“Penn’s here,” she informs me with a mischievous grin on her face. The excitement in her tone fucks with me almost immediately.

I can feel the slight tremor that quakes through my body each time I hear that name and do my best to not look like I just won the lottery, because in all honesty, I’m not entirely sure that Penn even knows I exist.

Not yet, anyway.

“So?” I reply as nonchalantly as I can with a shrug. “That’s not why I came out tonight.”

“Sure it isn’t,” Aiden replies with a sly grin.

I chuckle nervously as I reach into my pocket for my lighter. A cigarette will help calm my nerves right now and maybe I can convince Aiden to stop fraying them by letting me buy her a drink.

“Beer or shot?” I ask her after I’ve lit my cigarette. I grin as her eyes light up, reflecting the bright ashen fire at the end of my smoke. Aiden’s kind of a lightweight when it comes to hard liquor, which is why I gave her the option. If she passes out on the floor, I won’t have to be reminded every two minutes that Penn is here and I can look like the conquering hero by carrying her out to safety.

It’s a way to kill two birds with one stone, really.

“Beer,” she replies, the grin still on her face.

“Bitch,” I grumble as I turn and lead the way toward the bar. Aiden giggles as she follows close behind, gripping me by the sides of my waist so she doesn’t get lost in the push of the ever revolving crowd in this place. I have half a mind to shake her loose and watch her struggle to get back to me, but since she’s the only friend I have in this place, I decide to play nice.

A lot of people know me here by name and they’ve seen my face plenty of times. To me, they’re acquaintances, whereas Aiden is an actual, true friend.

I reach back and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her around me and letting her have the only empty stool at the bar.

“Get whatever you want—I’ll pay tonight,” I say to her as I lean on the bar and narrow my eyes at the row of bottles against the wall. I don’t know what I feel like, if anything at all, but I’m sure that Aiden will manage to run through the money I brought tonight. It doesn’t bother me, though. She’s a good kid and being in her company always pulls me out of any bullshit my mind wants to toss at me in my quiet moments.

“Aiden!”

I turn my attention away from the bottles and glance over at the voice that’s greeting my drinking buddy for the evening and just as quickly turn my eyes away again.

“Hey, Penn! I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight!” she says, reaching over and giving her friend a quick hug.

Sure you didn’t, I think with a sour taste in my mouth. That’s probably the exact reason she insisted we come to this place tonight; because she knew exactly who would inhabit its walls.

“What you are drinking tonight, my fine little lady friend?” Penn asks when they pull apart. I roll my eyes and try not to sigh. So much for having a fun night out with Aiden—it seems she’s already being kidnapped away from me by the one person that still hasn’t noticed me even though I’m only a mere few feet away.

I slide out of the spot between her stool and the drunken bastard on the other side of me, and head for the door. I’m not going to try and pretend to be friendly and I won’t try to regain her attention, either. It’s obvious who she’d rather spend her time with, and I can’t fault her for it because I would pick Penn over me too if given the opportunity.

Once I’m outside, I place a cigarette between my lips, light it, and inhale deeply. I look up and down both sides of the street, unsure of which direction I want to take home today. I always like to try a path I’ve never traveled before—it’s pretty calming and helps with the turmoil that’s constantly raging inside of me.

“You’re such a goddamn drama queen sometimes,” Aiden’s voice greets me fondly.

I turn around, my cigarette hanging from my lips, and almost choke on the smoke. She brought Penn with her and she seems good and determined to make us speak to each other.

“Anyway,” she continues with a friendly eye roll as she turns her attention back toward Penn, “this is my very best friend, Gray Talbot. Gray, this is my very big pain in the ass, Penn Harris.”

I cast a quick glance in his direction, nod to acknowledge his presence, and then turn my eyes back toward the furthest stretch of pavement from where he’s standing. Being this close to him makes me fucking nervous—like I’ll make an ass out of myself and say something completely stupid by just trying to have a conversation and I’d rather not.

“Okay, well. I’m gonna head home,” I say to them, eyes still down the street.

“Hey,” Aiden says sharply, giving my arm a tug. “We just got here! You can’t leave!”

I shrug as I flick the ashes from the end of my cigarette and clear my throat.

“Got another one of those?”

I grunt as I pull the pack out of my back pocket and hold it out. Penn reaches into my half-smoked pack and fishes out a cigarette, then asks for a lighter. I’m becoming agitated, but I give him one anyway. Nothing like scaring off the guy you’re jonesing for to really hammer home that nothing ever goes the way it should.

“Thanks,” he says after he inhales deeply. “Fuck. Menthol. That’s gonna open up my lungs.”

I turn and glance at him again; an eyebrow raised as he and Aiden share a laugh. I can’t tell if they’re laughing at me, my choice of cigarette flavor, or just laughing for the sake of filling dead air. But the smile on Aiden’s face is one that I’m used to. It’s the same one she gives me once I’ve come down from some kind of epic meltdown, which tells me that at the very least, she’s not laughing at me. My eyes wander over to Penn, who’s watching me with curiosity and a grin curving the edge of his full lips. His larger than life, blue eyes are trying to lock onto mine, but I don’t look at him long enough to allow it.

“Yeah.”

I don’t mean for the word to sound as cold as it comes out, yet somehow, I don’t think he’s bothered by it. It could be the way he chuckles before he pulls on his cigarette again, or quite honestly, it could all be in my head at this point. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell the difference between reality and fantasy and that’s another reason I want to go home.

I’ve been out in public for about as long as I can stand and since I’m not scouting, and Aiden’s been swept off her feet, I really don’t have any business being outside of my workshop.

“Have fun tonight,” I say softly to Aiden, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, before I turn on my heel to leave.

“Nah, fuck that.”

Penn steps forward, grabs me by the arms, and shoves me back toward the establishment door. “I have a feeling you need to get good and loaded tonight, so I’m buying. Let’s get drunk.”

My body stiffens under his touch and I glance helplessly at Aiden who, at the moment, is desperately trying not to laugh. Penn puts a hand on my shoulder as we stand outside the door, takes one more drag of his cigarette and tosses it, before nodding at me to do the same.

I really wanted this whole thing.

But I do as I’m directed, letting him and Aiden each grip a shoulder and lead me back toward the bar. I guess tonight started out better than this morning.

Penn Harris finally knows I exist.