Scars Like Ours | Red View Romance #2

🍂 Twenty Eight

Cliff eyed himself in the swanky, gold-framed bathroom mirror as he washed his hands. Behind him in the large, polished room of white marble, a tuxedo-wearing trio of wedding guests headed out into the hall with laughter and chatter, paying him no mind.

Maybe he'd been too self-absorbed since the accident, thinking everyone would notice him and make some kind of comment or give him side-eyed stares. Sure, some people did. There'd been a few times tonight already that he'd caught Kenzie's friends looking, then turning away as soon as he so much as glanced in their direction. But for the most part, at an event like this, he was hardly drawing attention away from the bride and groom. And God, that felt good.

The scars were still there, still as deep as ever. He'd never like looking at himself, and he'd never fool himself into believing anyone else could, either. But maybe he didn't need to be so scared.

He left the bathroom--which was beautiful, he noted, reminding himself to compliment Jack on his choices later--with a higher chin, a confidence in his walk that hadn't been there since he was twenty-five. Then he came out into the little waiting area just between the men's room and the women's room, saw Tomas talking to some guy Cliff didn't know, and all the confidence evaporated into nothing.

What did it matter if he wasn't the total freak show he worried he was? It didn't mean he was normal. He surely wasn't handsome. And there was no way in hell he'd ever be in Tomas' place, spending the night on a date with Annie.

Speaking of, Cliff wondered as he turned to leave, why was he in there loitering around with a friend--Gabriela's date, he realized with a second glance--instead of out in the party with her? Maybe Annie was using the restroom and he came to wait for her. Either that or he'd come for himself and had gotten caught up in conversation, whether he wanted to or not.

"Mindy's looking great," Tomas' voice halted Cliff in his tracks just as he started to walk back towards the doors to the reception area. "Divorce suits her. Never knew what she saw in the dentist, anyways."

"You're dreaming if you think she'll ever see you as an option. You're her best friend's ex. Women have rules about that sort of thing."

Cliff turned back to face them, pretending to fuss with a non-existent stain on his suit as Tomas shrugged a shoulder and sipped the drink in his hand. Neither of the men paid him any attention, nor did the two women who strolled in from the ballroom, momentarily bringing the sounds of the party into the hallway before the doors closed behind them.

"Some women like breaking rules." Tomas' gaze followed the two women until they disappeared behind the bathroom door.

"She's fairly close with Kenzie," the other man--taller and broader than Tomas, with longer hair--spoke with an amused tone of warning. "Which probably means that she knows you're here with a date."

Tomas ran a hand over his face in a way that had uneasiness pouring over Cliff from head to toe. It wasn't a gesture of happiness, that was for sure. "God, don't remind me."

"That bad, huh?"

"Please, Levi, don't act like you haven't seen her. I don't know what Adam was thinking."

The uneasiness turned to anger in a flash, and the pretense of playing coy was forgotten. Cliff looked at the men straight on, no longer bothering to wipe at his suit.

Levi laughed, a hearty snort that had Cliff's fists clenching. "Yeah. And I think she's got about three inches on you in those heels."

Tomas closed his eyes, placing his glass against his forehead. "I think I'm getting set up with some sexy artist, and instead I end up on a date with a four-eyed giraffe."