Yes.
Holding my phone close, I clicked on the story, watching the video set inside a flashy, arty, part-wild, part-fancy lounge that I didn’t recognize and would never know without the likes of Adam or Iain. The caption was “nights on The Bowery” but there was no location tag to show exactly where on Bowery they were.
I squinted, watching closely as the video surveyed the enormous space, going from the mural-painted walls to the funky sculptures to the cocktail waitress leaning over their very long, very crowded U-shaped booth.
And what I saw a flash of just before the video ended made my stomach lurch.
I stared, unblinking, but by the time I tried to replay, it wouldn’t load because my service dropped out, leaving me to curse the train I was on for the tenth time today—and to wonder what the hell could’ve possibly happened since my last text to Iain.
I knew I’d run into Mia when I got home since her shift didn’t start for another two hours, but I didn’t plan on telling her anything until I got into the apartment and saw her coming out of the bathroom in her robe with her hair wet.
“Inappropriate, but I thought about your boyfriend the whole time in there. Do you think he used the coconut body wash or the grapefruit?” she joked. But when I couldn’t laugh or respond she frowned. “Oh God. What’s wrong?”
“He’s out with my brother and their law school friends and I saw in A.J’s Instagram story that he’s with a woman.”
Mia stopped in the middle of the living room and stared. “Wait. What? What do you mean ‘with’ a woman? What woman?”
“They’re at some lounge and I guess my brother or one of his friends invited a bunch of girls. They’re all packed into this big leather booth and this—” Absolutely gorgeous brunette in the lowest-cut dress. I took in a deep breath and gathered myself. “This very attractive woman is basically smashed up against him with his arm between her boobs and she was whispering in his ear.”
Mia hit me with a dry look. “Dude. That’s nothing. That’s just a typical night out and a crowded table with—”
“He was smiling in this way,” I added, my heart thumping again at the memory as I pulled up the video on my phone and played it for Mia.
Crap, I thought as I watched her eyes immediately go wide and her eyebrows pinch into a frown. And just like that she became Mama Bear Mia.
“Okay, first of all,” she said defensively as she stood straight again. “Fuck that bitch—if no one else is licking each other’s ears to talk at that table, it’s definitely not that loud and she does not need to be all up in his business like that,” she declared heatedly. “Second, that is not Mr. Ass.”
I stared at her. “What are you talking about? That’s obviously Iain.”
“I know, Holland. What I’m saying is he’s acting totally different. I’ve spent years watching him do meetings at my bar and get hit on by all kinds of beautiful women, and he always looks bored beyond belief. He won’t even humor girls even when his clients clearly want him to, so unless your brother is the one exception, something is up right now.”
I was still standing at the door as I stared at Mia, my heart beating even faster now because I knew she was right.
He wasn’t being himself. He had flipped a switch.
And I didn’t know why.
But I needed to figure it out.
“Who are you texting now?” Mia asked.
“Adam,” I said, still typing furiously. “To see where to meet them.”
“You know you have to show up looking hotter than hell, right?”
I finished sending my text and looked up at her.
And with the quickest wordless exchange she nodded and said, “Yeah, come on. Let’s doll you the fuck up.”
33
HOLLAND
I knew plenty about The Victorian Hotel after spending two nights here with Iain, but I didn’t know anything about its bar until Mia forced me to Google it while she tore apart her closet.
Apparently, it had a reputation for debauchery with its hot tubs and infinity pools, and for that reason, I wound up going with flat shoes, because drunk or not, Adam’s friends were rowdy and I wasn’t going to risk it with water everywhere.
“Well, we’re going to have to go sexier if you refuse to wear heels,” Mia had said when I insisted on my trusty white sneakers.