I scan the bar without meaning to.
Looking for him.
Did he not like it?
The spot where he was standing is empty.
No nod. No look. No “you did good.” Nothing.
Just gone.
Something hot and furious sparks in my chest, cutting straight through the leftover adrenaline, turning it into something sharper, something that pushes me forward before I can think better of it.
Of course.
Of course he would do that.
Push me up there like I’m some kind of project and then disappear the second I’m done, like it meant nothing, like I meant nothing.
Why do you care so much, Lexy?
I push the thought away.
My jaw tightens as I turn on my heel and head straight for the hallway, my steps quick and heavy, the energy still burning through me with nowhere else to go.
I don’t knock.
I shove the door open.
“You pushed me up there and then you disappear when I’m done!”
Dex is leaning back against his desk like he’s got nowhere better to be, one ankle crossed lazily over the other, like he’s been expecting me.
Like he’s been waiting.
He doesn’t even look surprised.
If anything, there’s the hint of a smirk tugging at his mouth.
“You wanted me to compliment you?” he asks, voice calm, almost amused.
That smirk.
That stupid, infuriating smirk.
“Want me to tell you how talented you are and how your music is magic, that it captures its audience and doesn’t let go? Is that what you want from me?”
Something in me snaps.
“I hate you!”
The words tear out of my throat before I can stop them, my chest rising and falling too fast, lungs burning like I ran all the way here instead of storming down the hallway on pure fury.
Dex doesn’t react.
Not at first.
Then his green eyes lift to mine.
