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Then she licks his neck and my stomach drops. Aly passes her a shot and she takes it, and then leans in to take the lime from Freddy’s mouth. He teases her with it, and then grins, cupping the back of her neck as she leans in to take the lime.
“She’s hurting, Zeke,” the girl says. “Anyone can see it.” Her voice is familiar and I do a double-take when I realize it’s “Veronica” from the private room, minus the red hair.
I don’t know how long she’s been standing next to me. But it’s obvious that she’s watched me watching Faye long enough to know I’m not just a friendly observer.
“I know. She just quit school.”
“Wow,” she says. “That’s huge.”
“Yep.”
Faye pulls back and her head falls back as she laughs. Freddy meets my gaze, and then slowly, subtly, shakes his head. I frown, not understanding whatever message he thinks he’s conveying. Faye is talking to her friends, the three of them giggling and Aly squeals about something or other. Without looking away from me, Freddy brushes Faye’s hair off her cheek. I let out a sharp huff of an exhale, and stuff my hand in my pocket to keep from clenching my fist any harder.
“I don’t know what you think happened in that room,” Veronica says, nodding to a door along the wall. “But you watched her bare herself to you and then you walked out and asked another girl for her number.”
When I look back at them, Freddy is still watching me, still shaking his head. But then Faye says something to him and he focuses his attention on her. As he should. As any guy who has Faye in his lap should.
“This isn’t good for business, but you should probably go,” Veronica says, patting my shoulder twice.
“Go? Go where?”
“Home? Out? Give her some space, you know? Room to breathe so she doesn’t force something that she’ll regret just because she wants a distraction?”
As if she can hear me, Faye’s gaze meets mine and my heart tightens. Her cheeks flush, and she looks to where Freddy is pointing at the stage. I reach into my wallet and pull out a handful of bills.
“Make sure she gets home with her friends?” I pass the money to her, and she tucks it away with a nod.
“Come back and see us again soon, okay?”
19
faye
“Where did you wander off to?”Caro says, batting her eyelashes as if she doesn’t know exactly where I was.
I’m standing in the front doorway with a large paper coffee cup in hand, still nearly full of hot black coffee and just the right amount of milk, no sugar. I didn’t have the fortitude to go into the shop myself and brave coffee bitch. But Freddy convinced me I needed the fresh air and the walk. So I walked to the coffee shop and then sent him inside.
“What are you doing home?” I ask, pulling the door shut.
It’s ten on a Thursday morning, and everything feels foreign. Hell, the only time I’ve ever been home at ten a.m. on a Thursday is if I was sick or at a funeral.
“I don’t have to be at the community center until three. And stop changing the subject when you still have glitter in your hair.”
I wipe at the top of my ponytail and Caro smirks.
“Fine,” I say, walking past her toward the kitchen and the aroma of stale coffee and Aly’s first strawberry scones of the season.
Caro pulls her dark hair up in a knot on top of her head and leans against the wall, looking perfectly patient in a loose kelly green cropped sweater and yoga pants. “Let me drink some coffee first and then—wow, I love that color on you!”
“Thanks! I found this at a thrift store over on Belmont. I was standing in front of the shop when—” She stops and cocks her head. “I see what you did there.”
I sip deeply into the coffee Freddy bought me.
“Wait a damn second,” she says, twisting her full pout to the left. “Where’d you get that?”
“At the coffee shop?”
“You look like you’re enjoying it.”
