Page 54 of Wait For Me

“You need to apologize to her, not me.” I pointed at Star who was still sitting there stoically as the waiter returned with some real fucking napkins and tried to help her clean up.

Star got fed up and stood at that point. “Well, this has been fun. I’ll leave those papers with you to clean up, in case you can get a little bit of preview before I can get my lawyer to print me another copy that isn’t stained with bimbo booze.” She huffed, waved off the waiter, grabbed her leather satchel and left the restaurant without me.

“I’m sorry, Jared. I didn’t know. This was about your restaurant?”

“Obviously!” I managed to grit out between my clenched teeth while attempting to dry off the top sheet of the papers. There was no way I could leave them here in the restaurant or throw them in the trash since there was a lot of personal financial information in them.

“I thought my father was supposed to be doing this with you?”

I scoffed and turned to glare at the bitch, unable to fathom why in the fuck I had ever been with her.

“Yeah, right. Your dad was yankin’ my chain the whole time.”

Her indignant ass popped a hip out, with a hand on it, wobbling the whole time instead of looking sassy the way she no doubt hoped. “That’s bullshit and you know it. He even told you how to secure the rest of the money you needed.”

“Yeah?” She nodded her head in response. “Did you ever see your father draw up paperwork or make a plan for his silent partnership in all the time he’s been blowing smoke up my ass?”

She stared at me, obviously unable to recall that happening, because it never had.

“Yeah, and like I was told by all those bankers when I tried to get the loans – if he had paperwork drawn up showing he was invested, my approval chances would have been far greater, without it, they wouldn’t touch me. That’s the kind of thing a businessman like your father would know. Think about that for a while, and then think about how you just almost ruined the only chance I have at opening my own place. You think I would ever even consider taking you back after that shitshow you just caused between me and an investor who actually had legal papers drawn up and ready to sign?” I laughed and then gathered those papers. “Not that you would ever get another chance anyway.

I left her wobbling there with those parting words ringing in the air around her. I needed to go find Star and apologize.

20

Star

“I thought you had dinner with Bagger?” Aunt Viv asked when I came back to the house early. Then she took a good look at me and gasped. “What in the world happened to you?”

“Bagger’s girlfriend happened.”

“What? Who? Missy? They broke up though.”

“Well, apparently she didn’t get the memo, or if she did get it, she didn’t like what it had to say. So, while I was trying to show the contract my lawyer drew up to Bagger, she came over, called me a dirty biker whore and threw her drink at me.”

“Where in the hell was Bagger?”

“Sitting right there on the other side of the table until he caught her from stumbling into the table and decided to have chat time with the psycho. After the waiter attempted to help me clean up, and failed too, I got out of there.”

“Where in the hell is Bagger?” My aunt asked, clearly not happy to hear that I had to leave on my own.

“He was still there with her when I left. Don’t get me wrong, Aunt Viv, he was angry with her.”

“But you would have rather he focused his energy on whether you were okay and not on her, right?”

“Something like that. I mean, the waiter attempted to pat me dry with napkins.” I pointed at my boobs to show her where he was trying to pat me dry.

“And he didn’t notice that?”

“Nope.”

“Men can be so stupid.” Aunt Viv took another look at me and then winced. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll make you a drink so you can unwind.”

“Thanks,” I muttered as I hauled my ass back to the guest room that I’d been staying in.

By the time I finished my shower, got dressed, and calmed down a bit from being humiliated and basically forgotten in the restaurant by my date, I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. I headed that way, thinking that my uncle had come too.

“I wanted to talk to you both,” I started saying before I rounded the corner to find my aunt sitting there having coffee with Bagger.

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