Page 19 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

Typing fast, I sent,Yeah, I was thinking of meeting Sterling there. You planning on going out?

If you’re gonna be there.

A stupid, ill-advised grin spread across my face.I’ll be there in a bit.

See you.

I put the meat back into the fridge, before jogging down the hallway to my room.

Mimicking Seb’s mocking voice, I said, “Goddamn it, I can’t get her outta my head.”

I was a dope.

Chapter 7

Hazel

Isatontheback patio of Benji’s Place, which afforded a great view of the parking lot. But now that the sun had set, I couldn’t make one car out from another. They were just headlights coming and taillights going—and even if any of them were Elijah’s car, I couldn’t tell.

Fridays were usually busy days at the clinic, but today had been a bit light. I was trying not to freak out about it, especially since news about our auction was starting to spread. The community page was divided, just like I knew it would be, but with an added bonus of people like Lindsey Goodman posting, “Hazel Matthews is doing this? I didn’t know she had it in her.”

I didn’t. But I was desperate and doing it anyway.

Even though the workload wasn’t really mine; Nora, Sterling, and Ben were coordinating all of it. For a moment, I considered Ben’s offer from the other night to help if I needed it. He’d be able to show me how to be a boss, to run a business. I wouldn’t ask, though. He’d only offered because I was suddenly cool enough by association to Elijah.

Ben was a nice man, but we did not exist in the same social circles.

He had always been a ringleader of the cool kids—Sterling Strauss, Shane Briar, Elijah—Ben had never shown interest in knowing me before. It wasn’t a failing of his. We all had our groups we fit into naturally, mine leaned toward bookish people like Brooks, and our point person, Nora. But then, she could flit between groups. Her assertiveness meant that she went where she wanted, when she wanted.

Remi sat in the chair to my right with his fingers laced across his barrel chest and his legs extended in front of him, ankles crossed. Brooks was on his other side, staring at a point on the tabletop. Anyone who didn’t know him might think he wasn’t paying attention as Nora spoke, but I knew—and more importantly, Nora knew—that he was. I’d lost track of the conversation a while ago and was sipping my Moscow mule—probably a little too quickly—and watching people in the bar through the window. Searching for chestnut-colored curls, or a flash of green eyes.

“Who are you lookin’ for?” Remi asked, craning his neck to see into the building.

Shrugging, I tried to act normal. “No one, just looking around.”

He narrowed his dark blue eyes at me. “You shouldn’t lie; you’re not good at it.”

“Shut up.” I chuckled.

“All right, so it’s someone of interest,” he said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because if it wasn’t, you’d just tell me. But I can figure this out.”

“There’s no need to do that.”

“Well, I could wait and find out when they get here, or I can speculate. I have nothing but time and drink on my hands, so I might as well take a guess.”

I rolled my eyes. “Elijah March said he’s coming out tonight.”

Remi’s eyebrows shot up and the corners of his lips turned down. “Good for you.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I chewed on the inside of my lip, considering him. “Honestly, you’d be a good person to talk to about this.”

“Talk about what?” Nora’s brown eyes fixed on me.

I flicked my hand dismissively. “You already know.”

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