“Weed is legal,” I reminded through my laughter. O was laughing too hard to add anything.
“Right,” he drawled slowly like he’d forgotten.
With control of my amusement, I gestured toward the front door. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” O said, still wiping under her eyes.
“I know she’s your friend and stuff, so I get if you don’t want to break code and tell me the specifics. But can you at least let me know if it’s a give-it-another-few-days offense or a send-the-biggest-box-of-chocolate-I-can-find thing?”
“Seriously, it’s not you.”
I didn’t think that was true since it definitely felt like amething.
I also didn’t know why since she’d been standoffish from the moment I met her at Sweets You Rock with…
It was my turn to lean closer as I ignored the burn that twisted in my stomach. “Did something happen between her and Rhys?”
I’d been so focused on him and Piper, I hadn’t even considered I’d missed shared glances with anyone else. Let alone the woman with the newborn.
Ophelia and Jury burst out laughing.
And he’d had a point. It wasn’t as amusing when the laughter wasatme.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
If it wasn’t who I was with…
O looked like she wanted to say more, but after a quick peek around, she pressed her lips closed.
I gave the room my own quick scan and saw most of the people around us were ones who didn’t know who I was.
The pieces clicked together and formed my badge—the only other thing she’d known about me from the get-go. “Oh.Ohhh.”
“Like I said, not you,” O reiterated.
Jury said nothing because a group of incredibly attractive women had been steadily inching into his visual field, and he’d finally spotted them. An odd mix of interest and disregard crossed his face. He matched it with a slouched body languagethat he contradicted by rubbing his thumb across his bottom lip as he watched them.
O rolled her eyes, the rotation ending on me. “Ask Rhys, he’ll fill you in.”
As much as I would’ve loved to follow her advice, he still hadn’t returned. And without the distraction of a baby and an alarmed mother, I realized just how badly I might’ve fucked up.
With the security of the building and the good vibes from the tight group, I’d let my guard down more than I should’ve.
Dammit.
“Speaking of, have either of you seen Rhys?” I asked.
Jury gestured toward the exit. “He was in the hall when I came out of the bathroom a bit ago. Right before I sat.”
“I’ll go look.” I walked into what used to be a lobby and turned down the hall before backtracking to stick my head out the open main entrance. The cool air felt nice as I scanned around.
Maybe he’s like Jury and doesn’t want to smoke in front of me.
But he wasn’t one of the smokers, tokers, or midnight jokers—or whatever that line was supposed to be.
Returning to my original path, I paused to check the tracking app to confirm one of the cars out there in the dark was actually his—it was—before sending off a quick text to ask where he was.
Unsurprisingly, I got no answer. With no other choice, I started down the hallway, hating every step I took.
