“You good?” I asked.
“Perfect,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I smiled, because that’s what you do when someone smiles at you like that.
But somewhere between the second bar and the third handful of quarters, a small thought settled in my chest.
Not fear.
Just… curiosity.
The kind that lingers.
“Ready to go?” she said, grabbing her bag. “Let’s meet the girls.”
“Yeah,” I said, standing.
By the time we left the bar, the night had gone electric—loud, sweaty, stupid-happy.
“I need a diner,” someone slurred. “Greasy burger. Fries. Right now.”
We whooped like it was genius.
The diner was chaos—neon buzzing, coffee sloshing, people hunched over plates like grease was the only thing keeping them alive. We crammed into a booth, laughing, shouting orders.
I was reaching for my water when I saw him.
Sean.
My brain tried to glitch, to rewrite the scene into something that made sense. But it didn’t.
He wasn’t alone.
He was holding her hand, leaning in, kissing her like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Everything inside me turned to ice.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t look away.
“What?” Sage snapped, voice sharp enough to cut glass. “Beth—what the fuck?”
She followed my stare.
“Sean. He’s here with his superior’s nineteen year old daughter. They kissed. Didn’t even see me.”
I was shaking by now. Sick. Nauseous.
Her whole body locked up.
Then she exploded.
“The fuck?” she hissed. Then louder, “The FUCK?”
She was out of the booth before anyone could stop her, marching straight for them.
“What the fuck are you doing, you cheating piece of shit?” she shouted, loud enough to kill every conversation in the diner.
The place went dead silent.
