For the Love of Friends(22)

“Oh. Uh. You were?”

He nodded, leaning in way too close. “After you just left like that without saying goodbye. We have unfinished business. And you owe me for my shirt.”

Why did Amy have to get engaged on a night when I was around a guy who makes my skin crawl?

I laughed nervously. “Oh. Yeah. That. I was—I was a little drunk. I’d just gotten a call from my sister and—”

He leaned closer still, his breath sour from the beer in his hand. “I don’t need excuses. I just want to know how you’re going to make it up to me.”

“I—um—I—” I slipped my phone out of my purse, unlocked it quickly, and hit “Send” on the message to Becca.

My phone rang seconds later.

“I—oh, wait, I have to take this,” I said. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lily,” Becca trilled cheerfully. “It’s an emergency.”

“An emergency?” I repeated for Justin’s benefit. “Uh-oh. What kind of emergency?”

“Jesus. I don’t know what kind. A camel bit me? How’s that?”

I choked back a desperate laugh. “Oh—wow. That sounds—serious.” I looked up at Justin. “Excuse me. Sorry!” Holding the phone to my ear, I weaved my way through the crowd and onto the deck just outside the kitchen. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I breathed heavily into the phone.

“That didn’t take long. What happened?”

“Do you have the wedding website up?” She didn’t, but she typed in the address. “It was Justin. As soon as I walked in, he made some dirty comment and then he just grabbed me and asked how I was going to make it up to him for leaving without saying goodbye the morning after the engagement party. And oh my God, Bec, it was the skeeviest thing ever.”

“He’s not bad looking.”

I made a gagging noise. “Sure. If you like date rapists. Blackout drunk doesn’t equate to consent. And he made it sound like I owed him something.” I shuddered.

“From his perspective, you did steal his shirt.”

“He got that back.”

“True. So what are you going to do? Is it too soon to leave?”

I looked at my watch. “Yeah, Megan would be upset.”

“Can you say you’re sick? Or that I had an emergency?”

“I doubt she’d buy that your camel bit you.”

Becca laughed. “The Mummy was on TV. It was the best I could come up with under pressure.”

I rolled my eyes. “No,” I said eventually. “I’ll be a big girl. I’ll just do everything I can to avoid him.”

“On the bright side, at least you know who you’re avoiding now!”

“True. Thanks, Bec.”

“Anytime. Call me back if you need another emergency because the mummy might attack me next.”

I laughed and told her to stay out of his tomb. She said she made no promises and went back to her movie. Taking a sip of my martini, I leaned against the railing of the deck, trying to make out the features of Megan and Tim’s new backyard through the darkness.

“Justin still giving you trouble?” a voice asked out of the darkness.

I jumped and dropped my glass, a tinkling sound echoing below me where it shattered on the patio.

“Shit!” I exclaimed, and the owner of the voice rushed over and into focus.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“You didn’t scare me. But Megan’s going to be upset I broke a glass.”

He shrugged. “Eh, it gives her an excuse to register for new ones.”

I squinted at him, backlit against the kitchen windows. “Alex?” I asked. He was the groomsman who had been checking out the bookcase when I arrived at the party.

He nodded. “I am sorry though. I wasn’t eavesdropping. At least I wasn’t trying to. I was already here when you came out.”

I was still startled, but my heartbeat was starting to regulate again. “It’s okay. What were you doing out here? It’s cold.”

He looked down. “I had an emergency of my own.”

“Did your friend get bitten by a camel to save you from a total sketch ball too?”

“Um, not exactly.” He hesitated. “My dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago and he was having chest pains today.”

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. Is he okay?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, but when I got a call from my sister, it freaked me out, so I came out here to take it. He’s fine, but I needed a minute before I went back in. When I saw her name on the caller ID, I just thought—you know.” He smiled at me tightly. “And then your poor friend was suffering from a severe camel bite, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

I laughed. “I’m such an ass.”

“Nah, I get it. Justin was all over you at the engagement party too.”

I winced. “That was not my finest hour.”

“Really? You’re not always mainlining martinis and wine?” He leaned way over the deck railing pretending to look below him. “I see glass down there; I don’t see any liquid.”

I scrunched up my nose. “I had an excuse.”

“Then? Or tonight?”