Page 19 of The Chance

I roll my eyes, the break in connection taking that weird tingling along with it, and I instead offer the bag to Cedar. “Burger?”

She snorts and accepts. “Thought you weren’t supposed to feed the gremlins this late.”

Mac glowers over his cheeseburger at her. “You would know since you have one at home.”

There’s a snort that has me shaking my head, the aura around the drummer too palpable and contagious to ignore. Like getting ink has somehow reset his mind back to normal.

I missed him like this.

It’s making me both warm and fucking exhausted inside.

One minute without me and he’s got his light back.

That shouldn’t feel as bad as it does … right?

Chapter Nine

Mac

I feel Jordan returnmore than I see him, the little hairs on the back of my neck rising when I hear the wheels of a chair creek.

“Are you painting his nails?”

It’s another session with Cedar, the second day in a row of her torture by way of shading and color. We’re hours into the piece, but once more ink colored my skin, she insisted on a break because apparently, I was too green.

Hence, nails.

“You got a problem with that?” Cedar asks my bodyguard without losing a bit of concentration as she swipes black across my thumb nail.

I’ve painted my nails before. Multiple times. And yet there’s something about Jordan being here to witness it happening, that has my insides twisting up.

Does he hate it when I do shit like this?

Nerves build up, my shoulders going tense with each millisecond that passes.

“No,” Jordan murmurs as he plops his ass into a chair. I watch him watch us,me, and that feeling in my torso loosens.

That’s it. That’s all he says as Cedar continues applying the paint on each of my fingers.

There’s a silence that falls over the three of us, carrying with it a tinge of awkwardness that I don’t recall always being there.

Fuck, I really need to shake this off. Get a lock on these feelings that make me act strange enough for even Cedar to say something the second we were alone. I know it’s radiating from me like light beams, demanding the attention of anyone willing to recognize it, and poisoning the shit in my life that’s also good as it is.

Jordan as my best friend is good just like this.

Which is exactly why we’re going to the club as soon as my sister-in-law is back from her studio.

I need a reset.

A chance to see more of what’s available to me without all the baggage and restrictions. No more worries and no more tension.

Something to get my mind out of the rut I’ve fallen in with these age-old feelings that’ll never be reciprocated. He’s my bodyguard for Chrissake. There’s rules and shit against it.

Someoneto take me straight into the rebound I never let myself have.

Even though there’s hope that I’m making the right choice, I still find myself on the verge of nausea at the thought of anyone else touching me.

For so long, it’s been him. Right there. At my side, on my mind, and in my heart.

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