Page 18 of Should Our Stars Collide

“Cheers.” Raising the glass in a salute, Kieran downs his second shot of tequila. Yeah, that’s better. He signals the bartender for a refill. He’s not quite there yet, but to his chagrin he’s always been a lightweight, so a couple more shots should do the trick.

Someone squeezes in next to him, brushing against his arm. “I’ll have a Piña Colada, thanks,” says a deep, smooth voice, very incongruous with the drink order. “Is this seat taken?”

That’s probably not aimed at the bartender. Without looking at the newcomer, Kieran waves a hand.

“Go ahea—” A glimpse of a familiarface makes him pause. Then rage. “You,” comes out in a hiss. Seriously? Why does this have to happen to him? Why today?!

Stool scraping across the floor, Ash sits his haughty ass on it. A corner of his mouth curls upwards. “Me.”

Okay. Deep breaths. In and out. Nice and easy.

“What are you doing here?”

The bartender pours Kieran’s shot, then Ash’s girly drink.

“Enjoying a drink.” Ash holds it up before slurping it through the straw. It makes for a very bizarre picture.

“Well, go enjoy it somewhere else,” Kieran says snappily, throwing his own shot back.

“Tastes better in good company.”

“Then you should go look for some.” He turns, giving Ash a nice view of his back. He doesn’t have time for this. He came here with a single-minded purpose and, finally, he can feel the alcohol working its magic, a rush of warmth running through him.

He looks around the bar again. A couple of tables in the middle have cleared, giving Kieran an unobstructed view of a group of four girls he didn’t notice before. His focus is drawn to a redhead laughing at something one of her friends said. She’s super pretty, wearing a dark green dress that suits her perfectly. She’s drinking some purple-colored crap, and Kieran makes a note to ask the bartender about it later, so he can order it for her.

“Not that one.”

Kieran twists around to shoot Ash an annoyed look. “What?”

Ash nods towards the group. “She’s not interested. She came here to have fun with her friends, not hook up.”

Patronizing fucking asshole. Who asked him? And anyway, he can’t possibly know which of the girls Kieran’s interested in.

“Oh really? So you’re a mind-reader now?” He carries on before Ash can get another irritating word in. “Newsflash, asshole, just because you’ve got a piece of paper that legally allows you to mess with people’s heads doesn’t mean you know everything.”

He’s not sure what he expected. From what he’s seen so far, Ashdoesn’t seem the type to allow criticism to get to him, let alone the type to apologize. He seems the type to always have a stupidly witty remark ready, to twist words and use them against the other person.

So Kieran is surprised when, instead of saying anything smartassy, Ash only looks at him, unnervingly intense. Something in his expression softens, causing a weird, squirmy sensation in Kieran’s stomach, and he quickly averts his gaze to signal the bartender for one more refill. He downs the shot in one go and pushes the stool back. It only takes him a few seconds to find his footing, and soon enough he’s marching towards the table with the pretty redhead.

As he approaches the group, four pairs of wary eyes instantly turn to him. His throat closes up, his legs feeling weak. Pushing past the urge to turn around and run away, he takes a deep breath and summons his best smile.

“Hi, ladies, sorry to interrupt. I’m Kieran.”

No one smiles back, but they all reply with a meek “Hey.” Well, that’s okay. At least he’s not getting ignored.

Keeping the shaky smile in place, he turns towards the redhead.Get it out of the way. Like a band aid.“So…I noticed you from the bar and wondered if you’d like to have a drink with me? Later,” he adds, noticing her drink is still half full.

“Oh,” she says, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She attempts a fleeting smile, and fuck, it’s obvious what that means. “Thank you, but…” She looks around the table pointedly. “It’s a girls’ night out, so I’m good.”

Kieran grits his teeth, hoping his annoyance doesn’t show. Not at the redhead—at the fucking prick at the bar. Why did he have to be spot on?

“Right. No biggie,” he waves it away. Awkwardly, he adds, “Well, have fun.”

“Thanks, you too.”

With one last smile, he turns around and walks away. Well, that was a bust. On the other hand, it could’ve gone much worse. At least the girl was nice about it.

“Can I have another one?” Kieran asks once he’s back at the bar, pointedly avoiding looking anywhere in Ash’s direction. He has no interest in seeing that smug face. He contemplates leaving the bar altogether, but doesn’t want to give Ash the satisfaction. A girl blew him off, so what? He’ll take it like a man.