We danced a couple of songs like that, but Elijah’s drink was gone again. “You want another one?” I asked him, taking his empty glass.
He was grinning as he turned back to me, his face relaxed, and that worry he’d had since I first saw him again was finally gone, at least mostly. “You’re crazy, you know that? You’re going to have so many haters after tonight. But yeah, I could use another drink.”
I leaned over to speak softly into his ear. “I don’t care how many haters I have, as long as I have the lover I want.”
He burst out laughing. “Did shit like that actually work in the city?”
I feigned offense. “All the time.”
He snorted. “Liar. Sorry, babe, but it wasn’t yourjobkeeping you from having a real relationship like you thought it was.”
I smacked him on the ass and headed for the bar. My senses were heightened because I wasn’t about to be ambushed up there. If my parents found out I’d been in a bar fight, they’d kill me. My mind was working out who was okay with me and Elijah, who was mad, and who wasreallymad.
I was aware enough that even though I didn’t look, I knew it was Chase who approached and took the barstool next to me while I waited on Elijah’s drink. “You switched teams on us, huh, Hale?” His voice sounded light, not threatening.
I glanced over at him, assessing. Since he’d been in thelibrary with Tanner and Jaron, I feared he hadn’t changed much. He was a fellow police officer, but that didn’t mean anything, especially in Brooks Glen. I wasn’t even sure what his thoughts were about Elijah’s innocence, since Chris seemed to imply that some of the police still thought he was guilty. “No,” I replied. “I’ve always been on this team, I just used to pretend I wasn’t. I hurt a lot of people with my lies, and finally got tired of not being myself.”
Chase smiled gently. “Yeah, a lot of us were idiots in high school. Teenagers are dumb, man. We didn’t realize what the hell we were doing. It’s hard on a lot of people, especially the ones who are most at risk of being judged by their friends. No one around you made it easy, so don’t be too hard on yourself. You were just a kid trying to fit in.” He glanced over at Elijah, sitting alone at a table while his friends danced and he waited for me to return. He wasn’t looking at us, but I had a feeling he was aware of the conversation happening at the bar. Chase went on. “You’ve obviously been forgiven by the main person in question.”
I dragged my eyes from Elijah back to Chase. “Yeah, but I still have a lot of regrets.”
“We all do, man. Best you can do is forgive yourself and move forward. I know life hasn’t been easy on you lately, and I’m sorry. We have to make tough calls in life, and our job, and we don’t always know if they’ll work out until later. I hope you can enjoy being home. Elijah’s a good guy, and not once did I think either of his arrests were warranted, but we have to do our jobs, you know? Anyway, it’s good to see you again, even if I wish the circumstances bringing you home were better. We’ll have to really catch up sometime.” He grabbed his beer and gave me a pat on the back. “But for now, go have fun. Your date looks lonely.”
I took Elijah’s drink and my soda and gave Chase a nod as I headed to the table. “Everything cool?” Elijah asked as I slid into the seat beside him, placing his drink in front of him. He glanced at the table Chase was returning to.
“Yeah,” I said. “Surprisingly, it is.” He smiled at me as he took a sip of his drink. “You want to dance again?” I offered. I waskind of winded, but I knew he liked to dance.
“Nah, sitting here with you is nice.” He scooted his chair over until it touched mine, and I put an arm around him. He leaned over and put his head on my shoulder and we sat like that for a while, watching the dance floor while he finished his drink.
I got him another drink and we danced some more, and Rory even pushed her way between us to dance with me while laughing hysterically, obviously drunk herself. She shared some of her drink with Elijah, then he finished his own and I went to get him another one. People were watching me, but no one came up to say anything. Jaron and Tanner looked at me, but looked away when I looked back. I got the drink and headed back to the table where Elijah was sitting again.
He scooted over and I put my arm around him again. He sighed on my shoulder. “This is nice,” he said, slurring a little. I squeezed him to me as he continued. “Being here on a real date. With you.” My heart warmed in a way it never had with anyone else.We still had our chance. The chance I’d lost back then.
Of course it was at that moment my phone buzzed in my pocket. I wanted to ignore it but I knew my brain would never let me. When I shifted he sat up, but went right back to his drink. I wasn’t surprised when I saw who it was, because Chris always had impeccable timing with bullshit I didn’t want to deal with. Mason, where are you right now? Is Elijah with you?
I wanted to throw my phone because I knew it was going to be something else that would throw a wrench in my plans and fuck everything up. I just knew it.Elijah looked over curiously but I tried not to let my face give away my feelings. I sent Chris a text back.Yeah, he’s here. We’re at the bar. On a date.
I hoped my words would deter him from telling me the reason he’d contacted me. I was hoping he’d give me just one night. I didn’t want to know. I just wanted one fucking night with Elijah without something bad or weird happening or some shit news. Chris ignored my silent pleas.Get the fuck out of there. Meet me somewhere more private. I need to talk to you both. Right now.
I glanced over and Elijah was looking at me. The carefree smile faded slowly when he saw the look on my face. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “It’s Chris. He wants us to get out of here and meet him somewhere right now.”
Elijah paled. “Did something happen?”
I shrugged. I was pissed. “I have no idea, but it sounds urgent. Chris is always fucking ruining everything.” I was whining, but I didn’t care. I sent him another text.Where do you want to fucking meet?
He ignored my bad attitude.I’m at Brock’s house right now, trying to finish up this investigation so I can move on. I’m the only one here and they expect me to be here for a while, so come on over. I’ll explain everything when you get here.
I didn’t like the sound ofanyof that, and Elijah was definitely not going to like our destination. I didn’t tell him right away. “Come on.” I sighed again and stood, holding my hand out for him. He took it without question, downing the rest of his drink. We walked through the bar holding hands in a way that I hoped was nonchalant. Nothing to see here. We’re just leaving to go have some fun at home.
Rory waved at Elijah from the dance floor, and Derrick and Chase waved when they saw us leaving, even though Chase appeared to be trying to answer a phone call in the noisy bar. Danny gave me a nod. Jaron and Tanner watched us silently. I didn’t look at them, but I saw them. We walked out the door and headed to my car. I let him buckle in and drove to the exit of the parking lot before I said, “Where’s Brock’s house?”
“What?”
“I’m really sorry. Chris is there now, and he thinks it’s the most private place. It seems important.”
“I don’t want to go there.” His face had paled. He was drunk and on the verge of panic.
