“She has the night off,” Dion answered instead of Erik, which surprised me.
I stared at his unbothered face, struck silent for a second as I tried to work out what to say next. “You think giving her the night off tonight, after what happened, is a good idea?”
Dion’s eyes narrowed. “She’s meeting us later. Why,” his voice dropped, “do you have such a problem with her not being here? Something happen between you two?”
There was nothing I could say to that, not anything that would make sense, anyway. Nothing much had happened, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want it to.
“If I didn’t know how much you hated her, I would say—”
“I don’t hate her,” I snapped quickly, maybe too quickly. Because Dion’s lips twitched. Looping his arm around my shoulders, he gave me a brotherly squeeze.
“Finally ready to admit it, huh?”
“Don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure, you don’t.” He rolled his eyes, showing mostly white in the darkened corridor for a second. “I don’t know why you can’t just admit it.”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Why couldn’t I admit that I liked her? Maybe it was because half the time I couldn’t stand her, and I knew the feeling was mutual. But that just made it hotter. I had no doubt that the chemistry between us would make the sex mind blowing. All that loathing mixed with the physical attraction was already driving me insane.
Hell, I had almost missed a cue just because she hadn’t been around, hadn’t given me the ritual kiss. And I had been too busy thinking about her and not concentrating on the music.
“Fuck...” I mumbled before I could stop myself, and Dion’s smile grew into his trademark megawatt grin.
“Finally seeing it, huh?”
Seeing it, feeling it. I couldn’t make sense of anything that was happening between us. Not that any of that really mattered. I only had to look at the hell Dion was going through to know I wanted nothing to do with any kind of relationship with anyone, but especially someone who was linked with the band. “Doesn’t matter, anyway, I’m not going there.”
The smile faded. “Why? You make absolutely no sense. Eli is cracking.”
Yeah, she was. She was also employed by us, and a spoiled little miss when she wanted to be. Those were the things I needed to concentrate on. Not how she made my heartbeat faster, or the feel of her hand in mine, or her lips…fuck.
“Yeah, cracking. But no way I am going through the shit you are, Dion. I’ve seen how messed up it’s made you. First with Isla, and then with Lola.” Too late, I caught myself. “I mean, shit, sorry.”
He waved my words away.
“You’re not me, Jax. And Eli is not Isla or Lola.”
“I’ve never had a relationship in my life, and I don’t want to start one with someone we work with. It’s a recipe for disaster and...”
“Relationship?” Dion’s dark eyebrow rose questionably.
“I.. It was…”
He chuckled. “Well, shit. I was just talking about fucking her, having some fun.” He side eyed me.
“So was I.”
“You said ‘relationship’.” He shook his head, mirth brightening his eyes. And I knew what he was thinking. “Damn, you have it bad.”
I ignored him. Not because what he said wasn’t true, but because it was. I did have it bad. I had it really bad, and I didn’t know what to do about it. “Can we just drop it? Don’t we have a party or something to go to?”
A party or club appearance that I was hoping Elodie would be at.
“Yeah, we sure do, and do you know who will be there…?” He winked.
“Shut up.”
THIRTEEN
