AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d always had more money than he’d ever needed.
“That fuckin’ sucks,” he said, his eyes dropping to his drink. “I bet she’s moving in with Tyson.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “And I don’t know why she’s jumping into that whole thing so fast.”
Jackson shrugged. “Me neither. Tyson is an idiot. It’ll just lead to a bunch of heartbreak in the end.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I know. Stupid to fall so fast like that.”
“Stupid to fall at all.” Jackson looked up at me, holding my gaze.
And we stayed in that moment, his eyes locked with mine. My heart beat senselessly in my chest, something burning in my core.
Just the whiskey…it’s just the whiskey.
Jackson let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know why—”
“Hey!” Mason’s voice interrupted us, and Jackson immediately went silent, angling back toward the stage where the closer was starting to play.
“You sounded great,” I greeted him, patting the stool next to me. “You really killed it.”
“So did you.” He shot me a smirk.
I heard Jackson sigh, but I ignored him. He was clearly back to acting like a child again. I kept a smile plastered on my face and thankfully, it was only a few moments before Nel and Aaron were back at the table again.
“You’re really good,” Nel commented, throwing one of his drinks back as he handed more of them out.
“Thanks.” Mason beamed. “I’ve got some music out that I did independently, but you know how that works. It’s just a game of algorithms and all that stuff. It’s hard to figure out how to turn that into genuine views and fans.”
Nel nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that. I know that we still have a social media presence—and we have access to it—but thankfully, our PR team handles all of that.”
“That’s the dream,” Mason chuckled, his eyes bouncing from me to Jackson. “So you went to Lena’s music class?”
I braced for Jackson to act out or say something rude, but surprisingly, he didn’t. He just nodded, swooping up his drink and taking a long swig. “Yeah, I did. It was cute. Kids are cool.”
Mason laughed. “Yeah, they are. They make you wanna settle down.”
“For a minute,” Jackson added, his eyes on me for some reason. I shifted in my chair and glanced down at my smartwatch.
Ugh.
The fatigue pulled at my body now, and suddenly my I don’t care attitude about being out late when I had to work in the morning was shifting. “I think I’m gonna head out.”
“Already?” Mason frowned. “You used to close the bar down all the time.”
Jackson raised his brows. “You did?”
“Yeah, before I had a job that I had to be at first thing in the morning. Times are different, and besides, getting adequate sleep at night is important.” The table chuckled, and I knew I sounded like a nerd…but whatever. I needed my sleep.
“Well, damn,” Mason sighed. “I’ll make sure you get home then.”
“Thank you,” I said to him, sliding off the stool and turning to the rest of them. “And thanks for the drinks tonight. It was fun.” They all nodded. However, before Mason could join me on my feet, Jackson was out of his chair.
“I’ll take her home,” he said to Mason. “You enjoy the rest of the night. I was actually planning to leave earlier.”
“Dude, thanks. You’re the best,” Mason replied, swooping up his drink and downing it. “I appreciate it.”
We took a few steps toward the exit, and I still couldn’t process the decision. “You are going to make sure I get home?”
