Heat curled in my core. This was the first time he’d touched me since the day on the quad.

He raked his eyes over me in a leisurely fashion, a slow perusal that started at my heels and worked its way up to my dress. “You look nice,” he murmured.

I nodded. “What are you doing here?” I asked, looking at his face, devouring his chiseled jaw and full lips. I squirmed, remembering that mouth on my body.

I peeked over his shoulder into the dining establishment. Was he alone?

Ah. Dax and several of the fraternity little sisters sat at a large round table toward the back, near where the band was setting up. Lorna was there, of course.

I let out a long breath.

“I’m here with friends. What about you? You with Blake?” His voice had snarled that last bit, and I stiffened. Blake had actually cooled it with the pressure and I wasn’t sure why, but part of me wondered if he was afraid of Declan.

“You’re not saying anything.” He leaned on the wall to get out of a patron’s way, putting us closer together. His finger reached out and traced a line across my cheek. “I know this look. You’re worried.” He paused, his brow wrinkling. “Colby?”

And I heard it then, the slight slur in his voice, the smell of alcohol on his breath.

My heart stuttered. I reared back. “You’ve been drinking?”

“I’m twenty-one. Would you like one?” He held up a bottle of dark beer, and I felt stupid I hadn’t even noticed. I’d been too busy taking in the rest of him.

“I don’t like it,” I snapped.

“Good thing I’m not with you then.” He tipped it up to take a sip.

We stared at each other as the seconds ticked by, that familiar zing between us tugging at my heart. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t want him so much. Even knowing he’d been drinking—I didn’t care!

“I came to your apartment tonight, but you weren’t home. There was something I wanted to give you.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You ready for round two already? I didn’t think you did that, you being strictly a one-time shagging kind of girl.”

My chest rose. “Don’t be a jerk. Don’t you think I’m hurting? I’m going crazy thinking about you—”

Blake and Shelley stepped inside the door, laughing as they came over to us. Blake gave me a gentle hug and sent Declan a glare.

Declan sent me a conflicted look as if he had more to say, but then he straightened up from the wall, his muscles rippling and flexing. “Good to see you. I need to get back to my friends.”

Such cool politeness.

And then he stalked away to join the boisterous group at the back. As I watched, Lorna immediately got on one side of him and another girl on the other, both of them vying for his attention.

See, people are never who you really think they are. He’s just like all the rest, the rules girl said in my head.

“You okay?” Shelley asked, her voice tentative.

I shook my head. My chest felt like it was caving in. We weren’t even friends anymore. “I can’t stay here and watch him.”

Blake nodded. “I agree. Let’s go back to your apartment and order in pizza. My treat.”

I nodded and glanced down at my pink dress. I wanted to get it off as soon as possible. “Just get me out of here.”

I WASN’T A pussy. If she didn’t want me, I’d just forget about her, I told myself as I sat back down and took one of the tequila shots sitting on the table.

Dax sent me a wary look. “You’ve had enough.”

“It’s enough when she’s out of my head.” I nudged my head at Elizabeth, who stood at the door, a wounded expression on her face.

As a rule, drinking was something I rarely indulged in, but over the past few days, I’d worked on pushing Elizabeth out of my head. Or I’d tried to. Drinking dulled the pain briefly, but it was never enough.

I let her go the only way a guy knows how. I focused on girls who wanted me.

There’s no point in chasing a dream if it doesn’t want you back.

And I couldn’t stop the thought that maybe she was really in love with Blake but was denying it to herself. Maybe I was completely wrong about her feelings for me.

Since she’d told me to stay away, I’d seen them together everywhere. In the student center. On the quad. At her place.

I hated him for no reason other than he had her attention and I didn’t.

I lifted my beer and took a drink.

One particularly bad day after realizing Blake was in her apartment, I’d called Lorna to come over to my flat. My head had been all twisty, and I hadn’t cared who I was with, my body jonesing for a release to make me forget about Elizabeth.

I’d kissed Lorna and eventually we’d ended up on my bed, but my heart hadn’t been into it, and before long I stopped us.

Being with Lorna had been wrong. And I don’t even know why.

I didn’t owe Elizabeth anything.

But …

The clarity hit me. I wasn’t just falling in love with Elizabeth; I’d gone completely over the edge as if someone had shoved me off a skyscraper and I was freefalling toward the concrete.

She was my queen and I wanted to be her king. I wanted to sit at the throne of her body and love her forever, but it wasn’t just about sex, although that had been over the fucking moon. No, with us it was about two broken people who looked deep into the eyes of the other person and just—meshed. Call it fate or destiny or just plain old karma, but whatever it was, the moment I watched her dance in the rain, my heart had known, only it had taken my head a while to catch up.

“She’s leaving,” Dax leaned over and told me.

“I don’t care. Fuck her.”

“Yeah, right.” He considered me, his gray eyes worried. “You need to get your head straight before the fight with Yeti.”

I turned my head to see her walk away and, fuck, part of me wanted to run after her.

And tell her what?

Was I ready to put myself out there again for someone with commitment issues?

Lorna’s heavily made-up eyes slid over me suggestively. “You want to get out of here, babe?”

I tipped up my beer and took a good long swig. “What’ve you got in mind?”

She licked red lips, her eyes gleaming with seduction as she pushed her tits in my face. I stared down at the creamy globes. I could have those in my hand tonight. “Whatever it takes to make you happy, Declan.”

Make me happy?

Nothing.

You are not to think about Elizabeth again, I told myself.

I scooted in closer to her, the scent of her perfume clogging up my nose. I toyed with a strand of her hair and gave her a broad smile. She leaned into the crook of my arms and kissed my neck, her mouth hot as she nipped down the column of my throat.

She slid her hands between my thighs and pushed down on my cock through my jeans. It didn’t even twitch.

Dax slapped his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go, bro.”

I blinked up at him, and the room spun. I waited for the pleasant buzz of beer to kick in, but all I got was an empty feeling in my gut.

He sighed. “Come on, let’s get you out of here before you do something you’ll regret.”

Lorna pouted. “But the night’s just getting started—”

I stood up with Dax’s help.

“Sorry, love. It’s not in the cards tonight,” he told her.

He leaned me against him and we made our way out the door of the bar. We stumbled toward his beamer, one big dude holding up another one.

“I love you, you know that, right?” I murmured.

He huffed, tugging me along. “Yeah, man. Me too. Now get in the bloody car.”

“Wait.” My eyes searched the carpark, hoping she was still there. “She’s gone,” I said.

He sighed and opened the door for me. “You got it bad, bro. I’m sorry it’s not working out.”