Page 57 of The Hate We Breathe
“How are all of your extracurriculars?” I ask. “Did you already start applying to colleges?”
Mads’ quick back-and-forth slows and she peeks up at me, biting down on her lower lip. “They’re fine, and I… did.”
I arch a brow. “Yeah? Where to?”
She fixes her eyes back on the counter and this time, her movements are distracted. I swing back and forth on the stool, legs dangling down, my foot hitting the lower rung every so often as I wait for her reply.
“A couple of places,” she finally confesses. “Stanford… Yale… St. Augustine… and Hazelwood.”
Sticking my foot between the rung and leg of the stool, I bring myself to a stop. “Hazelwood?” I repeat. “Like Eastpoint’s sister school? That Hazelwood?”
She nods without ever looking up and I release a slow whistle. “That’s pretty impressive.” I can’t help myself from smiling as she decidedly keeps her gaze averted and scrubs at a nonexistent spot of dirt on the bar. The blush rising at the tops of her cheeks is cute.
I open my mouth to tease her when Lex appears at the end of the bar. Mads nearly jumps out of her shoes, gasping and slapping a hand over her chest, the wet rag plopping onto the floor. “How do youmovelike that?” she whisper-hisses at him. “You’re, like, a ninja or something.”
With a push of my foot, I send myself spinning towards him on the stool and hop off. “What’s up?” I ask. “Need another refill?”
He shakes his head, his expression closed off. His phone is clutched tightly in his fist. “I need to step outside for a bit. Are you going to be okay?”
Rolling my eyes, I gesture to the nearly empty club. “I don’t know, I’m not sure I’ll be able to survive without you here to watch me,” I say with an exaggerated sigh. “But I suppose… if you have to…”
The corner of his mouth tips up, just as I’d intended, and in response, he closes the distance between us with two long strides. One arm binds around my waist and yanks me closer as he bends to press his mouth to mine. The kiss is over far too quickly.
“I’ll be in the parking lot,” he tells me, lifting the phone to his ear and pointing at me and then the back hall. “Stay here.”
All of the lustful heat he’d stoked disperses and I scowl at him as I flip him the bird. “I’m not a dog!” I call at his back as Lex turns and marches down the hall, disappearing around the corner.
“Those guys are really protective, aren’t they?” Mads asks, eyeing me as I slip back onto my stool and spin it towards thecounter. She ducks beneath the bar and picks up the wet rag to drop it in the sink to be cleaned later.
“They’re guys,” I say with a wave of my hand. “I think it’s in their DNA or something.”
She hums quietly and we fall into a companionable silence until our break ends and Tracy returns from her smoke break to take over the bar once more. Unfortunately, even with Tracy back, that doesn’t mean we have anything more to do. So, we end up just drifting from the bar through the club and the hosts on duty to double-check tables and back again.
Thirty minutes pass and when Lex still hasn’t returned, I contemplate heading out back to see if he’s all right. That’s when the front doors open and a large group of guys enter. Turning, I snatch a fresh tray from the pile of clean ones and then halt when I spy the man leading the others.
Darrio Vargas.
Margo, one of the hosts, shifts towards him, her hips swaying in that come-hither way she’s perfected. Tossing a long tendril of hair over her shoulder, she pauses next to Darrio. “Hey there.” I can hear her sultry tone from where I’m standing—stock-still and half tempted to release my tray like a Frisbee right for the motherfucker’s throat.
“Jules?” Mads steps in front of me, her face blocking out his for a brief moment. “Are you okay?”
No sooner has she asked the question than Darrio lifts his head and pins me with a look. He says something that has Margo turning her head and glancing over her shoulder at me. Then she nods and leads them down the two steps into the main hub of the building and to one of the booths.
Fuck.
I glance down the back hall.Where the hell is Lex? Did he know that Darrio was coming? Is that why he took that phone call?
I take a step towards the hall when it’s no longer Mads in front of me, but Margo. “Darrio Vargas is asking for you,” she says, all traces of her seductress act gone.
“What?”
She pinches her lips together and I recall what she told me before—Darrio and Morpheus had been meeting each other before his death. Maybe I can ask him about it, get some information as to what they could have talked about. I glance over to the man in question and realize he’s still looking my way, watching me. I grit my teeth.
“Ma-Ri might’ve rehired you, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore him and his men,” Margo says. “He specifically requested you as his server.”
“Not his host?” I clarify.
She shakes her head. “No…” Her eyes drift over to him before she continues. “His usual girl isn’t here today, though.”
