Page 21 of Tease Me

She nodded stiffly.

"How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"About four years," she replied, tipping her head back and finishing off her drink.

"When are you having this talk, then? Want me to be there?"

"Fuck no," she replied but grinned to show she wasn't serious. "Thanks for the offer, but no. He's coming back tomorrow."

Max finished his drink too and stood up. "I need to get back. It's Gigi's and my anniversary tomorrow and I wanted to make her breakfast in bed in the morn... err, in like three hours."

"Has it already been a year?" Evangeline held out her hand to take Max's empty glass and put it into the small dishwasher under the bar.

"Yeah. I can't believe it either. It's gone by so quickly." He patted down his pockets for a moment, clearly satisfied he had everything he needed. "I'll catch up with you on Wednesday, Vee."

"Sure, Max. Have a good rest and enjoy tomorrow. And, thanks for listening." Man, she felt awkward. She turned away, trying to hide her face. "Give Gigi and Erin a hug for me."

"You got it, Vee."

Evangeline waited for Max to leave, then collected her own things from the office. Armed with her keys and phone, Rich waited for her to lock up the club.

“Thanks, Rich. I appreciate you hanging around to do this with me.”

He smiled. “You got it, boss. I owe you.”

“Get some rest. I’ll catch you in a few days.”

“Good night, boss.”

She turned around and began the walk back to her apartment.

10

Beau cursedthe car in front of him, wondering why in the hell there was even traffic heading north at twelve PM on a Tuesday. Seriously? He slammed the heel of his palm into the car horn, letting the guy in front know how he was feeling. The other driver stuck their arm out of the window and flipped him off.

He sat back in his seat, seething, chewing on the inside of his cheek. His eyes darted to the clock, seeing he had less than an hour to get to the club to speak with Evangeline. He had no doubt she'd be timing him, and if he were a minute late, she'd turn her back on him, denying him his chance to speak, to tell her the truth.

The traffic ahead began to move, crawling slowly forward.

"Come on, come on," he said under his breath, his hand thumping the steering wheel. "Yes! Finally," he added when the traffic picked up speed. He put his foot down, sending his mother's late-model ’90s Honda Civic hurtling over the road. He drove past two cars pulled over on the shoulder—the rear-ender that had made everybody slow down for a look.

The traffic cleared as if by magic straight after the accident, and Beau pressed the accelerator to the floor, picking up speed and, with any luck, picking up time. As he pushed his ancient car to give a little more, he watched the clock and watched the exits. By the time he found a free parking space a few blocks from the club, he only had five minutes to get to Vee. Locking his door, he began running in the direction of the club.

He came to a stop just as Evangeline stepped from the club. She arched a brow at him.

"Sorry. There was traffic," he said, breathless.

Vee rolled her eyes, and jerked her chin to one side. "Come on."

He fell into step beside her, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She looked good in her skinny jeans and sleeveless button-down shirt. She hadn't worn a lot of makeup in college, and it seemed that things hadn't changed too much. The thing was, she didn't need to paint her face to be beautiful. She did it effortlessly.

"You're staring," she said, not turning her head.

Fuck. "You look good."

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a sidelong glance. "I hope you're not just going to regurgitate shit like that for an hour."

He smiled. She was a lot more sharp-tongued than in college too. He liked it.

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