Temptation [h.s.] ✔

Chapter 39.

        "Wouldn't dream of it, son!" Dill laughs and slaps the bar. "Tried it more than once and she put me right in my place. Didn't ya, Liv?"

        "If only I were thirty years older." I wink.

        "Hey now." Harry holds his hands up. "Don't let me interrupt."

        I laugh. "Shut up. Aren't you supposed to be taking your sister for dinner?"

        "Yeah," Tessa says over his shoulder. She sits next to him. "Do you know his idea of dinner is Mc-fucking-Donald's?"

        I chew the inside of my cheek and nod. "Um, yes."

        "Hey, y'all want me to buy you dinner all the time, you gotta take the cheap stuff."

        I stare at Harry flatly. "Honey, we aren't in Texas. Tuck your y'alls away and don't bring them out again until you dress up as Woody from Toy Story for Halloween, okay?"

        Dill laughs loudly. "Hell, I'm gonna miss you, girl."

        "Is this a Liv Love Fest? I want in!" Rosie cries, squeezing me tight.

        "Holy...crap!" I squeak. "I'm only moving to a bar two blocks away. Y'all are acting like I'm moving to Australia."

        "Why the hell can you say y'all and I can't?" Harry demands.

        "I'm American." I shrug. "You're British. Don't be thinking you can come over here and start talking like one of us." I grin.

        The look in his eyes says that I'm going to pay for that.

        I'm pretty sure the look in mine says that I'm going to enjoy every damn second of it.

        The clock ticks to seven p.m., signaling the end of my final shift at the Stag, and I hug Rosie tight. We go through a round of, "I'll miss you. I'll miss you, too. Come see me, okay? Don't forget me. We'll meet for a drink."

        I'm almost certain we'll never see each other again or get that drink. That's the thing with moving on—you take almost nothing with you when you go. The only things you do take are the things that really matter. And more often than not, that doesn't include people.

        Harry takes my hand and leads me from the bar with Tessa on my heels. We walk for a block in silence before coming to a small wine bar. Harry's phone rings just before we enter, and he waves for us to go in.

        "What do you drink?" Tessa asks, leaning against the bar. Almost every guy in the place stares at her, but she's oblivious.

        "If it's wine, I'll drink it," I answer honestly.

        She beams and turns to the barman.

        I wonder if she's jaded by her husband cheating on her. I wonder if it's destroyed her in any way... If she's sworn off love or relationships. She doesn't seem like it. She seems perfectly happy, like it wasn't just weeks ago that she was calling Harry to tell her what she'd seen.

        What if I were her? What if it were Harry cheating on me?

        Oh, god.

        I feel sick.

        That wouldn't happen. I know it wouldn't.

        I hope it wouldn't.

        Holy shit.