It takes a moment to realize I’m blocking one door.Shit.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry.”
The moment I step inside, I almost turn around and walk right back out, my heart leaping straight to my throat. It’s instantly overwhelming. People are laughing, shouting over music. Glasses are clinking, chairs scraping on the wood floor.
Seth and his friend disappear into the crowd while I hover by the door, trying to make myself smaller. I’m so out of place in the modern room, feeling like an awkward cousin who took a wrong turn from a wedding rehearsal dinner or something. Why did I think a polo was the right choice? It’s scratchy across the chest and too tight around the middle. I should’ve worn something else. Something… I don’t know. Sexy?
I should’ve messaged Jordan first. Given him a heads up. He’s going to hate me for coming on a busy night.
I scan the crowd, my eyes skipping over strangers. For one monumental, dizzying moment, my emotions get the better of me and panic rises in my throat. What if this is a mistake? What if I read too much into that message and Jordandoesn’twant to meet me? What if he isn’t even here? What if he lied to me—
Charlie stood at the edge of an impossible divide…
Right. I didn’t come all this way for me. Jordan needs me to do this for him. For us. I need to give this a chance.
I don’t know what I expected exactly. Some quiet, gentle moment, maybe? A miracle of timing where the room would clear and Jordan would see me, like something out of a movie? That’s ridiculous. It’s never going to happen.
I shift my weight, trying to breathe through the noise. My palms are sweaty, making the potted plant slip a little in my grasp. I imagine it crashing to the hardwood floor, my heart sinking as all heads turn in my direction. Wouldn’t that be a dramatic hello?Hey, handsome. Here’s a plant you can’t take home now!
I tighten my grip.You can do this, Miles.
Looking around the room again, I spy the bar on the opposite side and walk closer.
Then I freeze. Two women step away from the bar, martini glasses in hand, and that’s when I seehim.
Jordan is even more breathtaking in person, wearing a dark green T-shirt and jeans. He’s tied his wavy dark hair back at the nape, and he’s wearing that leather necklace again. I immediately want to hug him, the beautiful, soulful man.
He snags a towel from his shoulder and wipes down the counter. His eyes are downcast, shoulders tense, and even from this distance, I can tell he’d rather be somewhere else. He looks tired—too tired. Like someone who is holding up a wall.Or the world.
My heart aches.Oh, hon.
The bartender to his right calls to him, and Jordan tips his head, smiling. But it’s not his real smile. Iknowthat smile, and this wasn’t it. He’s forcing it, wearing a mask just to get by.
I move slowly, feeling slightly more confident in my decision now that I’ve found him.
Jordan is here. He’s really here. And he’s real.
My Jordan is real.
I take a breath and close the distance.Here goes nothing.
11
JORDAN
I’m in the zone tonight. Drinks are flowing, orders are moving, and tips are coming in hot.
But I’m also numb. Not depressed, but I’m not happy either. Stuck in an annoying in-between where everything just feels off. All I can think about is Miles and Charlie. The two things that mean everything to me, and the two things that feel so far away.
Miles hadn’t commented on my writing the other day, but honestly, I hadn’t expected him to. It was garbage. Nonsense. Wasted words written on a whim. I’d love for him to read Charlie’s story someday.That’swhere my magic is. Or my poetry. If I ever write some again.
Something heavy clunks on the counter seconds before a man says, “Can I get something tall, dark, and devastatingly sexy, please?”
My heart lurches as I snap my attention up.That voice.
Air rushes from my lungs in a whoosh. “Holy fucking shit.”
Miles’ eyebrows shoot up, and a soft chuckle touches his lips.
