Unsettled (Chosen #1) Read Online Free Page B

I wasn’t shitfaced. I just needed a little time. Nonetheless, I was taken over by guilt that I hadn’t been a proper designated driver. It felt like we had only been in Mary Ann’s for an hour. Looking down at my watch, I saw it was still so early in the evening that I could get a cup of coffee and wait out the beers I had drunk. Concurrently, I felt awful that I didn’t get Teagan’s fucking phone number. Ugh. I was so confused.
    “No, Lizzie. I…” she stuttered as she tried to put her hands on her hips.
    Our conversation was cut off by an Irish accented male yelling, “Lizzie!” I whirled around and saw Teagan step out of Mary Ann’s with the boys right on his heels. He looked worried but I thought I saw relief in his expression as our eyes met. I held up my hand to Darcy, silently telling her to wait. I walked towards Teagan.
    “Hey, what’s going on with your friend ?” he asked as he looked over my shoulder and gave a quick cork of his head.
    “She wants to go home. We live in Wellesley. It’s about 20 miles from here,” I said as I pointed up aimlessly to Route 9. “But I…I had three or four beers, I mean, pints and I’m not sure I can drive yet.” I frowned in despair. In that moment, those quick twenty miles felt like two hundred to me. I was simply not ready to get behind the wheel. Even the thought of it sent me into a panic attack.
    “Aye, I see,” h e said, smiling at me. He saw the apprehension in my body language and our eyes locked again and I told him it wasn’t a joke with my look. His smile sobered and he cleared his throat and looked between Darcy and me.
    “Well, our place is right there ,” he said, pointing over to a big brownstone with a green awning. “She can use the phone to call your brother. I’m sure we can work it out,” he said.
    I pondered his invitation for a moment as I stared deeper into his eyes. All I saw was warmth , and was that...interest?  Did he want me to stay with him a little longer? Was this the polite Irishmen gesture that he was talking about in the bar? Why am I even considering this? Darcy couldn’t go to the apartment of five foreign bachelors. Conner would flip. He knew about my one-night stands in the past and probably thought I would rub off my promiscuity on Darcy. Whether or not I moved back to Boston to get my head on straight, he obviously didn’t trust me. I was at a proverbial fork in the road, where I either made the right choice or the smart choice. I just couldn’t figure out which was which.
    I looked over my shoulder at Darcy. She was wringing her hands frantically and pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. I walked up to her with determination and put both my hands on her shoulders. “Darcy, these nice guys have a phone right across the street and we need to sober up for just a little while before we go home. Conner isn’t going to be mad at you. He will only be mad that I drank tonight. I’ll call him myself. It was my bad,” I said.
    Darcy went absolutely ape shit. Faster than I could think the next word in my head, she shoved my hands off her shoulders and tore my clutch out of my hand with a look of disgust. I was so taken aback by her flailing that I didn’t comprehend what was happening until she tore the keys out and was halfway across the street to the car.
    “ Darcy! Wait! What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled after her. She was stumbling, and for the first time ever, she didn’t look so elegant. It was obvious that the drunk driving pep talk wouldn’t work on her so forceful intervention was in order. I tried to walk in my heels with grace but the blisters on my feet were popped and holy fuck, it was so painful. I made it to the car as she started to open the door. I threw all my body weight into the door. Fucking ouch! Pain shot up my whole side and I cringed. After several seconds, as she stared at my forceful approach, I regained my composure and got in her face.
    “N O!” I angrily said in her face.