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I swallow the nervous way that makes me feel, but he’s right. Charlotte said they created the position with me in mind, but let’s be realistic. If it’s not me, it’ll be someone else. And then I’ll be stuck with a stranger managing this place.
“Maybeyoushould take the job,” I say to drive the attention away from me.
Geo lets out a soft chuckle. “Not me. I’m out of here by the end of the year.”
My head snaps up as I stare at him in shock. “What? Where are you going?”
Geo has been the lead bartender at Salacious since it opened. This place won’t be the same without him, and my heart aches to think of him leaving.
He shrugs. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I’m ready for something new. Emerson said he’d help me find a new job at another club wherever I decide to go. Maybe Nashville or New Orleans.”
I reach out a hand and place it on his. Geo has really grown into his own over the past three years. I’ve watched him blossom from the man who used to try to blend in to the beautiful person he is now, born to stand out.
“I’m going to miss you,” I say, my eyes growing moist.
“I’ll come back to visit,” he replies. “When you’re the owner.”
I roll my eyes with a smile and pull my hand away. “Nice try.”
“No one knows this place like you do, Eden. Owner or not, Salacious has always belonged to you.”
He turns away and starts preparing someone else’s drink, and I let those words settle. Could I really see someone else take over this place? Even if Emerson, Garrett, and Hunter remain the owners, they’re going to need more help here, and I don’t know if I could watch someone else take the role made for me. What if this new person changes it? What if I dislike it so much that I have to leave?
What will I do then?
Lost in my contemplation, I almost don’t notice when Mia approaches and leans her elbows on the bar next to me.
“Nice work with that pixie girl.”
I glance up from my napkin list and stare at her with a furrowed brow. “What?”
She turns her body toward me as she smiles. “That cute little set of bangs that’s been following you around. She’s killing it.”
Jade? Killing it at what?
Mia must sense my confusion because she laughs. “She’s in the voyeur hall right now. I think she’s gunning after my job.”
“In the voyeur hall?”
None of this makes any sense. I left Jade at her house hours ago, and I’m supposed to be meeting her here in thirty minutes. She must be confused.
“Yeah. She’s in the cutest little purple outfit, drawing a crowd. You should go watch.”
My cheeks start to grow hot as I drop my napkin on the bar. “She’s in aroom?!”
I don’t even hear Mia’s response as I leap off the barstool, practically running toward the voyeur hall.
The moment I slip through the heavy black curtain, I see the small crowd of people gathered around the third window on the right. I stomp down the hall, hoping to God Mia was just confused and it’s notmyJade in there with someone else.
She wouldn’t.
And she and Clay wouldn’t go in there without letting me know, would they?
When I reach the third window, I screech to a halt when I see her familiar bob haircut and purple sequined outfit we just bought today. To my relief, she’s in there alone.
My jaw drops when I see her nervously smiling at the people on my side of the glass. She’s shaking her ass and smiling over her shoulder.
I must be hallucinating.
