Page 7 of Legal

I peered into his eyes, green scattered with gold. They were unusually pretty, or it could have been due to the lights flickering. Either way, he didn’t look like he was on anything.

He laughed. “No, not even drinking tonight.”

Nice smile. I gave him another good look, and it clicked. “Wait, aren’t you—”

He held out his hand. “Chase.” It seemed polite to acknowledge his gesture, so I shook his hand. His grip was secure, triggering a little jolt that took me by surprise. Well, of course; it was human nature. He was young and attractive. And virile.And young. I pulled my hand away.

“Jillian,” I said, snapping my eyes over to Perry. She waved then pushed her chair out and headed over, small blue drink in hand.

“What is that?” I pointed at her glass.

“A blueberry muffin.”

I just shook my head. “Perry, this is—”

“Chase, I know. The lifesaver.”

I scrunched up my face. What? Maybe I was the one stoned and didn’t even know it. I sniffed around. There was no indication I was receiving a contact buzz.

“Stu introduced us already.” Then she attempted to mouth, “He’s hot,” but it came out with enough sound to make my cheeks burn. Perry waggled her eyebrows as she put the rim to her lips. I narrowed my eyes at her, hoping she’d lay off, but she just ignored me and swiveled toward Chase.

“And you’re positive I don’t look familiar to you? Perry Sommers doesn’t ring any bells?”

“I’m sorry, no.”

“Because I’m sure I’ve seen you before, and it’s driving me batshit.”

Maybe it was time to cut her off. She wasn’t slurring and slobbering yet, but her mind seemed a bit wonky. “Maybe because he’s the guitarist in the band you just saw an hour ago, Perry.”

“I know that, silly. I was talking about a different time.” She put her arm around my neck. “Isn’t she cute? I just love this girl.” Her drink collided with my mouth. “Try some. I’m getting child sizes now so I can try more flavors. And it’s all freeeee.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t make child sizes of liquor.” I pushed the cup down. “No, thanks. My teeth still hurt from the last sip.”

“Would you like something else instead?” Chase asked.

I was about to say, ‘No, thank you, but if I change my mind, I can easily go up and get it myself’ when Perry said, “She’s a beer girl.”

“Well, you’re in the right city then.” Chase faced me straight on, making me wonder all over again if those gold specks were real or light-induced. Damn him. I didn’t want to be caught looking.

“She also likes tequila and whiskey, and well, you know, she likes the hard stuff.”

God, Perry. Shut up.

“I’m good, thanks. I don’t need anything right now.” I glared at Perry. “Isn’t Stu over there waiting for you?”

“Yep, I’d better go. Speaking of, do you happen to know his real name?”

“Stuart?” Chase said.

“Nope. Can you believe that after all the time I’ve known him, he never told me? I just know it’s not Stuart. What the fuck else could it be? It must be really bad to be such a secret. Stutholomew? Stuffleupagus?”

And with that, she teetered back to the table. I righted forward, both hands on the rails, catching the tail end of the show. “Lifesaver?”

“I filled in at the last minute. Their lead player’s wife went into early labor.”

“Well, you were incredible.” Shit. No, that came out wrong. I sounded too bubbly. “The entire band was great.” I toned it down a bit. “I really enjoyed the show.”

“Glad to hear that. I’d wondered since you left early.”

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