My Best Friend's Ex (Edited)

Part 6 (edited)

Knowing diving into the reasoning he avoided the group at Christmas would be a tad cruel, I say, "Well, we missed you. It's never the same without you."

"Maybe next time." It's a generic response, one I don't think he means. I'm not sure we'll ever see Colby at another party, and that makes me sad.

"How's life? How's the job?"

He nods. "Good. I'm a doing social media with Sam still which has its good and bad days." He glances over at Adalyn and Logan and nods, "Boyfriend?"

I laugh as I look back at Logan and shake my head. "No, just a friend."

"Huh." He takes a sip of his drink and then looks at me with a tilt of his head. "The way he's staring at you, you could have fooled me."

"Just friends." I pause and then ask, "Want to meet them? You're just sitting here over by yourself, might be nice to have some company."

"How do you know I'm not waiting for someone?" he asks, a smirk on his handsome face.

"Are you?"

"Nah." He chuckles and stands from his chair. With his arm wrapped around me, he walks me back to my friends.

When I approach, Adalyn's eyes look like they're about to pop out of their sockets. It's a natural reaction when in Colby's presence. He's gorgeous with his dark brown, messy hair that's trimmed shorter on the sides and thick on top, his five o'clock shadow, light blue eyes, and unforgiving, hardworking muscles. But Logan doesn't look as thrilled with the addition to our little get-together.

"You guys, this is my friend Colby. We grew up together, he knows far too many secrets about me from middle and high school that will horrify you and if he wants to keep his balls intact, he will keep those stories to himself."

Leaning over to shake hands with Adalyn and Logan, Colby quickly winks at me and says, "We'll see." He turns his attention to my friends, pulling from his outgoing personality that never seems to fail him, and shakes their hands. "Colby, nice to meet you. It's rare I get to meet people outside our little friend circle, especially friends of Emma's. Whenever I see this girl," he wraps his arm back around my shoulder and squeezes me tight, "she's either butterfly stitching someone's head or patting down their ass with Neosporin. I'm glad I caught her without her first aid kit tied around her waist and instead with a drink in her hand."

"You've never seen her drink?" Adalyn asks and then says, "Oh, I'm Adalyn by the way."

"Ugh, I'm the worst," I reply. "Colby, this is Adalyn and Logan. Sorry."

He nods at them and then says, "I've seen Emma drink, but I've never seen her get drunk." He smiles down at me. "She always took care of us." The sentiment is sweet. I know my friends from back home appreciate me, but it's always nice to hear on occasion.

"You've never seen Emma drunk?" Adalyn asks. "Wow, that's surprising since I feel like I see drunk Emma more than sober Emma."

"Seriously?" Colby's eyes shoot up to his hairline.

"No." I playfully swat at Adalyn. "She's lying. I don't drink that much. But when I have time off and need to relax, I might throw back a few Jack and Cokes."

"And shots of whiskey," Logan adds, tipping his drink back into his mouth.

"Well, fuck, I've never seen this side of Emma." Colby rubs the back of his neck, his gaze fixed on me. "Next party, you're getting your ass wasted. No excuses."

"That's if you show up." I'm joking, but there is a layer of darkness that blankets his expression, and it makes me sad. Colby is different to most guys. He masks his demons and always tries to put on a good show for everyone around him, which he's doing right now.