“Maybe in a bit.” She gave me a pointed look right as Jamie appeared. She must have seen him a moment earlier and was trying to leave us alone.
Jamie gave Zoey a polite smile and let her pass before squeezing into the booth beside me.
“How’s your friend doing?” I asked.
“He’s great,” Jamie said, putting his arm on the backrest behind me. “Aged a few years but still keeping this place packed most weekends. It’s doing well.”
“I’ve only been to a few clubs in my life, but this one for sure takes the cake.” I paused. “You didn’t need to get us a booth, Jamie. I feel bad for how much you must’ve spent on all this.”
“It’s no big deal.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “I remembered you mentioning you didn’t like crowds. Hard to avoid them in a place like this.”
“Oh, right,” I said, recalling our conversation. “I told you over lunch.”
His fingers brushed over my shoulder. I don’t think he meant to do it, but my skin still reacted to his touch. “Actually, after you told me, I remembered how you got at that one party we had back on tour.”
My back stiffened at the memory. I was looking for Oliver when Jamie pulled me out of the packed room, and in return, I said a bunch of nasty things to him. I forced myself to look him in the eye. “Thank you. This was very thoughtful.”
He smiled at me, his thick eyelashes casting shadows over his cheeks. I wanted to touch him, but I was afraid. What if he pushed me away?
For a moment, I thought I saw that same nervousness play out across his face, but I must have imagined it. This wasJamie. I doubted the guy got nervous around women.
Before I could go further down that line of thought, Jamie’s gaze flickered down to the low table in front of us, and he immediately sat up straight, as if all of his muscles tensed at the same time. His jaw tightened, unease clearly spelled out over his face.
“Are you ok—” I started to ask but trailed off when I saw what he was looking at and put two and two together.
Jamie was a recovering addict, and we were in a loud club, with a bottle of alcohol right in front of us. And he was here because I had asked him to stay.
My heart sank. I’d been so focused on my own selfish desires and ridiculous worries, I hadn’t considered for even one second how difficult being here must be for him. This place was one massive reminder of his previous life. A life he’d been working so hard to leave behind.
Cold dread filled my body. How could I have been so thoughtless?
“Shit. I’m so sorry.” I reached over to grab his hands.
His attention moved back to me, but the tension remained, a thick vein standing out against his neck. I needed to get him out of here.
“Let’s go dance.”
“It’s busy down there,” he said finally.
“It’s cool, we’ll find a spot to the side. Just like last time, remember?” The need to get him away from a trigger was so overwhelming that I didn’t think twice about bringing up the night that still mortified me.
He gave me a terse nod. “Okay.”
We pushed through the crowd just outside of the booth, and I led him in the opposite direction of the DJ. The farther we went, the sparser it became, and soon enough, we found a spot that would work.
I turned to face him, still holding his hand. “Jamie, I’m sorry. I can’t believe how stupid I am. I didn’t think. I—”
“You didn’t do anything.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’m a grown man. It was my choice to stay instead of leaving after I got you inside. I knew what I was getting into.”
“But Sophie pressured you into it,” I protested.
His expression relaxed, and he surprised me with a chuckle. “Look, I’m sure your friend can be very persuasive, but she didn’t have to work very hard. I wanted to stay.”
I bit on my lip. “Do you want to go now? I can leave with you and make sure you get home okay.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “I’m fine here.”
I looked down at our clasped hands. Neither of us seemed eager to let go. “You told me staying distracted helps, right?”
