Always by Amanda Weaver Page B

along with her when she slipped and nearly crushed him. When she finally collapsed into a breathless giggling heap at his side, Dillon was gone from the booth. Ash was, too. She spotted them several feet away, and a girl was with them, whispering in Ash’s ear. He laughed and nodded. He leaned in to whisper something to Dillon and nodded his head towards the back of the bar.
    The laughter died in Justine’s throat. She went silent, knowing perfectly well how this whispered conversation was going down. This girl had something, either drugs or sex, and she wanted to share it with either Ash or Dillon. Maybe both. Any minute they’d disappear for an hour or so, just to show up later, bleary-eyed and freshly-fucked.
    All the liquor she’d drunk abruptly turned sour in her stomach. Justine wanted to go home. Not just back to the hotel, but home, back to LA, and forget these months and these boys had ever happened. She was seconds away from shoving her way out of the booth and out of the noisy bar when Dillon looked to the side and met her eyes. For once, she didn’t try to pretend she didn’t notice or didn’t care. She stared back, willing him, just this once, to say no.
    An emotion she couldn’t name flickered across his face for an instant. Embarrassment, contrition, an apology—she wasn’t sure, and then it was gone again. Ash slapped his shoulder and tilted his head, inviting, leading him away. Dillon paused for a second and then shook his head. She couldn’t hear what he said, but it looked like “Not tonight.”
    Then he turned away and headed back to the booth. The air left Justine’s lungs in a rush. Ash caught up to him a second later. She couldn’t make out the conversation, but it seemed clear Dillon wasn’t up for whatever it was Ash wanted to go do.
    “They’re better when you’re around, you know?” Rocky murmured quietly in her ear, too low for anyone else to hear. She startled and turned to face him.
    “Who? What do you mean?”
    “Ash and Dillon. Ash gets into ten kinds of trouble just walking out the door, and Dillon always goes along with him because… hell, that’s just who they are. The two of them, always. But when you’re around,” Rocky tilted his head towards Dillon, who was weaving through the crowd, making his way back to the table. “He doesn’t always. And if he says no, every once in a while Ash says no, too. So thanks. For what it’s worth.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not doing anything. I don’t control them.” Then she gave a bitter little laugh. “Sometimes I think it would be nice if I did, but no. I can’t make them do anything.”
    “Dillon respects you. They both do. That’s power, even if…” He trailed off, like he wanted to say something else but didn’t want to cross a line. She knew, though. Rocky was smart and observant. He could tell how she felt about Dillon just looking at her face. She was a little embarrassed at her show of weakness, but if anyone were to know, she was glad it was him.
    Finally, she finished his sentence for him. “Even if he never feels for me what I feel for him.”
    He turned to her, searching her face with his surprisingly sharp blue eyes. “He’s—” He shook his head and then took a deep breath. “First, you’re too good for pretty much every loser in this outfit. Second, he cares more for you than maybe you realize. It’s just—”
    She held up a hand to cut him off. “Yeah, I know. This is not the time or place. There’s no room in his life for that right now.”
    He squeezed her shoulders. “Smart girl. You just watch yourself, tough stuff. I don’t want to have to scrape you up off the floor. I will. But I don’t want to.”
    She gave him a weary smile, tired of reassuring everyone that she was okay and could take care of herself. Tired, because it wasn’t true and it was too late. “Don’t you worry about me. You just look out for them.”
    He swiveled his head to look back at Ash, still chatting