Page 112 of Game Changer
“Jax?”
I look blankly back at Paul.
“Did you hear me?”
“No.Sorry.”
Paul repeats his questions about what it would take to get me to sign a four-year deal.
“I don’t know.”
Paul rolls his eyes, then follows my gaze across the room.“What’s going on?See someone you know?”
“Yeah.Sort of.”
“Ex-girlfriend?”
I huff an unamused laugh.“Sort of.”
Molly, apparently sensing my attention, turns and looks straight at me.
I don’t react.Just hold her gaze.
Her eyes widen and she visibly flinches back.Then she lifts a hand in a tiny wave.
I lift my hand too, smiling wryly.
She turns her attention back to the toolbox she’s with.Is she on a fucking date?
“Jax.”
I give my head a shake and try to focus on my conversation with Paul and my delicious twenty-eight-day dry-aged bone-in rib eye.
I’m hyper aware of Molly just across the room, though.
After she left the lake, I was a sad panda.I kept a happy face on until Dad left and I was alone.And then I was really alone.I’ve been at the lake by myself before, and I don’t mind it.But this year it was a definite downer.I ended up coming home sooner than I planned, which didn’t actually help because then I knew I was in the same city as Molly and still couldn’t see her.
And now she’s here.A few feet away from me.Looking beautiful and sexy, her hair its usual mess of waves brushing her shoulders.Smiling at another man.
Fuck.
I order another whiskey, since I’m walking home and also since I don’t have a fucking contract.Getting hammered suddenly seems like a great idea.
Paul and I are done our dinners and are finishing off our drinks when Molly gets up and walks toward what I assume are the restrooms.My heart leaps in my chest.
I watch her companion.He pulls out his phone and starts looking at it, but he’s not making a move to leave the table.I give it a few minutes, then right in the middle of one of Paul’s sentences, I stand.“Excuse me,” I say abruptly.“I’ll be right back.”
I set my napkin on the seat of my chair and walk the same way Molly did.The hallway to the restrooms is narrow with low lighting, the walls painted black with gold sconces and gold framed pictures on the walls.
But I don’t enter the men’s room.Nope, I hang out in the hall hoping nobody comes along and thinks I’m some kind of creeper.
My timing is perfect, though.Molly emerges from the bathroom with shiny lips and a small purse in her hand.She stops dead at seeing me, her lips parting.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”She gives me a tremulous smile.“How are you?”
She’s beautiful.She has on more makeup than I’m used to seeing, with her eyes all smoky and her skin gleaming.She’s gorgeous either way, though.“Shitty.Thanks for asking.You?”
