“You can’t be fucking serious.”

Chase’s annoyance announces him before I reach him in my rotation. I flick my eyes over to him. The colored lights from the rooftop rave swirl behind him, eye patch abandoned and his arms at his sides, lifeguardless.

Something below the surface has felt off with him all night. I’ve done my best to ignore it, chalking it up to drunk Chase. But now he’s serving me more of a scowl than I did to him earlier. Like I’m the one being an asshole. The look alone has all the irritation returning. Mix it with the contempt in his tone, and I have no more patience for him at all.

“I don’t know, Chase.” I pocket my phone and face him. “After you trying to shove my dick down a chick’s throat for the past hour, I’m not very giggly.”

“One night,” he says. “I thought I might get one fucking night with my best friend.”

“You were getting it until you decided to ignore what I said about not wanting to screw anyone.”

“Because you’ve wanted to screw anything lately? Or hell, even do anything at all?”

“It’s been a few days,” I remind him.

“Fuck off, Foster. It’s been longer, and we both know the reason.”

Running a hand over the bandana, I slide it off, scanning over the skyline before I come back to him. Outside of giving me shit, he’s never had an issue with the tours or Remi. But since the tours help pay for him, I doubt the resentment is aimed at them.

“What’s your point?”

“My point?” he asks, the words harsh. “We’re supposed to be having the time of our lives on this trip. We were having the time of our lives.” He shakes his head, stepping closer. “Now you ditch me to record the sky for some bitch you’ve never even met.”

My head shakes, too, and I step. “Call her that again and see what happens.”

Abysmal lighting aside, I catch his eye roll. “What are you going to do?” Step. “Kick my ass over pussy you won’t ever touch?”

“You’re fucking pushing it,” I grind out.

“And you’re fucking pathetic if you think anything between you two is real.”

He strikes an exposed nerve with that one, and we both step, less than a foot between us.

In all the years I’ve known him, all the times he’s been a prick, I’ve never been close to hitting him until this moment. He appears just as close to unloading on me. His fist clenches at his side and then relaxes and then tightens again, the rest of him equally tense.