Page 153 of Stay with Me

I smiled back, and even though I’d been on the verge of a complete breakdown this morning, I felt a lot better, like everything really would be okay. “Thank you.”

“If not, I’m sure your mom has a little black book around here and she probably knows someone we can hire to kick his ass.”

“Oh my God,” I said laughing.

She giggled as she curled up against the arm. She was so tiny, she barely took up half a cushion. “We’ll call that Plan B.”

“What’s Plan A?”

“You show up at his place wearing nothing but a sleek black trench coat and when he opens the door, you jump his bones.”

Laughing again, I shook my head. “I like Plan A.”

“And I bet he would, too.”

Wednesday night, I was a bundle of nerves. My stomach was full of them, and I could barely hold down the late lunch I’d grabbed with Roxy after we visited Clyde, which was nothing more than half a chicken salad sandwich.

For a crap ton of girlie reasons, I’d taken my time as I got ready for my shift as Roxy waited for me. I put waves into my hair, expertly applied my eye makeup, and glided on a shade lighter than crimson on my lips. I knew the guys from the bachelor party would probably hit the bar at some point; meaning Jax would be with them.

I hadn’t tried getting a hold of Jax until I’d gotten into my own car and Roxy was in hers. I’d sent him a quick text saying that I hoped I’d see him tonight. Then, because I’d been scared like a little girl with a monster in the closet, I’d dropped my phone in my purse and turned the music up. I didn’t check to see if he responded until I got to the bar.

No response.

“Not a big deal,” I’d told myself as I climbed out and headed in, but my heart was pounding.

There’d been no response at six.

There’d been no response by nine.

And to make everything all the more screwed up, Aimee was conspicuously absent from the bar. Granted, she could’ve finally gotten the message, but my heart hadn’t slowed down, and I was beginning to think that maybe Roxy had been wrong this morning. Maybe he’d changed his mind.

“You feeling okay?” Roxy asked after I handed over an appletini I wasn’t sure I made correctly.

I was feeling totally paranoid. “Yeah.”

She watched me carefully. “You haven’t heard from him, have you?”

Clamping my jaw shut, I shook my head.

“Calla, I didn’t—”

The door opened and my gaze swung toward it sharply and my heart jumped like it had done every time tonight. It wasn’t Jax.

Katie strolled in, rocking heels that could double as stilts. She didn’t teeter in them. Nope. She sashayed herself over to the bar, tapping a woman on the shoulder. “You’re in my seat.”

I sighed.

Roxy laughed softly.

The woman must’ve been accustomed to Katie, because she muttered something under her breath as she exited the seat. Katie dropped down, hitching the sparkly tube top up over her breasts. “Whiskey. Straight up.”

My brows rose. “Bad night?”

Her eyes rolled. “June—one of the girls—is trying out a new routine. Belly dancing. The girl can’t even grind to hip-hop without sending men running through the door like their wives just showed up.”

“Then how does she strip?” Roxy asked.

Even Nick appeared to be listening from where he stood a few feet over, on the other side of the ice well.

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