Page 16 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

Her gaze went to his spiked-coffee dessert cocktail, the one still half-full, and an awful thought hit her. With more speed than she thought herself capable of, she reached out and grabbed his drink.

“What are you—”

But she was already bringing it to her lips before he could finish his sentence. She took a big gulp, held it in her mouth, rolled along her tongue. And tasted…coffee and cream. None of the burn her matching drink had caused. It took her fuzzy mind an extra beat for reality to sink in.

Virgin.His drink was a fucking virgin.

She spat it back into the glass, so many things rushing up in her that she had to take a second to breathe, long and deep, before she could speak. “There’s no booze in this.”

Ryan smiled an easy smile, but there was something in his gaze that didn’t match. “I don’t like dessert cocktails. Jake knows that about me.”

She was drunk but not stupid. She’d bet her house that he hadn’t had more than two drinks with actual liquor in them. She gripped the edge of the table to steady herself, to try find some kernel of sobriety inside her. “Is this your MO?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Bring a date to your BFF’s restaurant and have him load her up with drinks while you sip on goddamnedmocktailsuntil she’s too shit-faced to say no?”

He scoffed and gave her a patronizing look. “Oh, come on, sweetheart. Don’t get crazy. It’s not my fault you can’t hold your liquor.” He softened his tone. “Look, why don’t I just take you to my place and we’ll let you sober up?”

“You still want to take me home?” She could hear her voice getting too loud for the restaurant.

“Of course.” He smiled and then put his finger to his lips, shushing her. “But maybe quiet down. Don’t want to get arrested for drunk and disorderly before we get there.” He took her hand again and squeezed it. “Come on, let’s go.”

She stared at him in shock. He was still trying to take her to bed. And did he… Had he justshushedher?

She yanked her hand away, and a literal roar sounded in her ears—of blood, of disbelief, of all the years of shitty dates and creepy propositions crashing together in one glittering moment of righteous rage.

She launched to her feet, knocking the drink over in the process.

“What the hell?” Ryan grabbed his phone to avoid the spilled drink and shoved his chair back.

“I’m drunk,” she announced, holding her hands out at her sides and feeling the room tilt. “Like real drunk.”

Heads were turning their way.

“Yeah, I got that,” Ryan said, watching her, phone tight in his hand.

“But doesn’t matter to you, doss’it? As long as you have a…warm place to park your dick for the night, you’re good. I’m just a meal you ordered up on an app. I’m…fuckingtakeout.” She could hear that her words weren’t coming out totally right, the syllables bumping together, but she couldn’t stop.

“Eliza,” he said, his tone like a teacher to a misbehaving child. “You need to calm down.”

“Shut. The fuck. Up!” she shouted, her fists balling. Red edged her vision. Words started pouring from her mouth without her registering anything she was saying. Something else took over, something deep and buried and primallypissed.

She didn’t know how long it went on or if people were still staring or if her words were making sense. It was a deluge she couldn’t stop until she was emptied of the poison.

She sometimes had clients who said that they could black out with anger and not remember what they’d said in the heat of an argument. She’d never fully believed them. But as she stood outside the pub a while later, high heels in her hands and her legs unsteady, she had to readjust her stance on that topic. She had no idea what she’d said in that restaurant or even how she’d gotten outside. The past few minutes were a big blank spot in her brain. All she knew was she needed to get out of there.

But she’d ridden to dinner with Ryan and was nowhere near home. She fumbled around in her purse, looking for her phone, but before she could find it, a hand landed on her arm. She startled and glanced up to find a dark-haired young woman with deep maroon lipstick and a concerned frown. “Hey, are you okay?”

Eliza blinked, registering that the woman was wearing the black-pants-and-white-shirt uniform of the waitstaff. “I–I think so.”

The woman glanced back at the restaurant and then to Eliza again. “Look, my shift just ended. Do you need a ride? I’m Lien, by the way.” She pulled a bottle of water from her shoulder bag. “Here. Take this. It will help.”

It took a second for Eliza to process the request as she accepted the water. “You want to give me a ride?”

Lien smiled a little. “Look, I heard what you said in there and I just… I’ve been there. With the nightmare dates. You said a lot of things I’ve wanted to say.” She sniffed derisively. “And Jake, the owner, he’s an asshole. He overserved you. I’ve heard that spiel about the food absorbing the alcohol. It’s a bullshit way to sell the highest-ticket items. And you’re not the first date that other guy has brought here.”

“Shocked face,” Eliza said tiredly, the night breeze clearing her head a little. She took a big swig of water.

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