saying something about how they had the same one.

But if they were talking about beer, what the hell was so funny ?

I looked at my friends. “He’s all over her, and she’s drunk.”

“She’s a little over buzzed, man, and she has five girls watching her back right now. Chill .”

It took a second, but I realized they were right. Merit did have friends around, on the dance floor, at the bar, and here at this table. She was safe. But that didn't mean I liked her being chatted up by some guys who were clearly into her.

They tried to get me to settle back into my spot, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the bar.

The guy had noticeably stepped closer to her.

She was sitting, but he stayed on his feet.

To hear something she said, he leaned his big head down into her space, way too close to her if you asked me, letting her talk into his ear.

It was when his hand dropped to her bare arm that I moved.

Fuck this .

Behind me, I could hear the sound of my friends' laughter. They joked how I’d barely lasted fifteen minutes. I didn’t care. They could call me pathetic or whipped if they wanted, but what was not going to happen was some other guy touching all over her. Nope, no way in hell.

“—name is Nick. Nice to meet you, honey,” I caught him saying as I slid up behind Merit in her seat.

She didn’t notice me, which made my jaw ache as I clenched it tighter.

To him she said, “I’m?—”

“Taken,” I interrupted. “That's all you need to know.”

Two eyes lifted up to me, but I didn’t pay them any mind. Instead, I removed the drink from Merit’s fingers and set it along the bar. I was ready to physically remove Merit if I had to at this point, but the sound of an astonished guffaw caught my attention before I had a chance to.

“Holy shit!” the guy sputtered. “Y-you’re Ira King!”

Just then I noticed that he was still touching her arm and my nose flared. I took a step forward and pointed to the hand he apparently wanted to lose. “Yeah, and this is my girl your hands are all over, as I just said . So maybe, get the fuck off now?”

“Oh,” the guy said, hands raising in the air suddenly like he just touched something hot. “Sorry man, didn't know.”

“Now you do.”

“Can I—can I get an autograph?”

“No.”

“ Ira ,” a slow voice said from the seat in front of my chest. I looked down at her head, but she hadn’t looked at me since I appeared. She had to be fucking kidding. “Be nice. ”

“I don’t have a pen,” I said dryly, still glaring at the guy. He seemed to catch on, his eyes flicking from Merit to me, before he winced.

“Never mind, I’m just going to—yeah.” And then he was scampering away, only looking back over his shoulder once before disappearing into the crowd.

A soft giggling noise tore my attention away from staring down the guy and I reached down to turn Merit around in her seat. She was laughing with her eyes closed lightly, her smile lazy and drugged.

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Oh, you think this is funny?”

Still laughing, she nodded. I raised my hand to tip her face toward me. This was a beautiful thing—her smiling, laughing, happy —and it instantly melted away all my frustration from earlier.

“How drunk are you right now?” I asked.

Another giggle. I swear I’d never heard so many since I met her, which was honestly answer enough. “I’m having fun.”

I couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at one corner of my mouth as I leaned in, inspecting her face. “Yeah, I bet you are. Where’s your phone, baby?”

Popping up, she stood unsteady on her feet and I used my grip on her elbow to steady her. As she patted around her person, I slapped some bills on the bar and ordered a water real quick.

Merit turned to face me. “I think Em took it.”

“Em, huh?” I said, as I grabbed the water while keeping a steadying hand on her. “Introduce me?”

Her eyes lit up. She looked so excited before something else crossed over her face. “But aren’t we fighting?”

Behind her I placed a kiss to the side of her head and said, “You can fight me as long as you want, baby. But I want to meet whoever took care of my girl, alright?”

Looking over her shoulder at me, she surveyed my face for a long sobering second before her alcoholic brain took the reins again and she depressed into the steadiness of my body.

Pointing lazily in a not so clear direction, she said, “Okay, she's right over there.”

As soon as we made it to the tall Australian beauty, Merit detached herself from me and latched onto her like a little leech. I hated to say it, but I was jealous of the way she wrapped her arms around her, her head sneaking onto the woman’s shoulder in a way that seemed to fit.

“A bit handsy when she drinks, huh?” So called Emily said.

I raised an eyebrow, trying not to glower. I wouldn’t know, because she hadn’t actually touched me. She was too busy letting everyone else touch her. “You sent me that text, didn’t you?”

“Tall and smart, I’m impressed, King.” She nodded slowly.

I scratched my neck. “Thanks for looking out for her. I, um, didn’t know she had such good friends. I’m grateful.”

Emily's face softened a little and she reached a hand out toward me. I took it and we shook, like we were shaking on some kind of deal. “I don’t think she knows it either. But we’re all here for her.

We always have been, and I think you are helping her see it finally.

So I’m grateful too. And I’m Emily by the way. ”

“I told him who you are, Em,” Merit grumbled in a teenaged “duh” sort of way.

We both exchanged a look over Mer’s head and I reached forward to grab my girl. “C’mon, Six. Time to hydrate.”

“One more sip,” I said.

“No,” she answered simply.

“Six,” I warned.

“Ira,” she warned back.

“You are a pill when you’re drunk, huh? ”

“I’m drunk?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re three sheets to the wind, sweetheart.”

She just hummed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall.

She was sitting on a large unused sound box as we hovered deep in a hallway on the side of the bar.

On one end there was the back of the building, peppered by random doors leading up to the back exit.

On the other side there was the bustling bar.

As she sat there, her breathing slow and almost sleepy, her limbs loose and clearly inebriated, my gut twisted.

She was sitting with me now, allowing me to feed her water and stand close to her, but was she really okay with me?

I remembered her face when we talked in her apartment.

The hurt that shone there, and the disappointment.

I’d seen her upset before, but it was a whole different sort of pain to see that I was the one who put it there.

And the fact that she seemed okay with me now didn’t change the fact that I felt bad.

Surveying her, I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Merit?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry, baby,” I said, earnestly.

“It’s okay,” she sighed. “I’m over it now.”

I don’t know why, but that bothered me. I made her look at me. “I don’t want you to get over it, Mer. I want you to forgive me and for us to grow past it together.”

“What does that look like?” she asked, and for a second I could only blink at her.

Leave it to Merit to switch between versions of herself that were both totally opposite and totally normal while inebriated. One minute she was this loopy happy Merit that I’ve never seen before, and the next she was just as levelheaded and contemplative as usual.

Swallowing, I tried to answer her. “It looks like whatever you want. Whatever you need, Mer.”

She eyed me, and then she sat up straighter, her hands gradually coming to my sides as if she wanted to grab my attention but her arms could only lift so far. “That’s exactly the problem, Ira. There’s more than just me here. This needs to be about what you need too.”

I leaned down, entering her space and narrowing my eyes. “I thought you were drunk.”

“I am,” she smiled. “And I’m feeling pretty happy with the self-medication, but I do still have you on my mind.”

“You do?”

“I always do.”

“You’re spilling your secrets, Six.”

“And now it’s your turn to spill yours,” she said.

“I want to know, Ira. Not just about the contract, but about everything. I stopped holding back with you a long time ago. Basically when you stopped taking no for an answer. I’m not taking no for an answer anymore either.

I want to know about you. Not just the easy stuff but the hard stuff too. ”

I sighed. Stepping close to her I said, “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you… I was embarrassed.”

She frowned. “What?”