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Jax was half out of his chair when one of the servers moved, and we all saw who she was sitting with. Poppy sat next to Ivy, gesturing wildly with her hands as she told a story.
“Fuck,” Jax said under his breath. “Never mind.”
We never talked about it, but my best friend was just as aware of Poppy’s crush on him as anyone else, which was why he kept very clear of her when he could manage it.
“That’s her,” I said.
“Who?”
“Ivy.”
Jax’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. Then he glared at Ian. “What the hell?”
He grinned. “Thought it would be fun to see Cameron’s head explode.”
“I take back what I said about tolerating you.”
What were they doing here together?
From the corner where we sat, it was easy to watch them. Ivy listened attentively to what Poppy was saying and occasionally said something back.
Poppy smiled, even laughed a few times at whatever Ivy said, and it was like someone jerked a knotted rope on my spine and pulled because it was almost impossible not to follow the tug I felt toward her.
I wanted those stories and smiles and laughs too.
It was selfish and undeniably greedy, but the small pieces I’d had of Ivy weren’t enough. I wanted more.
When had I ever wanted more of something that was just mine?
It wasn’t about my family or my job.
This was something I wanted for no other reason than it made me happy. The wanting of her, knowing what it was like between us, was imprinted on some dark, secret part of me that I couldn’t carve out.
Didn’t want to either.
When I realized the table was quiet, I tore my gaze away from the two women at the bar and realized both Jax and Ian stared at me.
Jax was stunned. Ian had a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Not a word out of you,” I said. “I just wasn’t expecting to see her here.”
“Holy shit,” Jax breathed. “You’re looking at her like Marcy Jenkins looks at you.”
My grimace was uncontrollable because that was not a great comparison for me.
“You had sex with a client—who has more money than God,” Jax continued, “and you are staring at her like you’d let her snack on your heart.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That’s … disgusting.”
And accurate.
“I wasn’t gone that long,” Jax continued. “How did this even happen? What’s she like? Do I get to meet her?”
“When did you get so verbose?” I snapped. “I’ve been friends with you since grade school, and you’ve literally never asked this many questions about anything ever.”
Ian whistled. “Oooh, he’s touchy. This is getting even better.”
As I opened my mouth to snap at both of them, a tall, barrel-chested guy in a backward cap approached the bar, his eyes locked on Poppy and Ivy. The three of us went quiet.
