She studied me closely. “You’re choosing him because he’s attractive and a good mark, right?”
“No.”
“Then tell me it’s because he’s available?”
“No.”
“Cry Baby, don’t you fucking say it.”
I watched Hollis laugh again and clap the guy on the shoulder.
It was because of him.
He’d assumed the conversation was over. He thought he’d won. He still believed he understood me, even when he knew nothing anymore.
The dark-haired man glanced toward our end of the bar, and I caught his gaze and smiled. He was friendly, curious, and completely unaware of what was to come.
I smiled in return. “He belongs to Hollis’s world.”
Melodie understood instantly and groaned. “What are you doing? He’s probably a damn cop, Cry Baby…”
“Tonight. He will see our world.”
She grinned despite her earlier whining and chuckled
Nervously.
“You really have become terrifying.”
“No.”
I stood, straightening my cuffs and keeping my gaze fixed on my prey. “I’ve become patient.”
Across the room, Hollis looked up just in time to see me walk directly past him, but not toward the exit…toward his darling friend.
He frowned and watched me continue my journey.
Good.
Let him watch.
For once, I wanted him to be the one wondering what came next.
Ishould’ve gone home.
Instead, there I was, throwing a twenty on the bar, ignoring Enrique yelling after me about my never-ending tab, and watching Jailbait disappear out the back door with Ryan Caliger hanging all over him.
Caliger was obliterated. That much was fucking obvious.
He was exactly the kind of drunk where everything was hilarious, and to achieve a standing upright position deserved a fucking medal. I didn’t remember him even drinking that much when we’d been talking…
Prissy little fuck didn’t seem to mind being tugged by Jailbait and that whore he always hung around with.
He had Caliger’s arm looped over his shoulders, smiling politely whenever Ryan leaned too hard or stumbled into him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were old friends, but they definitely fucking weren’t.
Ryan had met him maybe forty minutes before? I’d heard the little shit introducing himself to him.
I didn’t know why that bothered me, but I was fuming.
