“Here, let me help.” Deacon takes a few bags from my hands and nods toward the front door.
“You here to see Linc?”
“I am. I figured I’d bring him some dinner. Here, let me,” I say, stepping around him to get the front door.
A bell chimes when we walk in, but its sound is swallowed by the beat of music. People are milling about everywhere, and I don’t know a single one. Except for Deacon, of course.
Lincoln has kept me at arm’s length, but I didn’t realize until now exactly what that meant. This is the other half of his life. These are his co-workers, his family, his friends—the people he’s with when he isn’t with me. This is a huge part of his life that I am clearly not a part of.
“All this is for Lincoln?” he asks.
“Not all of it. I brought enough to feed a few extra people.”
Deacon looks at the bags in his hands and laughs. “You brought enough to feed a small army. The guys are going to love you. Hell, I love you. Why don’t I take all of this into the office for everyone while you go find Linc?”
“Okay.”
He starts to walk away, and I stop him when I notice I have the wrong bag in my hand.
“Wait.”
I shuffle the various bags until I find the one with an X. I had the guy at the diner mark it so I’d know which bag was for us and which ones are for the guys.
I swap bags with Deacon, and he disappears through a side door before I have a chance to ask him where Lincoln is.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?”
I look up and up into the glossy eyes of a stranger. He sways to the left, catching himself on the wall before toppling over, and I hold my purse and the food tight to my chest.
“I’m looking for Lincoln Bennett.”
He scrunches his nose up. “Why?”
“Because he’s my boyfriend,” I say, squaring my shoulders.
The stranger smiles, revealing two rows of bright white teeth. “Is that so?”
What is he getting at? I nod.
“Does Rose know that?”
“Rose?”
“Rose.” He repeats her name and turns around, pointing across the room. After a few seconds he says, “Well, she was just there a second ago.”
“Who was there a second ago?”
“Rose and Lincoln.” The guy scans the crowd, and he shrugs. “Not sure. They were there a second ago. Maybe they slipped into the locker room.”
Why on Earth would he slip into a locker room with another woman?
“Can you point me in the direction you think they might be?” I ask, trying my hardest to keep my voice calm and even.
“See that black door in the back? Go through there and hang a left.”
“Thank you.” I take a step and turn around. “What did you say your name was.”
He smiles. “I didn’t.”