Chase saw me coming, and his smile widened.
I didn’t stop to say hello.
I didn’t stop to ask what he was doing here.
I just grabbed his wrist and started pulling.
“Finn—” Chase started.
I pulled his hand in answer.
“Where are we—”
“Move!”
I tugged, navigating through the crowd, past tables, past the bathrooms, past the kitchen where Rod was likely wondering what the hell I was doing,all the way to the very back of the building.
Into the office.
Our tiny, cluttered, barely-organized office that contained little more than a metal chair, a metal desk, and a filing cabinet someone had abandoned right after World War II.
I jerked Chase inside, slammed the door shut, and turned the lock with a loud click that seemed to echo in the sudden quiet.
Chapter 29
Chase
Istared at the Patterson file for the fifteenth time, reading the same paragraph over and over without processing a single word. Our settlement proposal was solid, my talking points were ready, and I was fairly certain I’d anticipated every possible counterargument. Hell, I’d prepared responses and organized my notes into color-coded sections because that’s what I did when I was anxious.
I was as prepared as I was going to be.
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes. The office was dead silent. It was just me and the ever-present hum of the air conditioner and the water tower thing in the kitchenette.
My phone sat on the desk, its screen dark. I picked it up and flicked it to life to check the time.
6:47 p.m.
I don’t know why I swiped past the clock, opening to the desktop. I wasn’t even aware of my thumbopening the text app. By the time my weary brain caught up to my devious thumb, the text exchange with Finn from earlier was staring back at me.
I smiled despite myself.
I glanced at the Patterson file.
Looked at my phone.
Checked the clock again.
The bar would be packed by now. The Lightning game would be nearing its end, maybe even finished, and a hoard of horny gays would be anxiously awaiting the newest episode ofHorny Rivals, which would air on every television Barbacks owned.
Finn would be working, completely in his element, probably too busy to even notice if I showed up.
But I could watch him work.
I could sit in my corner booth and drink a beer, maybe try one of the few dishes I hadn’t tasted yet.
I could . . . just . . . be near him.
It had only been hours, but I wanted to see him again.
