Page 23 of Shadow Dance

“Cheeseburger, medium well, with fries.” Jaime gives her a brief, polite smile I recognize all too well. It’s the one he always used to give me.

“Great,” she purrs, turning her attention to me. “And how about you?”

“I’ll have the patty melt, please. With twisty fries.” My stomach growls, reminding me I haven’t eaten since this morning. “And a chocolate milkshake, too. Thanks.”

“Sure.” She nods, collecting our menus before sneaking another peek at Jaime. “Can I get you anything else?”

“We’re good,” he says, eyeing me. “Thanks.”

Sami flits off as I hide my smirk behind a sip of San Pellegrino.

“Milkshake, huh? You weren’t lying when you said you were starving,” he says. “For some reason I thought you didn’t like this kind of food.”

“I don’t like fast food. I love diner food.” That, and I’m about two days away from my period. All I want is red meat and sugar. “I haven’t been to one in a while.”

“I like you better like this,” he says, jamming a straw into his drink.

“Like what?”

“Not coked up and high out of your mind.”

My face warms, a little wave of shame cresting deep inside. I look down, running a fingertip over the green Formica tabletop. “Yeah, me too.”

“So, is this the real Maeve?” he continues.

I don’t bother asking him what he means by that, because I know. We both know, and he’s too smart for me to pretend otherwise. “Yeah, nice to meet you. I guess my battery’s been on low for a while.”

“I get it,” he says, sipping his soda.

“I doubt that,” I say. Jaime might be about this life, but he’s always got his shit together. “But let’s make a deal. I’ll be the real me as long as you’re the real you.”

Chapter 7

Jaime

Chuckling, I loop my straw wrapper around my finger. If only she knew. “You might not like the real me.”

She twists her long, dark hair into a knot before letting it fall again. “Real is always better.”

“Real is subjective.” She frowns, but I switch up before she can continue down that road. “How you been feeling the past couple days? It can be hard to stop when you’ve been using for a while.”

She looks into my eyes for a moment before answering. “You know, before this summer, I’d never done anything worse than smoke a little weed.” Looking down, she takes a sip of water. “You met me at a weird time, Jaime. The coke … that’s not who I am, so stopping wasn’t as hard as you might think.”

“You caught yourself in time,” I muse. “That’s good. A lot of people lose themselves.” Like Callum.

“You’ve never done it?”

“I tried, once. A long time ago. Didn’t like it,” I say. “I don’t like losing control like that.”

She nods slowly, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She’s got a great mouth.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” I ask, just to make sure. “You’re not fiending or anything?”

“No. Jeez.” Shehuffs, giving me a dark look. “Can we drop it, please?”

“I like to know what I’m dealing with,” I say, ignoring her glare. “But don’t worry. I’ll keep you on the straight and narrow.”

“How are you gonna do that?” Maeve laughs a little. “If I really wanted to do it—which I don’t—you couldn’t stop me.”

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