Damian
I should have left when I first stood up, but I didn’t, because when Elara met my eyes for the first time since she entered the room and saw the shock in her eyes, I suddenly felt the urge to stay and keep watching her.
“I thought you’re going home,” Marcus said when I sat back down and exhaled.
“I was planning to,” I said, clenching my jaw as I tried my best to not look at Caleb and Elara.
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“What changed your mind?”
I didn’t answer, because my attention already returned to the reason why I was here at the bar in the first place.
Caleb was still talking to her when I should have stopped watching.
That was the problem.
I knew I should have looked away, rejoined Marcus, done literally anything else that made sense.
Instead, my attention stayed fixed on Elara as if she had become the only moving part in a room full of noise.
Caleb scooted closer to Elara again.
His smile wasn’t casual, it was the kind men used when they already assumed they had permission to continue.
“We can go out some other time,” Caleb said, voice smooth.
“I can make things easier for you.
You just have to relax a little.”
Elara forced a smile as she avoided to look in my direction.
“Thanks.
I’m just here for work.”
She had repeated that same answer twice since she sat beside Caleb.
“I’ve heard that a lot of times,” Caleb replied to Elara, clearly amused.
“But you don’t really look like someone who belongs here.
You’re not aggressive like others.”
I felt something shift in my chest, unpleasant and uninvited.
Marcus noticed my silence.
“You’ve gone quiet again,” he muttered.
“That usually means you’re either bored or planning something destructive.”
”I’m not planning anything,” I said, but my eyes didn’t leave Elara.
Caleb was still speaking to her like her silence was just a pause in conversation rather than a boundary.
He poured himself into the space between them with ease, like he had done it too many times to count.
And she… she was enduring it.
But my thoughts didn’t stay simple.
Because Elara already has someone.
She had a life outside this room.
A boyfriend.
Someone who was supposed to know better than to let her end up here, in a place like this, sitting across from men like Caleb who smiled too easily and spoke too confidently.
And yet here she was.
Working in a bar.
Letting another man lean into her space like he had every right to be there.
The irritation that followed wasn’t rational.
It wasn’t even clean.
Marcus tilted his head slightly.
“You’re staring at her like she owes you money.”
I clenched my jaw.
She did owe me money, but seeing her now sitting close with Caleb, I felt as if she owed me an explanation too.
And then the thought sharpened.
How exactly does her asshole boyfriend allow this?
It kept repeating in my head with increasing irritation, like a loop I couldn’t interrupt.
How does the man who is supposed to care about her allow her to sit here and be spoken to like this?
How does he let her walk into a place where men like Caleb treat boundaries like suggestions?
It wasn’t concern, I told myself that immediately.
It was judgment.
Caleb reached for her drink and slid it slightly closer.
“Drink,” he said lightly.
“You’re too stiff right now.
Or you want me to melt something… down there?”
Elara’s breath hitched for a second, I saw a flicker of anger in her eyes but it quickly vanished.
Marcus leaned in, lowering his voice.
“Okay.
I think I get it now.”
”Get what?”
”You’re not bored.
You’re irritated.”
Marcus nudged my arm with his elbow.
“Well, well,” he said under his breath.
“Has some little kitten in this room stolen Dr.
Blackwood’s heart?”
I shot him a flat look.
He followed my gaze toward Caleb and Elara before his grin widened.
“Don’t tell me it’s the one Caleb’s been flirting with.”
I didn’t answer.
Marcus laughed quietly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I turned to him, my expression cold enough to erase the amusement from his face.
“Keep talking,” I said evenly, “and I’ll remind you why you hated sparring with me in medical school.”
Marcus raised both hands in surrender.
“Alright, alright.
Message received.
I’ll mind my own business.”
Meanwhile, Caleb pressed closer to Elara again, lowering his voice as though they were sharing a secret.
She glanced down, then very briefly in my direction, and that single hint of awareness made something tighten in my chest.
“You know,” he said, “you don’t have to pretend you’re comfortable.
I’d rather see the real you.”
Elara shifted again, more visibly now, clearly aware that she was being watched.
Her gaze flicked away, then back toward the table, and for a brief second it looked like she hated that she couldn’t disappear.
“I am really fine…” Elara answered quietly.
Caleb smiled as if her denial only encouraged him.
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
“But that’s alright.
I’ve got the whole night to change your mind.”
Then, I barely registered it at first.
Just movement at the edge of my space.
Perfume was too strong and presence was too intentional.
“Hi,” she said softly, sliding closer.
“You’ve been quiet all night.”
”I prefer it that way,” I replied without looking at her.
She laughed lightly, misreading the dismissal as invitation.
“That’s interesting.
Most men here try to impress people.
You don’t even try.”
”I’m not here to impress anyone.”
”That makes it even more interesting,” she said, leaning in further.
“We can—”
I finally looked at her.
“No,” I said.
“I’m not interested.”
She blinked, then smiled again, slower this time.
“You don’t have to be shy about it.
I can tell when someone is just playing hard to get.”
I exhaled once through my nose.
“Leave.”
Her expression faltered for half a second, then recovered too quickly.
“I think you’re just not used to someone like me.”
I turned away completely.
That should have been the end of it.
But it wasn’t.
Because across the room, Caleb has cornered Elara, speaking to her with a grin as if offering something extravagant.
Then, the sound cut through everything.
A slap.
Every head in the room turned.
Including mine.
Elara was standing now, her hand still raised slightly, eyes locked on Caleb with a kind of anger that had finally broken through whatever restraint she had been holding onto.
Caleb didn’t move.
Neither of us did.