"It's just that there's this picture floating around now. You and Parker."
"What?" How had she missed that? "From where?" She closed her eyes, hoping it wasn't from New Orleans. That it wasn't an intimate kiss on the banks of the Mississippi.
"That bar in Austin that you're working at. He's shirtless--and holy freak, does he look good. And you're standing right beside him."
"Oh." She exhaled, trying to process the implications.
"It's just that the name of the bar is clear, and if Carlton wanted to find it, that really wouldn't be hard."
"No," Megan said, frowning. "It wouldn't." She shook off the funk. "But you know what? You're right. Why would he? By now, I'm old news to Carlton."
"That's what I figure."
"Listen, I need to go." She'd reached the corner and had been loitering just so they could finish the call. "Talk to you again soon?"
"Hell, yeah. I miss you."
"Me, too," she assured her friend, then hung up. She drew in a breath and tried to gather her thoughts, reassuring herself that Carlton wasn't coming and that Parker hadn't beat anyone up. Or if he had, then it was for a damn good reason.
She turned right on Third Street and continued on a few blocks, thinking that she'd just ask him about it. Surely he'd tell her.
His building was one of the modern high rise condos that had sprung up like chrome and glass weeds all over downtown throughout the past decade. Now, she stood across Third Street from the glass entrance, waiting for the one-way traffic to clear so she could jaywalk over to his building and see if he was home.
A moment later, though, she saw that he was when he emerged onto the sidewalk with a lovely redhead at his side. Even from across the street, Megan could see the intense affection in her eyes. That was enough to have her mouth going dry. But then her stomach dropped all the way to her knees when he pulled her into an embrace and kissed her.
Granted, the woman had turned before the kiss so that her back was to Megan, but even though she couldn't tell if it was a full-on mouth kiss complete with tongue, she could definitely tell that it was exuberant.
Whoever she was, she was no stranger to Parker. Not only that, but he seemed to adore her.
All of which made her stomach twist. Especially since this revelation of a cuddly bitch in his life was laid out next to Kasey's news about assault.
Could it be true, after all? And who was the woman?
And had she been an idiot for trusting her feelings and falling hard for Parker Fucking Manning?
Chapter Eleven
By the time she got back to Congress Avenue, Megan had convinced herself that there was nothing going on between Parker and the woman.
By the time she'd reached the pedestrian gate to The Railyard, she was convinced that they were in a long-term affair and Megan was nothing more than his piece on the side.
By the time she was in her kitchen and the sauce was simmering and the water for spaghetti was sitting on low heat, she didn't know what to think. All she knew was that she was a mess, and that for the last forty-five minutes, she'd been alternating between crying and scolding herself for jumping to conclusions.
When seven o'clock rolled around, and he hadn't arrived, she told herself that he'd dumped her, forgotten to tell her, and had run off with the redhead.
Stop it. Just stop it.
Frustrated with herself, she picked up the phone and dialed Griffin, who answered on the first ring.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I--Nothing." She scrunched her eyes closed, grimacing. She shouldn't have called Griff. He was already overly protective of her. And what if it really did turn out to be nothing?
No. Correction. It would turn out to be nothing. And if she went and dumped all of her Parker problems on Griffin, then how were the two of them supposed to end up being friends?
"Christ, Megan. I can practically hear the wheels turning. What's going on? Or, rather, what's going on that you don't want to tell me?"
Why, why, why hadn't she called Taylor or Mina instead?