Will shook his head. Russ shuffled forward two steps and kicked Will’s shin.
“The fuck?”
Russ widened his eyes and made a very deliberate head gesture in Cleo’s direction.
“Christ, and they say men can’t be subtle.” Molly muttered something about growing a pair into the porcelain of her mug as she took another sip. “Look… Would one of you spit out whatever the fuck you came to say before my best friend has an aneurism from all the tension consuming her right now? For those of you unsure what you’re looking at, her shoulders are practically a scarf for her ears. She’s strung so tight she’s gonna snap, guys. Get to it.”
Will threw a helpless glance at Austin who planted his feet, glowered, and leaned back against a table. His dark eyes seemed almost black under the orange tinted hue of the coffee house lights.
“Do any of you actually want a drink?”
Three heads shook.
“Snacks?”
More head shaking.
“We can’t get Linc out of bed.”
Cleo clamped her lips between her teeth. The sob rattling through her ended up a short squeak in her throat.Oh, Lincoln.
“We have a big game this weekend, and we really need him fighting fit.”
“Or at least upright.” Austin’s grunt didn’t give Cleo any more clue as to whether he was angry at her, or simply unhappy that he’d been dragged into a mess that wasn’t his. Whatever the male-version of resting bitch face was, this man had perfected it.
“Guys…” She turned to the sink. Picking up a cloth, she turned to scrub at the counter she’d already cleaned twice that evening. “I’m not sure what you want me to do…”
“We’re not really sure either.” Russ’s words were soaked in desperation, and his face was pale. “I know we are out of line for even being here, but he’s still dodging his family’s calls. His sister showed up at our dorm room and sat next to his bed for two hours, but she couldn’t get more than a snort from him. I’ve known him for years, Cleo, and I’ve never seen him like this. I don’t know what to do. I’m worried.”
Molly remained suspiciously quiet throughout the entire exchange, her eyes trained on her now-empty coffee mug. She twisted a lock of hair around her finger. She only ever did that when she was anxious.
“What if I make things worse by talking to him?”
A look passed between Will and Russell.
Cleo pointed a finger between them. “What? What was that look?”
Russell rolled his neck.
Will avoided her questioning stare.
Austin’s glower intensified.
Molly sighed and slapped her thigh. “They’re trying to tell you that you can’t make things any worse.”
Cleo’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape, but she wasn’t sure any noise came out.
Will cleared his throat. “Anyway, uh, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t desperate. And now our meddling asses are going to get the fuck out of here.”
The three men stalked out of the coffee shop in silence. As soon as the door snapped shut behind them, her phone burned a hole through her apron against her thigh.
Her fingers itched to type out a message or call him. Her heart rattled against the bars of its prison, while her brain screamed not to be an idiot.
“I gotta get going. See you at home, ‘kay?” Molly squeezed her hand, grabbed her bag and bolted out the door in a flash of unreadable looks and unspoken words.
The last thirty minutes of her shift were painful. Each second counting down to closing time got louder, goading her into sending Lincoln a message.
As she trudged through the door to her apartment, she expected the regular evening bustle, her housemates drinking cheap wine and arguing over what to watch on TV, but she was met with an unsettling quiet. The lights were off, the TV silent and there wasn’t a roommate in sight.
