Page 82 of Role Play
But what was the most alarming? She wasn’t wearing herglasses.
She looked gorgeous, but then again, she had looked gorgeous before. She also didn’t look like Lucyanymore.
Neil pointed at them and whistled as they passed. “You’re awfully dressed up. Are you still coming to Alma’s or ditchingus?”
I dropped my gaze to the marble floors, counting the gold veins in each square. I could feel the weight of Lucy’s eyes onme.
“Yeah,” Miguel said. “We’re still coming.” Then, he grabbed her hand and twirled Lucy around. “Doesn’t she look fierce though?Idid her makeup, thank you verymuch!”
“A little overdressed for Alma’s, don’t you think?” I grumbled and Jude shot me alook.
Lucy shrugged. “I just… felt like doing something a little differenttonight.”
“Um, she’s being modest,” Miguel said, putting his hand up and gesturing up and down her body. “We’re grabbing a bite before Alma’s and we are on a mission to snag a couple of men to keep us company on the dancefloor.”
My head snapped up.We’re on a mission to snag a couple of men. She was looking to date? Only a week after she andI…
She and you what?We never even went on a date in public. We hardly had a few nights together and I felt some sort on convoluted possession over her? Hell, we’d been broken up for longer than we’d ever beentogether.
It was total bullshit.Iwas totalbullshit.
Lucy cleared her throat. “He’s exaggerating. I was totally roped into this.” Even though she was looking at Marly as she spoke, I knew it was directed atme.
“Alma’s has food. A bunch of us are eating there,” I said quickly, then immediately swallowed a groan. What was wrong with me? Maybe I wasn’t so much a sadist as I was a fuckingmasochist.
“We are?” Neilasked.
Marly, God love her, touched Neil’s arm gently. “Yeah, I was saying how much I love their kale Caesar salad. She sent me a quicksmile.
“I think we’re just going to go somewhere else—” Lucysaid.
But as she was rejecting the idea, Miguel shouted over her, “I guess it does make sense to eat with thegroup.”
Lucy’s hand moved to the bridge of her nose, and froze when she realized there were no glasses there to push higher. A smile twitched on my mouth—the moment was just too damn cute. “Um, sure. Yeah, that’sfine.”
“Okay,” Miguel said, beaming. “Right on, dude! We’ll see youthere.”
Right on?Dude? It was bad enough he was helping Lucy go out on a manhunt, but now he was calling me dude? I quirked my mouth into a tight, forced smile and shifted my gaze from Lucy to Miguel. “See you there.Dude.”
Ten minutes later, fifteen of us were pulling tables together in the corner of the busy bar. Even though it was early for a Friday night, it was still crowded and it wasn’t until I saw the karaoke being set up in the corner that I groaned. Fucking Los Angeles. Here and New York City might be the worst places in the world to have karaoke. It wasn’t funny nights of drunk folks singing renditions of “When I Think About You, I Touch Myself,” it was wannabe actors singing their hearts out in hopes of gettingdiscovered.
And it was the fuckingworst.
I leaned in to Jude’s ear, “What are the chances we can get out of here before they startsinging?”
Jude snickered and quietly whispered back, “We’re all eating at this dive because of you, buddy. So, suck it up,buttercup.”
The waitress came by and I ordered a double of Laphroaig. I was going to needit.
My eyes drifted to the other end of the table where Lucy had settled in across from Miguel. He was already making eyes at men around the bar. Lucy laughed, covering her mouth with her hand and hiding her blushing face every time he’d point out a newman.
A growl slipped beyond my tensed lips. When I looked over to find Marly, Jude and Neil all staring at me, eyebrows lifted. “What?” Isnapped.
Neil shook his head, and Marly’s lips tipped in a small smile. “Play it cool,Ash.”
“Play it cool? I don’t need to play at anything. I am cool. I’mfine.”
Yeah, I was about as cool as kindling in a fire pit, but I wasn’t going to admit that to anyone at thistable.
