Thomas & January (Sleepless 2)

I nodded.

“It’s just not a conventional dating scenario, though, you know?” she said.

“Nothing about us is conventional, January.”

“True,” she said, but the smile on her face fell. “Oh shit.”

“What?” I asked, following her line of sight. We watched Jonah walk through the front door. He waved sarcastically before breaking the threshold. “Damn it! How did he find us?”

“I don’t know.”

Inside, I searched the club for Jonah but he was nowhere to be found.

“He’s got to be backstage,” I said.

“He’s a sneaky pete, dude.”

“I know.”

“What should we do?”

“They’ll never believe we’re also Seven reps. Not with Jonah back there.”

“I could, you know, use my girlish wiles.”

I looked at her, shocked. “I’m not going to pimp you out to gain backstage access, January.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s disgusting!” I practically yelled, appalled.

She laughed at me. “Tom, it’s not like I’m stripping or something equally sketchy. I was just going to flirt my way through.”

“No,” I said emphatically. I pulled her body to mine. “No way in hell. No.”

I led us to the bar in the corner of the club.

“Fine, then what should we do?”

“We wait.”

“And what if he talks to All the Pretty Girls before we get a chance? Dude, he is not above stealing. I told you this.”

“I know. All we can do is play it by ear tonight, but from now on I’m not even telling Jason where we’re going next. No one will know but us.”

“Good idea.”

“Speak of the devil,” I told her as Jonah exited from the backstage entrance. I didn’t have to bother getting his attention, he saw us.

“January,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. I didn’t care about appearances, I pulled him off her. I figured he’d misinterpret my possessiveness for anger at him for cheating.

“What the hell, Jonah?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Jonah. How the hell did you know we were going to be here?”

Jonah laughed, clapping me on the shoulder harshly. I stared at this hand, a muscle ticked in my jaw. I shrugged his hand off roughly.