“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Hans said in that eerily calm tone he used when he was about to get his way.
Tanner wasn’t going to step in and help. No, it was time for Catiana to go.
“Bye,” he said,.
“Okay.” Catiana raised her hands and then she walked away. Stopping once to glance back at Tanner.
How was Catiana once a girl who used to be his everything, and now a woman with the power to ruin it all?
He paused. Willing a rewind on the night.
“You’re Tanner,” a woman said from beside him.
He turned. “You’re Ashley.”
“We get to meet.” She didn’t look happy about that.
He tried to shake the ick of Catiana. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m uh…”
“I heard your friend singing a familiar song,” she said.
He froze.
“So I have a question, Tanner,” Ashley said, stepping closer. “And that question is, who the fuck was that?”
Chapter Eleven
SAMANTHA
Ashley lookedlike she’d eaten a whole plate of truck stop tacos and they didn’t sit well. It seemed like she wanted to be having fun, but inside, it wasn’t a good time.
“You okay?” Sam asked, sliding into the booth.
“Uh-huh.” Ashley frowned, reached for her Jack and Coke, took a big swallow. Then another. “I’m fine.”
“Sorry I took a minute.” Sam pursed her lips. But this was a good thing, so she could tell Ashley. Ashley would be over the moon. “Mom had an emergency with her new fern she wanted to troubleshoot with me.”
Ashley stopped mid-swallow, blinking hard. “From the bathroom?”
“I stepped out back.”
“You know you don’t leave the building without telling your wingman,” Ashley said, her forehead lines creasing deeper.
This was not the response she’d expected from her best friend.
“You’ve got to watch out for yourself.” Ashley fiddled with her straw, swirling the chunks of ice clockwise, then counterclockwise. “I just… I’m worried about you.”
“Well, you worry about me. I need a drink.” Sam smacked the table. “I’m gonna get one. You need another?”
“Always,” Ashley said, going for another long pull.
The band started their next set, and Sam let the music in. This was the song Tanner had been fighting with. She’d helped him build the bridge and—
There it was. They’d done good.
When she was younger, that was the time when she’d craved the spotlight. Wanted to be in the middle of the show.
Tonight? She sort of wished that had worked out for her. But she couldn’t think that far back. Instead, she let herself re-live the hallway kissing session. Tanner could kiss and if he could kiss that well, he probably did other things with the same amount of attention to detail.
