“Nothing, man. I just have…I have a lot of things to do.”
“Yeah, you look real busy sipping that beer,” I said. “So how…uh…how is she?”
His eyes surveyed the crowd quickly as he scratched the scruff along his jaw. “Who?”
I scrubbed my hand over my face and sighed heavily. “Lexa? How is she?”
“Oh, yeah, right,” he said, frowning. He gave me a hard smile. “She’s been great for the magazine. Pretty classy woman if you ask me. Putting aside all the stupid bullshit you and your father put her through. This month’s ratings went through the roof, I hear.”
“Yeah,” I murmured.
“Well, it was stupid to come back if you’re thinking of messing everything up again with your dick. You got what you wanted, right? Alex Kavon is writing for InTrend. You should turn around right now and just head back to California.”
Why was he trying to get rid of me?
“Right now?” I said stunned. “You said that like you want me to leave right this minute.”
He grunted low. Then his eyes focused on something at the far end of the bar near the front door, and his lips curled into a wide smile. What the hell? “What are you smiling at?” I asked, turning my head to look behind me.
Mandy had just walked in.
My stomach dropped. It actually dropped. I’d never felt that before. Was Lexa with her? Would I get to see her tonight?
Next to me, Evan shot up and waved to Mandy like a lovesick puppy. What the hell happened while I was gone?
She moved through the crowded bar with a huge smile on her face, and when she reached Evan, he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her for a good five minutes. Awkward.
“Do you guys need me to get you a room or something?” I offered, throwing a wadded up napkin at them.
Mandy’s head snapped around and her eyes widened as soon as she realized I was sitting there.
“Jameson Holt?” she said.
“The one and only,” I replied.
“Well, thank God for that,” she sneered as Evan pulled out a chair for her to sit down.
“Ouch,” I cringed. “I guess I deserved that.”
“When did you get back?” she asked.
“About an hour ago,” I said.
“And you came here to a bar with Evan?”
“No. I just called him to talk…what the hell, come on… How is she? Where is she? She hasn’t answered any of my calls or texts.”
“Why should she? It’s not like you had any feelings for her—why would she want to give you the time of day?” Mandy snapped.
Ouch. That burned. If only it was true though. If only I didn’t have feelings for her—it would make the crappy depression I was rocking go away.
“I think we both needed some time and space to think things through,” I said.
Mandy’s lips twisted into a devilish smirk. “Good thing too. Since she finally got a chance to move on.” She turned her eyes on Evan and her smile softened. “Babe, could you get me a margarita?”
He leaned over and kissed her again. “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”
Mandy watched him walk away.
“What the hell did you do to him? You broke Evan.”
“And you broke Lexa!” she fired back.
“Oh yeah, sure. Her indifference and unreturned calls really show me how much she misses me. I’ve spent the last month begging for her to talk to me or message me.”
“You made her feel worse than Trager did,” Mandy said.
“That’s a shit thing to say. Where is she?” I said, bolting out of my seat.
“Why?” she said, arching an eyebrow at me.
“Because I fucking miss her and I came back here because being somewhere without her is killing me. I’m fucking miserable.”
Mandy’s expression thawed and her eyes turned sad. “That’s too bad. I think you’re too late, Holt.” She shook her head and waved to the door. “You should leave. She just walked in.”
My head snapped to the front of the bar, heart racing and mushrooming with warmth. She was here? Lexa was here?
Without thinking, I pushed through the bar toward the door. My thoughts raced and my chest tightened. The first thing I needed to do was apologize. Then I was going to kiss the shit out of her.
And then she was standing in front of me, stunningly beautiful. Her hair was a sexy mess, her eyes were wide, and the brightest blue I’d ever seen.
“Lex, I need you to just listen to me before you walk away—”
“Jameson…” she stammered, face blanching.
“Yeah, baby, it’s me,” I said, feeling like it was the first time I took a deep breath in over a month. We both stood there staring at each other. “God, I missed—”
“Lexa? Is there a problem here?” a deep voice cut in.
My vision shifted a few inches to the right of Lexa and noticed a man standing next to her. Not just next to her, he was practically on top of her, clutching her arm possessively.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“James. Hi. Wow. Are you visiting? It’s so nice to see you,” she said softly.
She was lying. This wasn’t nice. Whatever this was—wasn’t nice—and it kind of sucked rancid cock.
“Um, Jameson Holt, this is Spencer,” she offered me a tight smile and then looked up at the fucknut standing next to her. Her smile brightened and softened at the edges, making me want to break him. “Spence, this is James.”
“Hey. Wow. Jameson Holt—from Holt Media? Great to meet you,” he said, extending his hand out for a handshake. I didn’t reach out my hand; there was no way I could touch him without squeezing his hand and breaking every bone in it.
Lexa’s eyes darted between Spencer and me quickly. “Well, okay then. It was nice seeing you Holt. We’re supposed to meet Mandy and Evan for dinner soon so we have to find them…So, yeah, nice seeing you.”
She stood in front of me stiffly, waiting for me to say goodbye, and I couldn’t even form words in my mouth. The only bodily functions I could perform at that very moment were rapid blinking and shaking of the head.
Holy shit.
Was that her date? Her boyfriend? Someone she was sleeping with? She couldn’t be sleeping with him, right? A sharp burning sensation slashed deep inside my chest and zigzagged across my stomach. Visions of his tongue thrusting into her mouth and her hands shoved down the front of his pants had me clenching my jaw painfully. She couldn’t have fucked him. There was no way. He looked like a cartoon character. And what kind of name was Spencer?
She couldn’t have moved on.
It’d only been a month.
Black spots dotted my vision as I stood there practically snarling as I thought about him flat on his back while she rode him slowly.
I stepped back as if she’d punched me and almost lost my footing.
How could she have forgotten about us? How could she have not been as miserable as me?
This hurts.
This wasn’t happening.
“Are you okay, Holt?” she whispered with a sad smile. She reached her hand out but yanked it right back and tucked it against her chest instead of touching me. “We…uh…we have to meet…we’re just going to meet Mandy and Evan. It really was nice…to see you again,” she stammered, trying to get away from me.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let her walk away again.
Not without letting her know.
“Oh, yeah? That’s great news because they just invited me to join you all for dinner. This should be fun.”
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