Jo should have cancelled with Ada the moment she’d come to her senses. She should have told Ada she was exhausted, or made something up about needing to work late, or just said she wasn’t in the mood. But the truth was, shewasin the mood. For distraction, for noise, foranythingthat wasn’t going on inside her own head.
She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Amelia since the door had closed behind her two nights ago. Watching her standing there, a mess Jo wasn’t familiar with, crying as she told Jo she loved her. But then the lies quickly pushed their way to the front of Jo’s mind, and the ‘I love you’ meant very little all over again.
She walked through the entrance to Satin, nodding at the staff and smiling at Ada, all while trying to settle her breathing. She hadn’t worn anything overly revealing tonight, just black trousers and a soft silk top, her leather jacket draped over her shoulders. She looked put together, even though she wasn’t.
She automatically scanned the room as she often did when she walked in here, and then she stopped, frozen in place when she noticed a familiar head of dark hair.
Amelia.
She was sitting on the edge of one of the crushed velvet booths with her back to the entrance, and she had no idea Jo had just walked in, but that didn’t matter. Jo’s lungs still fought for breath, her heart aching as though it had been kicked repeatedly all over the city.
Amelia wore a burgundy gown, lace visible against her thigh. One hand curled around her wine glass, and the other…was brushing against the knee of another woman beside her.
Jo’s gut twisted.
The other woman leaned in, whispered something in Amelia’s ear, and Amelia smiled as Jo caught her side profile. It wasn’t fake, it wasn’t subtle, it was the kind of smile Jo had once seen aimed at her across the kitchen table.
She stepped back and considered her options. She couldn’t do this tonight. She couldn’t be here, she…shouldn’tbe here. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to see Amelia Loughlin not only in the same space as her, but with someone else. Everything was too raw in Jo’s chest.
She turned, only to feel a hand brush her elbow.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
Startled, Jo looked up at the woman standing in front of her. Tall, poised, strikingly beautiful in a red halter-neck dress that matched her lipstick. “I?—”
“You really look like you could do with something strong.”
Jo glanced quickly to her left. Ada was chatting with someone across the room, distracted, unaware that Jo was on the brink of falling apart in the middle of a sex club. Then she looked over at Amelia’s table again. She was laughing and enjoying life, so Jo turned back to her mystery woman and said, “Sure. That would be great.”
“What’s your poison, gorgeous?”
Jo felt her face flush. Nobody had approached her in here before, so maybe it would be nice to spend some time with a woman who had called her gorgeous, rather than pining for someone who had spent the last month lying to her face. “Whiskey, thanks.”
“Great.” The woman’s smile deepened. “Maybe you could get us a table, and I’ll be right back.”
Jo exhaled a shaky breath as the woman moved towards the bar, her hands curling into fists at her sides. This was ridiculous. She should leave. She shouldneverhave come here. What was she even doing?
Jo was just about to head for an empty table when movement caught her eye…and then she stilled. Amelia was walking towards her.
She looked different in the club lighting tonight. More dangerous and more exposed somehow. But her face—God, her gorgeous face—wasn’t playful or seductive like it had been moments ago. No, Amelia looked devastated.
“Hi.” Amelia stopped a few feet away. “I didn’t know you’d be here, nor did I come here expecting to bump into you, but…I wanted to clear the air so you can at least enjoy yourself here tonight.”
Jo gazed back at Amelia, wondering if every time she looked at this woman, her heart would always break a little bit more. “Thanks for clearing that up.”
Amelia’s shoulders slumped. “Right, well, take care.”
Jo cast her gaze to the floor this time, catching Amelia’s thigh as she did so. God, did she have to sit around here looking like that? This was painful.
“You look great, by the way.”
Jo scoffed and shook her head. “Please, don’t. You’re sitting over there with another woman, so please, just don’t. Don’t do to her what you’ve done to me. It fucking hurts.”
“I’m sorry.” Amelia’s voice betrayed her. “I just… Me and Evie, we were just?—”
“Evie?” Jo frowned. “Your best friend, Evie?”
“Yes. The woman I’m with. It’s Evie. Not…anyone else.” Amelia winced. “She brought me here to take my mind off everything.”
