All I Never Had

Chapter Eleven

Wes~

Gracie was subtly leaning against my chest, trying not to make it obvious that she had put nearly all of her body weight against me, but needed the physical comfort of knowing that there was absolutely no chance that someone was going to sneak up on her.

I took her weight easily and stood there, making casual conversation with Chad as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, but my insides were buzzing and highly aware of the full on contact of Gracie's body against mine even if it was innocent in nature.

When Blake appeared with Gracie's shot and drink in hand, she straightened her posture slightly, but didn't pull away from me which I enjoyed for some reason. Actually the more I thought about it the more my logical mind tried to make sense of it.

There's a gorgeous woman touching me. Of course I am going to have a reaction to that.

It was as simple and as easy as that. Gracie was insanely attractive and was touching my entire torso at the moment. Of course my body is going to react to that kind of contact. It didn't mean I had feelings for her, it was lust - attraction that I'd felt for countless women before her.

Except I've never felt this level of infatuation before...whatever. I don't do feelings and I'm not about to start now. I feel protective of Gracie, but that's just because that's who I am as a person. Right?

My brain wanted to sort out my emotions immediately because they were new and foreign and my logical mind demanded an explanation that I didn't have.

Shaking my head in an effort to shut off my racing thoughts, I grabbed one of the shots that Blake brought over and held it high with the rest of the group.

"Anybody got a toast?" Maggie asked.

"I got one for ya" Blake said, clearing his throat. "Here's to thinking positive and testing negative, Cheers!"

"Jesus Blake," I muttered under my breath as I dropped my head and laughed with my chin tucked against my chest.

"Ew!" Amanda playfully whined, slapping Blake's bicep who was laughing along with the rest of the table.

"I mean I'll cheers to that." Chad said, tapping his glass against Blakes which earned him a comically shocked expression from Maggie, whose jaw slacked open as she folded her arms across her chest, eyeing my friend.

Uh oh Chad. Bad move, buddy. Maggie thinks you either just admitted to cheating or that you think she might have an STD. Either way, you're in trouble bud.

I felt Gracie's shoulders shaking with laughter as she giggled at Chad's mistake. The only one who hadn't noticed Maggie's death stare was Chad himself, who downed his shot alongside Blake and stood there like a happy oblivious idiot.

I cleared my throat loudly and motioned over toward Maggie with my head, prompting Chad to turn and meet Maggie's comically heated gaze.

"What? No! Mag - that's not what I meant! I meant I'd cheers to Blake testing negative... Blake!"

Maggie was grinning at Chad who was panicked and drunkenly groveling, when she raised her shot glass and shrugged Chad's arm off her shoulder.

"I'm not toasting to Blake's STD status. So here's to Gracie being single!" Maggie said, raising her shot glass cheerfully and tossing a playful elbow into Chad's side.

Hell yes. I'll drink to that.

The entire group tossed their shots back before placing the empty glasses down on the table and I watched as Gracie leaned forward and gathered all of the, piling them into a neat stack in front of her.