Page 61 of Hidden Desire

Another round of applause sounded, and Sage glanced over to Stassi. “Mr. Hewitt couldn’t have come himself? Typical.” She rolled her eyes, and Stassi just simply nodded. Sage stood up, pushing herself away from the table. “I guess we should have gotten our drinks when Marcus took off. I can imagine the line is long. “What would you like?”

“I’ll take a champagne.” Sage took off and went to get in line. She was there for only ten minutes when she spotted Marcus headed in the opposite direction, drink in hand. He walked over and leaned in.

“Expect to give a tip for the bartender.” He smirked. “There isn’t one person leaving without tossing something in the cup up there.” He rolled his eyes. “So much for the free open bar.” He walked past her, and Sage reached for her wallet in her pocket. She opened it and found a one-dollar bill and then a few twenties.” She sighed and pulled out a twenty. Maybe that would be enough for the night.

It took her nearly thirty minutes to get to the front of the line, where she ordered two champagnes. She tossed in the twenty and waited for their drinks to be handed to them. She thanked him and turned away, heading back to the table. When she got back there, the food had already arrived.

“You better eat up,” Sage replied. “Your food will get cold.”

The situation was awkward to start with, and Sage wanted to think that things would ease themselves out throughout the night. Little did she know, it could only get worse.

Lena and Maya came rushing in an hour later after Sage and Stassi had just finished their meals. “It's good of you both to show up,” Sage teased.

Maya rolled her eyes. “If you knew the day I had, you would never tease. I worked late, then was just about to get here when we got a flat tire.” Maya made a face. “I thought we might have to walk so we could get some use out of our $70 tickets.”

“That’s stinks,” Sage remarked.

“I’ll go grab us a couple of drinks,” Maya said, looking to Lena. “I know we could both use them.”

Lena sat down and stared aimlessly across the table. “Exhausted,” she said. “I had to work this morning, and then the outfit I planned on wearing had a hole in it, so I had to find something else, and then, like Maya said, the rest of the day didn’t go quite as planned.

“But you’re here now,” Sage replied. “That’s what matters.”

Lena looked over to Marcus and frowned. “Where’s Trent.”

Marcus groaned. “Don’t ask. I’ve been through the story at least half a dozen times. I’m over it.”

Lena looked across the table. I’ll tell you later, Sage mouthed. Lena nodded and closed her eyes. “I could have slept the day away.”

Stassi slowly pulled her hand away from Sage’s. “I’m going to run and do a few things, talk to a few people, just mingle some. I’ll see you all in a bit.”

Sage watched as Stassi went out onto the floor and walked straight up to a man. She shook his hand, then started talking to him, laughing and exuberantly stating something. Sage couldn’t hear her, but there was either a connection there, or Stassi was just back in her element.

“What was that about?” Lena asked, turning her attention to Stassi.

Sage shrugged. She expected that the two of them would just spend the evening together, not allowing space to get between them. But when Stassi took off, it took Sage to a dark place. What was it that excited Stassi so much about socializing with people she barely knew? Sage recognized a couple of faces in the crowd as board members, but Stassi wouldn’t have known them. Or had any reason to converse with them.

Maya came back to the table, and both Lena and Maya quickly drank from their glasses of wine. “Hold up,” Marcus replied. “You’re going to get drunk before you’ve had the food.”

Lena laughed. “Wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Drown out this day, anyway.”

Sage smiled before turning back to watch Stassi. Stassi had wandered up to two more people. Sage frowned. Where was this coming from, and why was Stassi so eager to talk to everyone? She leaned back in her seat and just watched her. Maybe she didn’t know Stassi as well as she thought she did.

“Hey, Marcus.” Sage turned to the sound of the voice. Wyatt from HR was grinning from ear to ear as he looked at Marcus. As Marcus mentioned, he clearly had a crush. Now that Marcus had broken up with Trent, it seemed like Marcus was open to it.

“Hey, Wyatt. You look nice.” Wyatt’s cheeks flushed as he looked over Marcus and gave him an approving smile.

“Wanna dance?” Wyatt asked.

Sage stared between the two of them as Marcus got up and was escorted out to the floor by Wyatt. They began slow dancing, and Sage turned to Lena. “So, what the hell?” Lena asked.

Sage shook her head. “A minor disagreement, from what I can tell. Marcus says it’s over that they’ve drifted apart. Trent didn’t really want to be here. Blah blah blah.” Sage shrugged. “Who knows? It just seems like Marcus is jumping. He’s probably hurt, but he shouldn’t be doing something as drastic as dancing with another guy. Makes no sense.”

Sage turned to Stassi as those words looped around her mind. Nothing really made any sense, though. If Stassi preferred to socialize with the people that the union would fight against, then she wasn’t certain she knew who Stassi was. She sipped on her champagne, until the glass was empty, then pushed it to the side and continued to watch.

Two hours passed, and Stassi continued to mingle on the floor, like she was escaping Sage. Lena and Maya joined the dancers, and Wyatt showed Marcus his moves. Sage got up from the table and went over to the bar when the line had dwindled. “I’ll take a champagne,” she said.

“Coming right up.” The bartender turned and poured her a glass, then slid it in her direction. “Tips are always welcome,” he said, before moving on to the next customer.

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