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24
Cece
The bass-filled music drifts through Luxe while I talk to the bartenders, making sure they have everything they need. Heading up to the second floor, I glance over at Maddox while he’s on stage. We’ll usually exchange looks and smiles, but since the dinner, something’s felt off. He’s focused behind his table, as expected, but the few times I’ve looked over, he hasn’t looked up at all. I’ll make it a point to try and talk to him during his break between his sets. I really do appreciate him taking everything in stride with my father showing up for dinner.
Getting up to the second story, Winston and Stephanie are sitting at a table, arguing.
“No, I did not say that,” Winston says.
“You did,” Steph counters.
Winston pushes up his glasses, then adjusts the business coat he has on. “I said your subscribers will watch you do anything.”
“Ergo, they don’t care what I’m doing. Ergo, they don’t care at all.”
“Ergo, stop saying ergo.”
I watch as she scowls at him but juts out her bottom lip in a pouty expression. Tonight is the first time seeing them together, and the back-and-forth that they’ve been parrying each other with. It’s like arguing but flirting at the same time. Whatever advice Maddox gave him, it hasn’t changed him, but he definitely is more confident than I remember from our first couple of meetings.
I hear Maddox’s music die down in the speakers throughout the building and glance back, looking down at the first floor. I can’t really see down to his stage area, but I’m expecting him to come up the stairs any second. Instead, a waitress walks up the stairs, and heads over to the corner, checking on a couple of other guests on the second floor.
“What’s going on?” Steph asks.
“Nothing,” I answer, but don’t really believe it. “I’ve just been wanting to talk to Maddox since the dinner. He hasn’t seemed very anxious to talk about it.”
“Can you blame him?” Steph says, laughing. “Your father showed up to a date you two had planned. Your dad blocked him.”
“Blocked?”
She starts giggling, then looks over at Winston, who doesn’t understand her either. “Vagected? Clam jammed? Cockblocked?”
“Okay, okay!” I throw my hands in the air. “I get it. And please never mention those things again while also talking about my father.”
“Fine, but you know what I’m saying.”
I glance around again, but still no sign of him. “I’ll be back.”
Heading down to the first floor, the main stage area is empty, with an automated track pumping the music through the system for the crowd in the building. Making my way toward his room backstage, I walk in and see he’s on his phone.
“I don’t know what to do,” he says sharply into the phone. “Would you stop saying that? I’m not going to—” His words come to a halt when he sees me in the room. “I gotta go,” he says quickly, hanging up the phone. “Hey, what’s up?”
Coming closer, I move to give him a hug, and he seems to stiffen. With my arms still around him, I look up at him, confused. “Everything okay?”
A hard line crosses his brow and he backs away. “Yeah, everything’s good.”
“Okay.” I stare back, unsure why something feels off. “So, we’re okay since the other night, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“With my father at dinner and everything. I know I apologized and was kind of out of the blue, but … I mean, we’re good?”
His jade green eyes examine me, and I almost expect him to say no. That we’re not good and he’s upset that my father was there or that something’s wrong. I’m used to cocky Maddox. I’ve grown fond of real Maddox. The guy standing in front of me seems to be neither of those two.
“Yeah.” He nods, looking away. “We’re good.”
His words sound off. “Are you sure? You haven’t been acting your normal self today.” I add a giggle, mostly because I’m getting a little uncomfortable trying to figure out what’s happening. “Did he say something after I left? I know he can come off as intimidating, but he’s really not like that. It’s mostly his business face.”
Maddox’s glare doesn’t waver. He seems as if he’s searching for the right thing to say. Maybe my father did try to intimidate him, and he’s worried about telling me. But then his face softens, and he gives me a half smile. “He just wants what’s best for you.”
