Page 131 of Chasing Infinity

“Ready for what?” I ask her with a laugh.

She finally opens the door and pulls me in after her. The room is dark, but it only takes a second for the lights to flick on, displaying a room full of people all staring at me.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” They all collectively shout at me. I take a step back in surprise but slowly feel a grin form on my lips. I let out a small laugh and then turn back to Grace standing next to me, looking awfully proud of herself.

“Does it make sense now?” she asks with a wink, and I nod my head.

“Wow, you arranged all of this?”

“It’s your twenty-first birthday! We’ve got to celebrate!” She exclaims, stepping forward and giving me a big hug. I wrap my arms around her, feeling a smile start to grow on my face. When I let her go, people start coming up and wishing me happy birthday left and right. There are so many people here it’s hard to keep track. Finally, my friends make their way through the crowd and manage to find me.

“Hey, Addie, happy birthday!” Eli exclaims as he saunters up to me. He’s holding a beer in one hand but wraps me up into a hug with the other.

“Thank you,” I tell him back with a grin.

“Did you get your present?” he asks. I raise an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to divulge more information. Eli chuckles and shakes his head. “The roses. I figured it would be a large enough bouquet that you’d have to pay attention to them. Guess I was wrong.”

Disappointment crashes through my body at his admission. Of course, I knew Noah wouldn’t have sent me flowers on my birthday, but I couldn’t deny that a little part of me was still hoping that he had been thinking about me.

“Oh, I didn’t realize they were from you. There was no note,” I tell him. “Thank you, though. They’re beautiful. I love them.”

Pride shines on Eli’s face, and I notice he squares his shoulders a bit more. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like them. Well, what do you say, birthday girl? Should we take you to the bar for your very first ‘legal’ drink?”

“Sounds good to me!”

Eli leads me over to the bar and lets me order what I want. Then he says he needs to use the restroom and disappears. I step away from the bar and take in all the people who showed up for me tonight. I can’t believe Grace was able to rent this whole place out—or that shewouldjust for me.

“Miss Parks,” a deep voice says my name. The tiny hairs on my arms stand up, and I turn.

“Mr. Mayor,” I breathe in surprise.

His dark eyes survey me standing in front of him for a brief moment before he speaks again, “I was just passing through, wondering what all the commotion was about. I hear it’s your birthday celebration?”

I roll my lips into a thin line and nod my head. His tall looming frame sends a stroke of unease through me.

“Well, I suppose I owe you a happy birthday then.” He quickly glances over the room, his narrow eyes suspicious as if searching for something. It takes a moment, but he finally looks at me again. “Enjoy celebrating with your friends.”

I don’t get the chance to say anything else to him before he brushes past me and leaves the restaurant. As soon as he leaves, I let out a deep breath. I’m not sure what it is about the mayor, but he makes me uncomfortable.

“Addison,” I turn towards my name and see Charlie walking over to me, a frown on his face. “Was that the mayor?” I nod my head, still at a loss for words. “What did he want?”

“I’m not sure,” I finally manage with a shrug.

Charlie doesn’t like that answer, his frown deepening. “Here, come with me. Eli and I have a table over here, and we just ordered pickle chips.”

“Say less,” I tell him with a laugh. He leads me over to the table. Eli’s already sitting there, fiddling on his phone, but looks up when I walk over. A grin takes over his face as I sit down across from him. Charlie takes the seat next to me.

The boys jump into the conversation, taking turns asking me questions about how my birthday’s been or how the party is going.

“Sorry you had to work today, Addie,” Eli says sheepishly. “I tried to get my dad to give you the day off, but he’s so short-staffed we couldn’t make it happen.”

I shrug and go for one of the fresh pickle chips that were just delivered to our table, dunking it in the chipotle ranch served with them. “That’s okay. It was actually kind of a blessing in disguise. Helped the day pass faster.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Eli tells me, his blue eyes wide as they search my face. “Hey, so I was wondering; I heard there’s going to be a live band here this weekend. Would you want to come with me?”

At that moment, before I can respond, Charlie’s phone buzzes on the table, the screen lighting up with anUnknownnumber. He frowns at the phone as if trying to work out who it could be, letting it ring a few times before apologizing as he walks away from the table to answer it. Eli is still saying words, but my eyes are on Charlie as he takes the call. My pulse picks up when he glances over at me and then quickly turns away, avoiding my eyes. Suspicion forms, it couldn’t be—

Charlie would have no other reason to hide something from me.

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