Page 2 of Jett in Jeopardy

I sagged and sat back on the stool. “How come you don’t like me?”

His eyes flicked to mine briefly, and he jerked a shoulder. “I don’tnotlike you.”

“You barely talk to me,” I said, sounding pouty even to me.

He shoved the drink at me. “Talking is not what I think about when I see you.”

Not going to lie. It took me a minute to actually figure out what he was saying, and because I couldn’t quite wrap my head around his words, I just sat there gaping like an idiot.

The corner of Brody’s mouth lifted in a kind of half-smile that made the man even hotter somehow, and he nodded at the pink drink in front of me. “You going to pay for that?”

“Right,” I said, jerking as if someone had cut my power and then switched it back on again. I scrambled to dig my wallet out of my pants pocket.

Pull it together, I told myself. You’re not some weak-kneed virgin. My life might be a mess, and I might not be able to hold down a job, but when it came to innuendo, I was an expert.

Now, there’s something to put on a resume.

I ignored the ugly little voice in my head, slid the money for the drink towards Brody and leaned closer. “What do you think about? Because I bet I’d like it.”

“Iknowyou would. That’s why I keep my distance.” He pinched the bill between his first and middle fingers and held it up. “Change?”

I shook my head, my mouth going dry for the second time tonight. Brody’s grin widened. He turned away and rang up my drink in a register that looked like it was as old as me before turning back to Daniel.

I sat where I was, staring after him, and I had the distinct feeling that I was gaping like an idiot again, but I couldn’t help it. More than three years of drinking here, and Brody had only spoken to me in grunts and scowls. Then tonight, out of nowhere, he’d been…flirting? I played the conversation over again in my head. Yes, he’ddefinitelybeen flirting.

I wished I wasn’t here on my own. When I tell Grier and Alistair about this, neither of them will believe it. Since we’d started sharing a house during my first year at Bayside University, we’d been coming to this bar, and I’d been throwing myself at Brody only for him to all but ignore me.

Maybe my luck was about to change for the better.

Everything else had changed over the past six months, so why not? Grier, Alistair and I didn’t live in the same house anymore, not since someone set it on fire and burned it to the ground, nearly killing Alistair and his cat. Both got out alive, but it had been a scary close call, and we still didn’t know who did it.

We had a new place now, our late landlord, Oliver Mackenzie’s house. After the fire, his son, Greyson, who had inherited his father’s properties in Oceanwind Square—the queer-friendly neighborhood Mackenzie senior had been instrumental in building—must have felt sorry for us. He let us rent his father’s old house while paying the same low rent as the old place.

Grier and I were both in our last year of university, so Greyson Mackenzie had agreed to let us finish school. Once the school year ended, so did our lease.

Alistair didn’t live with us anymore. He moved in with his boyfriend, Finn, and Finn’s young son, Will. Though they wound up buying a place across the street and a few doors down, so we still saw each other. It wasn’t the same, but it was okay.

We got a new roommate, Sawyer, living with us now. He’d quickly become a good friend—especially now that he wasn’t lying about why he’d wanted to live in our house. But Grier and Sawyer were a thing now, and while I was happy for them both, I kind of missed how things used to be.

I think that summed up everything about my life right now. I missed how things used to be. Sure, the house we lived in now was arguably nicer, and I really was happy for Alistair and Grier. I just felt as though I was getting left behind.

They were both moving on with their lives. Alistair moved in with Finn while he was getting his master’s in fine arts, and Grier and Sawyer were making plans for when the school year ended to get their own place. Grier was even planning to open his own business in The Square. Sawyer had a job opportunity at the local newspaper when he graduated.

I, on the other hand, had been fired… again. I had no plans for a career when I graduated with my BA in liberal arts. No idea where I would live when we had to move out of Oliver Mackenzie’s house at the end of the school year—just months away, really. Going home to Denver wasn’t an option. Not only did I not want to go back, but I was fairly sure I wouldn’t be welcome if I did.

My father had his new family, and I sure wasn’t a part of it, a fact he and his wife, Camile, had made abundantly clear for most of my life.

I liked The Square and would be happy to stay here. Grier and Alistair had been the closest thing I’d had to family since my mother died. I hated this feeling like everyone was moving on and I was being left behind.

Everyone was getting on with their lives—except me, of course. A day late and a dollar short, as my mother used to say. The story of my life.

I needed to get my shit together. Everyone else was planning for the future, and I should have been too. Hell, I turned twenty-four last month. I was a grown-up now, and I needed to start acting like one.

I’d get a new job; then decide what kind of career I wanted when school finished. Once I had my career plans squared away, I would figure out where I would live next.

I blew out a breath and took a swig from the drink Brody had set in front of me. The sweet liquid going down easy, too easy. I hadn’t eaten much earlier, and now I had no appetite. I’d have to be careful, or I’d be on my ass.

Setting the drink back down, I glanced at the bar. Brody had his back to me while he was talking to Daniel, who had stood as if he meant to leave. He probably needed to get back to the hotel.

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