Chapter 54


    Winnie


    “Hello, Winnie! Nice to see you!” Rebel


    holds up her ss for me with a big cheer. She has switched ces with Logan to sit on my left side


    when I walk up to the table.


    Alice, however, isn’t sitting down. She


    stands up from her seat and gets this


    sparkly look on her face beforeing to hug me. “Winnie!”


    “Hi!” I hug her back. “How are you?”


    “I’m good. How are you?”


    Before I can answer, Nathan speaks. “Here shees, my biggest rival in love: Winnie. I swear there is


    a romance going on here…” he sighs but hides a smile.


    “Happy to see you too, big guy,” I tell him and pat his shoulder. “Have you gotten


    thinner?”


    He snorts. “Shut up! I’m working out harder than ever!”


    I grin. “It shows—I’m just teasing!”


    People around the table snicker, including Logan. I feel weed sitting by therge


    table the za Hotel has assembled for us.


    “Oh, and since you wondered, I’m feeling pretty okay,” I inform Alice and beam at her. “Mark won’t be


    joining us, though. He needed to take care of something urgent.”


    “We saw,” Alice sits down beside me, grimacing. “But you’re fine, right? We kind of assumed it was a


    friendly date anyway.”


    “Oh, it was,” my eyes flicker to Jake, whose cold expression turns less icy after hearing


    me confirm I’m not into Mark.


    Interesting…


    “I


    It hits me then that Jake was probably mad because I told him, “I don’t date nice guys, and then I went


    here with Mark. He must


    have been so confused, thinking I was a


    hypocrite.


    “Well, you’re finally here, so can we move on with the celebrations?” Kelly, who I’ve never met before,


    says in a rather bitchy tone. “I would like for us to order some


    drinks.”


    Alice blinks in surprise, seemingly confused by the other woman’s attitude, before she finds words. “Uh,


    of course?”


    “Excellent!” Kelly ps her hands, and Alice looks at me questioningly. I shrug at her-I don’t know why


    Kelly dislikes me. Unless Jake told her about me or something?


    Either way, I shake away all negative energy and jealousy and focus on my friends. I’m


    here to have fun.


    ***


    A few hourster, we aren’t at the hotel anymore, but getting drunk at a bar. The hockey guys I don’t


    know well aren’t with us. It’s Nathan, Alice, Logan, Rebel, Kelly, Jake, and me—the single girl who feels


    awkward not cuddling with anyone.


    Alice is drunk out of her mind. She is finally


    not pregnant and got a babysitter, so she is


    cuddling with Nathan. He has called a cab


    already, and her legs are dangling down from hisp.


    As for Rebel and Logan, they are doing shots. by the bar. And Kelly? She is drunk, clinging to Jake’s


    forearm and talking shit about me.


    She seems to have this idea that I can’t hear


    her. Jake is currently busy ignoring her. He called a cab for her. That, my friend, is


    perfect for me.


    As soon as Kelly is gone, I will confess my feelings. Mark said Jake and Kelly weren’t exclusive or


    serious, and I will take his word


    for it. So I wait. I order shots with Rebel and


    Logan,ugh, and have fun, and once Jake is


    alone, Rebel smirks at me.


    “Go get him,” she pushes the small of my back. While drinking, I told her of my ns, and now even


    Logan is cheering me on. “Tell him how you feel. It’s not wrong-the guy


    needs to know he has options.”


    I swallow thickly. “Okay, here goes…


    I leave Logan and Rebel by the bar and set the course for the corner of the bar. Jake is talking to some


    girl, and my heart pounds faster and faster. Can I do this? Yes. Yes, I can! Even though it’s scary…


    Jake has this presence now. It feels like my blood is boiling when he is in the same room or paying me


    attention. I’m already dizzy, and when he looks up and tilts his head,


    smiling, I almost bail. My stomach does this unwee flip, and by some miracle, I steer


    forward.


    “Hi…” I feel so awkward standing in front of him. The girl scowls at me and opens her


    mouth.


    “Um, who are you?”


    I arch an eyebrow at her, but Jake beats me to it by saying, “Winnie, my best friend!


    There you are!”


    Before I know it, I’m squeezed into a hug and lifted up from the ground while the girl stares at us. I’m


    shocked. The girl is shocked. And once I ce my hands on Jake’s


    shoulders and wrap my legs around him like a monkey, she storms away.


    I can’t help butugh. “What did you do that for, you dork?!”


    Jake leans in closer, voice all soft. “She was rude to you, so I made sure to put her in ce.”


    The thudding in my chest speeds up. I’m speechless. I didn’t expect Jake to do that for


    me, and he makes a smug face as I stare at him. Eyebrows lifted, and a huge grin. “Your


    heart is beating really fast.”


    I don’t say anything. I’m embarrassed. It’s as if my brain just now realizes that we are practically hugging.


    My hands are on Jake’s broad shoulders, eyes locked onto his face. I don’t know what to say or where to


    go, and


    his amusement grows.


    “You have this look on your face.”


    I don’t have to ask him what kind of look.


    I’m blushing and still gazing into his blue eyes, more nervous than ever. I should be


    confessing, but it’s not exactly easy.


    “You’re very talkative today,” he teases while walking toward the door. We both know that I can walk by


    myself, yet no one is


    trying to correct this intimacy between us.


    I like having him hug me and take a deep


    breath—I better just blurt it out, even if it’s


    embarrassing!


    “I was wrong!” I throw out the words the second we are outside the bar. Jake’s mouth opens, but I quickly


    muffle it with my hand. That makes him pause in his steps, and I nervouslyugh. “Just listen, okay? I


    can’t have you talking, or I won’t dare to say this.”


    He freezes but then nods his understanding. I can also feel his lips curving into a smile underneath my


    palm. It tickles.


    “Good,” I remove my hand from his lips. But it only makes it worse-now I can see his smile, and I groan


    in frustration. “Stop smiling at me like that!”


    He snorts. “What? What have I done?”


    “Nothing, you’re just…” I sigh. “Can I just kiss you?”


    He pulls his lips into his mouth as if trying his hardest not to smile. “No, you will have


    to say it.”


    “Okay,” I inhale and exhale dramatically. Jake, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I


    do now. I want you, and


    you’re a bastard for making me say it out


    loud. My cheeks are burning. My heart is pounding, and I’m so nervous that I might fall dead to the


    ground.”


    “Why are you nervous?”


    “Because… well… you’re with Kelly…”


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    The gentle look in his eyes kind of makes me want to scream. Especially since it’s obvious


    he knows I’m jealous. “Well, I got options now, don’t I? Maybe I don’t want to date Kelly at all.”


    “But that’s-”


    He silences me with a kiss, and that’s the


    end of this discussion.