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“I don’t mind. She’s a big part of your life. If she’s happy, you’re happy.” It sounded so simple when he put it like that.
“You make me happy too,” I whispered.
He lifted his head. His eyes darkened with desire. “I would give you the world.”
“I know.” I answered instead of saying what was truly on my mind, I just want your heart. This was what he was capable of right now, and even though Gran’s conversation forced thoughts of love to the forefront of my mind, I didn’t want to push Jareth for more than he was capable of giving.
Elias cleared his throat.
I looked out the window, the bright neon sign for The Wooden Nickel, shown brightly against the dark sky. I planned to sing tonight, and Jareth had asked to come with me. Butterflies erupted in my stomach at sharing this particular part of my life with him. He’d heard me sing off-hand in the office and at home, but I’d never once let on that it had been my dream to sing professionally. A dream I’d tucked away. I didn’t have the time or the money to pursue a career that might never work out.
“Thank you,” I answered.
Jareth and I slid out of the car. As we got closer to the front door, Jareth placed his hand at my lower back. I shivered. I loved when he did that. It was like he subtly staked his claim.
“Hi Mike,” I said to the big burly guy.
His eyes narrowed as they glanced at Jareth. He grunted hello to me, but never let up on his death glare.
We strode into the main area of the bar, and I quietly said to Jareth, “That was weird. Mike is usually so friendly.” We continued to the bar and settled down at the end. Jareth helped me off with my coat as I waited for Niki to turn around. I couldn’t wait to introduce the two of them.
After a few minutes Niki noticed me and hurried over. The second her eyes swung toward Jareth, they narrowed just as Mike’s had.
“Hey, Nik. This is Jareth.” I waved toward him
“Oh, we’ve met.” She leaned on the bar, giving him an intimidating stare.
“You have?” Lacey had come into the office a few times so she’d met Jareth, but Niki hadn’t.
“Mm-hmm.” When she didn’t elaborate I wanted to slap my hands onto the bartop to get both of their attention.
Jareth stared at her. A cloud of tension surrounded us. I swallowed hard as they both stayed silent. My stomach twisted and twirled at how uncomfortable their stare-off was making me.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I’d clearly missed something.
Niki turned to me. “Do you remember me telling you that a guy was here and didn’t leave his name?”
I swung my gaze to Jareth, my mouth dropping onto an ‘o’ of surprise. “Did you follow me here?”
He shrugged. “I did.” If his attitude was any guess clearly this didn’t bother him in the least.
“I can’t believe you. Why?” This was ridiculous.
He frowned. “I thought you had a date.”
I threw up my hands. “Seriously? We clearly need to have another conversation about boundaries when we get home tonight.”
He shrugged again, and I smacked his shoulder. “This was before Bali,” he clarified.
“That doesn’t make it any better, you idiot.” Having him admit it was before taking me to Bali did actually mollify me the tiniest bit. Not that I’d say that to him.
Jareth grunted in response.
“How’s the house situation going?” Niki asked.
I smiled. “Really well. They’ll be done in the next day or two. It took a little longer than expected because of the holidays.”
“And you’ll be moving back home then?” Niki’s sly look was fixated on Jareth.
