“I know how it sounds,” Jack says quickly. “And I know what you’re gonna say—some shit about sinking to her level. Hear me out, okay? Bliss went after something you loved. Someone. And then she went after someone Marisa…Well, she didn’t love the asshole, but the potential was there, right?”
I nod. It feels disjointed, like my neck is not attached the way it should be.
“Bliss isn’t close to anyone. Or if she is, they’re probably already buried under the concrete in the basement of her building.” Jack pauses like he’s waiting for a laugh, his face dropping, put out by my lack of enthusiasm. He continues, “Well, I got to thinking…What does Bliss care about? More than anything else?”
“Her career,” I supply on rubbery lips.
“Exactly!” Jack crows before his excitement drains away like a balloon with a slow leak. “Except the video—” He grimaces again. “I watched it, and while you can see Bliss, andhearboth of them, Callum’s face isn’t visible. They could argue that it’s not him.”
I’m not in control of my body when my mouth starts moving, and I hear my voice ask, “So what do we need, then?”
We spend another hour sitting there, drinking more beers than we should, discussing all the ways we could take Bliss down…without landing in jail ourselves.
An hour later, Jack has asked me at least three times if I know how to hack someone’s phone, always seeming overly disappointed when I tell him that’s not in my skill set. It’s a surreal conversation that I never expected when I agreed to meet him tonight.
When he starts doing “research” on his phone, I head for the bar to get us another round of beers. As I wait for the bartender to finish with customers at the other end, a body sidles in beside me, uncomfortably close for a stranger. I shift away, turning to find the woman from earlier standing there, a coy smile painted on her lips.
She leans in close, her alcohol-scented breath coasting over my face, making my nose twitch. “Hi,” she says, voice high and sweet. She’s pretty, even with glazed eyes and smudged makeup. I barely stop myself from recoiling as I try to put some space between us.
“Hey,” I say politely. “Did you need something?”
“Yeah,” she says playfully, fluttering her lashes and pressing a hand to my arm. “For you to buy me a drink.”
I lift my eyebrows, not having expected such a blatant come-on, before shaking my head. “No, thanks.” My toneisn’t unkind, but it’s unyielding. I shift my weight, pulling my arm out from under her hold.
She pouts at me, a tinge of red filling her cheeks, but she doesn’t let the rejection hold her back. “Come on?—”
I feel bad, but I’m not about to play this game, faking an interest I don’t have. I cut her off curtly. “I said no.” I give her a tight smile and then turn, angling myself so my back is to her.
I hear her huff before she stomps off. The relief doesn’t last long as someone else steps into the space she left. A wave of exhaustion rolls through me, and I’m about to turn around to tell whoever it is to leave me alone when a familiar voice says, “Always knew you had no game.”
I stiffen, every muscle in my body locking up. I turn around just as Barrett levels a wide grin on me, looking way too relaxed for someone who punched me in the face not so long ago.
A well-deserved punch, but still.
“Hey,” I say warily. “Haven’t seen you around here before.”
His eyes flit around the bar, expression neutral as he shrugs. “One of my colleagues—his wife loves the place. They wanted to have drinks, so the rest of us just followed along. Sometimes, you just need to do what you’re told.” He looks at me with a crooked smile. “And Jonie is a scary woman.”
I lean back against the bar, keeping my arms loose at my sides and my mouth buttoned, but the smirk on Barrett’s lips tells me that he sees right through me.
“You can ask,” he says after a moment.
I feign ignorance, not letting a single muscle twitch as I hold his stare. “Hm?”
Barrett rolls his eyes. “Charlie,” he grunts. “You canask.” He tilts his head, a hint of mocking amusement flickering across his face.
I frown, battling with my pride, but it doesn’t win out against my desperation to know she is okay. “How is she?”
He doesn’t answer for the longest time. Just when I think he’s not going to, that he just came over here to fuck with me, he says quietly, “She’s seeing someone.”
An exhale of air bursts out of me, like he actually hit me in the gut. “Fuck. You don’t pull your punches, do you?” He chuckles as I swallow, my throat feeling like it’s closing up. “She’s…Is it serious?”
Barrett looks at me as if I’m stupid. “You guys broke up, what? Two months ago? No, it’s not serious, dumbass.” He lifts a shoulder, brow furrowing. “It’s not nothing, either.”
I grab my beer, drinking half of it at once, looking for anything to dull the ache of knowing some other guy has what used to be mine. That Charlie’s giving away smiles that were once reserved for me alone.
Without my permission, my imagination shifts to an unfamiliar apartment, her curled up in a corner of the wrong couch. She’s got a book in her lap as a faceless guy sits down next to her, putting his hands on her body, taking what I’ve thrown away.
