My jaw sagged. “I...excuse me?” I wrinkled my brow as if I was überly confused. Inside, my nervous system went haywire with panic.
But why in the hell would he automatically tell me where Noel was? He should not know I was here to see Noel.
As if realizing he’d just misspoken, his eyes grew big. “I mean...” He coughed into his hand. I watched the wheels in his brain churn, trying to come up with a cover. “I just meant...my friend, Noel, was at the bar...you know, in case you changed your mind and wanted to order anything. You could go up there, no problem, and order something from him...if you wanted...later on.”
He had to be the worst liar on the face of the planet. An instant sheen of sweat had already coated his face and his eyes darted as if begging me to believe him. But at least he seemed to know he was caught because he whirled away before I could answer and darted off into the crowd of people.
I stared after him, my heart pounding. He knew. He knew about Noel and me. My flight instincts kicked into gear. I wanted to race toward the door and keep running, because if this guy knew, then who else knew? Noel’s roommate knew. More were bound to find out.
I suddenly felt as if I was standing on a ticking time bomb. This was going to end badly. There seemed to be no way around it.
“Hey there, pretty lady?” a voice said to my right, startling me back to the present. “Can I get you a drink?”
I turned slowly, mechanically, to see another waiter approaching. This one had a tattoo on the side of his neck, more running up and down both arms and too many piercings for me to count. I looked at him but really didn’t see him. The certainty of my impending doom weighed down on me, and I couldn’t breathe so well.
But the waiter merely grinned and snapped his finger as if he recognized me. “You were here a few weeks back, flirting with Gamble, weren’t you? He’s working the bar tonight.” Winding his arm around my waist, he applied the lightest pressure to the base of my spine and urged me forward as he accompanied me to the bar.
He wasn?
?t being pushy, but actually really considerate, so I knew I could back away and escape if I wanted to. The bad part was, I did want to escape. I wasn’t sure if I could face Noel just then. My mind was spinning and the object in my purse seemed to heat right through the leather and burn into the side of my leg.
But I let Noel’s coworker sweep me along anyway. He bent slightly to talk in my ear. “He’s a little crabby tonight, so maybe you can cheer him up for us, huh?”
I wanted to ask why Noel was crabby, but all too soon, there we were, at the bar.
“Yo, Gamble,” the man at my side called as he pulled out a barstool and offered me a hand to help me climb up and sit down. Noel’s back was to us. He was busy mixing a drink, so he didn’t turn immediately. I’d just settled my purse in my lap and straightened my spine on the stool when he finally glanced over.
His coworker leaned one arm on the bar and another loosely around my waist as he shouted over the noise. “Got some orders over here.”
Never taking his eyes off me, Noel carried his drink to the bar and set it on the countertop in front of the person who’d ordered it. And then he came directly to us.
“I need two beers from the tap, Corona in a bottle, and a fuzzy navel,” the tattooed waiter started.
Noel didn’t even give him the time of day. His lips twitched and his eyes brightened into a smile. Finally, he asked, “What’re you doing here?”
He looked too pleased to see me for me to start slinging questions about how many people knew about us. Hell, I even forgot about what lay in my purse. I was too thrilled to be in his company again. Our secret stolen time together had been rare this week. A few longing glances across the classroom was all we’d been able to manage.
My body flooded with awareness. I wanted to grab his tight black shirt and drag him to the nearest supply closet to reenact our first time together. From the way his eyes glittered, I had a feeling he was having similar thoughts.
“I came for a drink,” I managed to say.
His half smile turned into a full grin. With a wink, he leaned across the bar and in a husky voice said, “Then you came to the right place.”
“Hey.” His coworker tapped on the top of the bar between us. “Did you hear me, princess? I said I needed—”
“Heard ya,” Noel snapped, but he kept looking at me. Voice dropping again to address me, he said, “Be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
He returned with a whole batch of alcohol. “Two house beers, Corona, and a fuzzy navel,” he said, setting them in front of his friend. “And a Bud Light Lime for the lovely lady.” As he set my drink in front of me, he added with a wink, “On the house.”
I took a drink, relishing the way the cool liquid wet my dry throat. Noel stuck around to watch, his gaze dipping to my lips. Knowing how much he liked mouths, I drew my bottom lip in between my teeth and sucked a drop of beer off it.
He lifted his gaze. “Stay till closing,” he said, wording it as a half-question, half-demand. “I’m going home with you tonight.”
The futility of our situation flooded me again, but I nodded anyway. I just couldn’t keep away from him. And I didn’t want to.
So I remained until last call, and then I stuck around a little longer. By the time only a handful of customers remained, all four of Noel’s coworkers had curiously glanced my way, but none of them ever asked to me leave. I’m fairly certain they all knew exactly why I was here.
Though I’d been excited to spend time with him after he clocked off, I grew worried as I sat there. Did everyone he worked with know about us? We were being too obvious, weren’t we? God, how pathetic was this? We knew each other inside and out, had shared more intimacies than I’d ever share with another living soul, and we had to sneak around and hide everything like a pair of pathetic teenagers.