Page 86 of Bastard Bartender

Chapter Twenty-Two

Nic left my apartment before I woke this morning. He must be exhausted because we didn’t go to bed until close to four, and even I’m having a hard time crawling out of bed with more sleep than him.

I shower and dress, pour myself a cup of coffee in my Yeti, and hit the road. Work is going to be a great distraction today. I’ll do my best to not picture Nic plummeting off of a … who knows what. All I know is that he and Dro are driving to a mountain in Arizona, where they’re paying a ridiculous amount of money for a private company to take them jumping. My only sense of calm is that he swears they are taking all safety measures seriously because while Nic might be reckless, Dro is more cautious.

“Hello, Miss Lewis.” George waves as I walk through security. “Don’t you look pretty today in blue?”

“Thanks, G. Are you bringing the missus to the monster truck event next weekend? I have two tickets with your name on it,” I offer, and his eyes widen.

“I’ll take them! But instead of the wife, how about I bring the grandson? He’ll think I’m the coolest guy on the planet.”

I give him a thumbs-up. “You already are.”

Upstairs in my office, I tackle the hundred emails that crept into my inbox over the weekend. It surprises me that it takes Tom until close to the day’s end to come in.

“Busy afternoon?” I ask as I type in a quick email to a vendor, who is giving us a hard time about cost.

“Yeah.” He plops down in the chair in front of my desk. “I had a doctor’s appointment this morning and then that meeting with stadium management.”

“That’s right. How did it go?”

He emailed me on Friday that he had to go over some layout issues for an upcoming concert.

“Great. Took longer than usual, but we got the kinks worked out. How was your day?”

“This is it …” I lift my arms as to showcase the glamorous life I lead. “Paperwork all day.”

There’s an awkward tension in the way he’s looking at his lap and letting out this deep, labored breath. His text to me yesterday went unanswered.

I’ve been thinking about it … a lot. From the moment he told me about the job to the second he applied for the two of us and even more once we had the offer. It’s an amazing opportunity. A fool would see that.

But I can’t leave.

As fresh as it might be, I can’t move away from Nic. What we have is too new and so intense. I’m a walking cliché to say I have never felt like this about a man before, but I haven’t.

The girl who went on a dating experiment of meeting men based on the letter of their first name is doing the shallowest thing in the world.

I’m choosing a man over a job.

“Tom, I’m sorry I’ve been skirting around the issue the past week, but I wanted to take my time and really think about this job and what it would mean for my life’s story before making a decision. I’m thrilled Madison Square Garden wants us as a team—”

The phone on my desk rings, interrupting what I am about to say.

“Of course it would ring right now. One second,” I say before I pick up the desk phone. “Evette Lewis.”

“Ev, this is Mario.” His voice is shaky as he speaks into the other end.

“Mario, as in Destiny? How did you get my number here?”

“I don’t know your cell, and the stadium website had you listed. Listen, I’m sorry to call like this, but, baby girl, you need to get here.”

“Where?”

“The hospital. Nic’s been injured.”

* * *

It took me two hours to get to the hospital where Nic was airlifted. Oh dear God, he was airlifted from the bottom of a fucking canyon.