Page 13 of Wingwoman
I got lost in her eyes, deeply lost in her eyes…
She ducked away from my fingers, still resting at her temple. “Hey,” she said, “no one is going to let you hit on them if you’re acting like you’re here with me.”
The song vanished, disappearing from my brain in a puff of smoke.
Fuck. I needed to start carrying around a notepad if I was going to be hanging out with Hope. “But Iamhere with you.”
“Yes, you’re here with me. But you’re notherewith me, you know?” she said, dragging out the vowels of the wordhere. Her gaze flicked up and over my shoulder, staring at something on the opposite side of the bar before she finally sighed and added, “You’ll never find your muse if it looks like I’m your date for the night.”
How was I supposed to tell her I’d found her already? Thatshewas my muse. Or more importantly, how would I convince her to say yes? She had her guard up… and generally speaking, that was a good thing. Because I could tell she wouldn’t fall in love with me. But I sure as hell could fall in love with Hope if I let myself.
So how did I win over a woman whose walls were so high, she could barely see over top of them?
I coughed into my fist as Nina delivered our drinks. Saved by the booze.
Again, her gaze locked on something over my shoulder at the other end of the bar. Her golden brown eyes flashed as they narrowed and I turned to look in the direction of her glare. “What do you see?”
I followed her line of sight to where a woman and a man were at the other end of the bar, chatting. The woman seemed disinterested, looking at her phone. The man, on the other hand, seemed very interested and was sitting way too close. The girl scooted her stool away and shifted her shoulders so they were angled away from him.
“Give me one minute,” Hope said quietly. Then hopping off her stool, she waved Nina over to us.
“What’s up?” Nina asked. “That Texas Tea okay for you?”
“Honestly? I haven’t tried it yet,” Hope said.
Nina’s brow popped higher and she flicked a glance at me. Most people would have lied and just said it was fine. But that wasn’t Hope’s style.
“Okay,” Nina said. “What can I do for you then?”
“I’ve been watching that guy down there with the redheaded woman. I’m not positive, but I think he might have slipped something into her drink. She hasn’t been paying attention—”
“Say no more,” Nina said and grabbed a walkie-talkie from beneath the bar. Pressing a button, she spoke quietly into the device before setting it back down and giving Hope a quick nod. “Thanks for looking out.”
Hope nodded in return, giving Nina a fleeting smile that was anything but happy.
“Want me to call the cops or anything?” I asked.
“No need,” Nina said as two large bouncers rounded the corner and stood on either side of the man. They took him by each arm and all in all, he was kicked out swiftly and relatively quietly, all things considered.
Nina slipped the drink away from the startled-looking woman and poured her a new one, tapping the counter. “Keep a closer eye on this one,” Nina said, then dipped a few strips of paper into the discarded drink, placing the tests into a plastic baggie. She handed them to the bouncer and continued on with her job as though nothing had happened.
I stared at Hope, my eyes wide. “You saw that from all the way over here?”
She nodded. “Well, I think I saw him put something in there. I won’t know for sure—”
“Oh, he did,” Nina confirmed. “That’s what those strips of paper were. They’re a quick test of the drink and if it turns blue, then there’s Rohypnol present. Luckily we have systems in place for this sort of thing. Cops are on their way. I’ll issue a statement later after my shift.”
“I can give my statement too,” Hope said and grabbed a pen from her purse. She scribbled her name and number onto a napkin. “Give them my information and I’ll sign an affidavit of what I saw.”
“Thanks,” Nina said, holding the napkin up and tucking it into her back pocket. “Usually guys like that confess right when they see the strip test. But if not, I’ll give them your info.” Once again, Nina ran off to the other end of the bar where someone called for her.
I, on the other hand, sat there dumbfounded. “Thank God you were here,” I said.
Hope shrugged one shoulder to her ear. “Women need to be diligent about these sorts of things.” Bringing the Texas Tea to her mouth, she swallowed hard, her eyes not quite meeting mine. “It happens way more than most people realize.”
Then in a blink, her worrisome expression vanished and she was back to all business. I could have gotten whiplash from the sharp change in her personality. “So,” she stated, “let’s get started.”
I glanced carefully around the bar, tugging my hat lower over my eyes to avoid being spotted. “And how exactly do we begin this sort of… thing?”
