Page 80 of Bidding War

I’m in the middle of freaking out in my office when I get a text. My phone dances in my nervous fingers before I calm down enough to check the text, and I nearly drop it twice before I open it up. But the text is from Kelsey, not Anderson. I let my breath loose in disappointment and open it up.

“Geiger quit. I’m out of options, or I wouldn’t bother you on your two-week tryout. But June, I need help tonight, or I might have to close. Can’t do this whole show on my own.”

He can’t close tonight. There’s hockey. That’s money hand over fist for him. It’s going to be packed wall to wall tonight, so he’s right. He can’t do this alone.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I fall into my desk chair to think. My gut tells me to track Anderson down, but realistically, how would I manage that? I know where he works and sleeps, but I don’t know where he goes with Moss. That whole side of his life has been left purposefully blank to keep me safe. Anderson decided that long ago, and now, his decision is biting me in the ass.

And he’s a grown man. He can take care of himself. If I expect him to trust me with Andre, I have to show that I trust him with Moss. Maybe they’re doing something somewhere, and he’s out of range for cell phones … I try not to dive too deep into that thought. No good will come of it.

The point is, I have to let him do his thing. He’s letting me, so I have to let him. And right now, my thing is helping out a friend.

I text Kelsey, “I’ll be there by six.”

“You are a goddess,” comes back fast.

If only I were. If I were a goddess, my boyfriend wouldn’t be missing.

I finish up at Andre’s, then zip home to change for the bar. Today is going to be a very long day, and that means energy drinks, but as soon as I reach for one in my fridge, I remember Kelsey owes me, and I duck back out. He has Roaring Lion on tap, and I plan to make full use of it. It tastes like Red Bull, but better somehow, and it definitely keeps me up when I need it.

When I walk into the bar, Kelsey’s glee is palpable. He hollers over the din, “My savior!”

I chuckle and pop behind the bar, diving right in.

It’s as busy as I expected—hockey nights always are. We are slammed, and I end up in the weeds a couple of times before things calm down and I get a break. At that point, I race to the bathroom and check my phone.

Nothing from Anderson. It sits like a weight on my chest.

There is a text from Callie, though. “Call me!”

Shit. I dial her up. “Hey, what?—"

“I burped. In front of Daniel.”

I laugh. “And?”

“He didn’t seem to notice.”

“That’s good. He?—"

“Do you think he’s going to break up with me?”

I smack my forehead. “How are you this pretty and this smart and this insecure, Callie?”

“Because I’m in love.”

I let out a sigh. “Yeah, okay. That makes everyone dumb. Me included.”

“What’s wrong? You sound off.”

“I haven’t heard from Anderson since I saw him yesterday morning. It’s not like him.” Skipping the parts about his Moss work, I’m not sure I’m conveying the situation properly. But this is all I can say to her.

“Is he ghosting you?”

I laugh at the thought. “No way, he’s … ” But is he? It doesn’t feel possible. Anderson is not that kind of guy. Especially not after everything we’ve been through.

Except that he is that kind of guy.

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