“Yeah?” Ava’s eyebrows pull together as she grimaces. “He must be one hell of an actor,” she remarks.
The comment stabs me and I’m completely stunned for a moment. I stare at her as she continues, not even glancing my way but still tapping away on her phone.
“You guys even made it go on and on for another night? Were your ex and his new bitch staying there? You guys must have put on quite the show. How jealous was Evan? Did Bethany and your old friends give you stares?”
Dropping my purse onto the floor by the door, I feel everything inside of me do the same. Was Luke faking everything? I mean, I know in the beginning we were putting on a show, but it seemed like we really connected. Was that all in my mind?
“You okay?” Ava asks me as I slump into the chair next to the couch.
My mouth goes dry and I feel numb, whereas just moments ago I’d never felt so alive.
“You didn’t believe his act, did you?” Ava sits up, and I swear the corners of her mouth turn up slightly as her eyes shine with some sort of odd amusement.
I shake my head and plaster on a fake smile. “No. Of course not. I mean. It was just…yeah.” I take in a breath. “It was all in good fun. Evan was not happy,” I lie and cover up how incredible I just felt. Luke just took me for a fool. He got into my pants and got what he wanted from me. For two nights. I’m a sucker for even thinking there could be anything more between us. And even more of one for wanting something with him.
Eleven
Luke
“Good time?” Sandy asks as we start setting up for the night.
“Yeah. Actually, it was amazing,” I tell her, and try my best not to look up at her. I’m smiling hugely and I know she’s going to gloat about this. “Umm, maybe you were right.” I go ahead and give her the satisfaction of matchmaking. She can stick another one on her little board of couples she’s gotten together.
“That good, huh?” Sandy says as she throws her arm around my shoulder and squeezes. “Well, it’s like you’ve gone off and grown up.” She pats my back. “I’m happy for you. And Chloe,” she says and then her eyebrows pull in. “It was with Chloe, right?”
“Yes, Sandy. It was with Chloe. What’d you think—I dumped her and found someone else at the wedding?”
Sandy shrugs. “I’m just…making sure,” she says while laughing.
Every time the side door opens, I’m checking to see if it’s Chloe. My hands are shaking as I put some of the glasses away, and I’m trying hard not to drop anything. What if she changes her mind about us? We never really discussed an “us,” and I’m thinking we probably should have.
Ava finally walks in and I keep staring at the door, thinking Chloe is usually right behind her. No one else follows her in.
Ava walks toward the bar counter and comes around to grab one of the trays.
“Where’s Chloe?” I ask her.
“Visiting her mom.” She says it with an air of bitchiness that shouldn’t surprise me. But it’s more that Chloe never mentioned she wasn’t going to be here.
“She didn’t mention that when I dropped her off.”
“It was spur of the moment.”
“Is her mom okay?”
“Yeah. Chloe just felt like she needed to get away for a bit.”
“Do you know when she’s coming back?” I’m more than irritated that Ava isn’t giving me full answers and why she’s being a bitch to me. My mind is racing, trying to remember anything in my conversation with Chloe about her visiting her mom.
“She said she might be there all week.” She starts to turn and then sneers, “Good job faking all weekend, but you can drop the caring boyfriend act. Chloe’s not even around to see it. Not that anyone here would believe it anyway.”
“What are you talking about? I really did have a good time with Chloe.”
“Well, that’s good. But you don’t need to keep leading her on. She acted like she was in love when she walked in. I mean, you really outdid yourself, but I’m glad she didn’t really fall for it all. Glad you two just had fun messing around.” Ava walks off toward customers, and I stand there wondering what the hell happened in such a short time.
“Do you think you two crossed your lines somewhere?” Sandy asks as she takes a glass from the counter and starts to fill it with beer from the tap.
“I…guess that’s possible. I just…” I take out my phone and try to call her. She doesn’t answer so I finally leave a voicemail asking her to give me a call.
Izzy comes around the corner and I leave the bar area to meet up with her.
“Did Chloe ask off from work?”
“Yeah. She called earlier and asked if she can take some time off this week. Said she was going to visit her mom.”
“Did she say for how long?”
“She’ll be back to work Saturday night,” Izzy says with a smile, and then heads over to the front door.
Returning to the bar, I can’t help but try to think how I can make this right. After listening to Ava’s little spiel, I know deep down that this is something much bigger than Chloe not believing I enjoyed our time together. This might be something I really can’t fix.
“You know, Chloe doesn’t usually take what Ava says to heart. Did something else happen?” Sandy asks as she tips the handle to the beer tap.
I shake my head. “I dropped her off and we were all good. At least I thought. Now she’s visiting her mom all of a sudden. She never mentioned leaving. She actually told me she’d see me at work later on.”
Sandy presses her lips together and nods her head. She slides the beer over to her customer and takes his payment as he tells her to keep the change. As she taps the screen for the cash register, she says, “I’m thinking that maybe Chloe needs a little more of a declaration of how you feel instead of just you telling her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m sure the things you said behind closed doors to her might have felt like it was just to get into her pants instead of making sure all our friends and coworkers know how you really feel about her.”
Even though Chloe was smiling as I dropped her off, I can see how that would be twisted. Especially by Ava. Or anyone else she may have spoken to from here.
Twelve
Chloe
“Hey. We need to talk.” Luke says to me the moment I walk through the door at Allure on Saturday afternoon.
It’s taken me just about all week of eating ice cream and listening to my mom’s repetitive words about how men are all assholes and cheat to get Luke’s words out of my mind. I’d never listened to her before. I always tried my best to see the good in people, but after hearing Ava remind me what Luke really is and my mother making sure I understand that all men cheat, I’m having a hard time seeing the good in any guy. Especially the one who lavished me with two days of romance. Another reminder from my mom that men say whatever they have to to get into your pants.
Which is exactly what Luke did.
“There’s no need to talk, Luke. I get it. We had a great time. That’s it.”
“But that’s not just it. I mean. I—we had fun, yeah, but I thought we actually—”
“Luke. It’s okay. No worries. You enjoy your lifestyle and we’ll just move on from here.”
“Move on?” Luke says as he follows me.
I keep walking down the hallway to put away my purse in the break room.
“Chloe, I’m not moving on. I just—”
“You want to be friends—”
“Yeah, of course I want to still be frie—”
“And we will be.” I pat his shoulder as I enter the main club area. I hear his footsteps halt as Ava’s voice comes clear.
“You had your turn with her. Move on, Romeo.”
As the night goes on I manage to avoid Luke’s stares, going over to him for drinks, and any other conversation the other waitresses try to start about him. I’m trying my best to be “Luke-free” and am thankful for a busy Saturday night on Memorial Day weekend
. There seems to be more of a crowd—especially since there’s a three-day weekend for most people.
Then, I see him. Jimmy. He walks right up to the bar, and as I take a customer’s order I see, from the corner of my eyes, Luke and Jimmy looking my way and chatting. I can’t help but completely look over then to see them both laughing and high-fiving each other.
They’re talking about how they both had you, I hear the small voice in my mind say. I can’t ignore it. It’s the same words that have repeated to me all week as I sat there listening to my mom after I admitted I had slept with Luke’s roommate.
Tears sting my eyes as I try to remember what the customer told me and head straight for Sandy’s side of the bar, avoiding where Jimmy is sitting and chatting with Luke.
I give my order as quickly as possible, with Sandy making the drinks and asking, “You doing all right?”
I can’t even meet her eyes as I quickly nod and take the drinks. I serve them just as fast before I feel the hot wetness slide down my cheeks. My feet can’t take me fast enough into the break room.
Izzy is in there setting up food on the back table, and I’m just about to make my escape so she can’t see me, but I don’t make it in time.
“Hey, Chloe. Are you okay?” She immediately wraps her arms around me, which makes me want to cry even more. It’s the boss’s wife—really my boss, if I think about it—and here I am about to bawl my eyes out. I’m trying to choke back the tears but having a hell of a time doing so.
“Hey. Is this about the visit you had with your mom?”
I shake my head and manage to squeak out that she’s fine. It’s something else entirely.
“Oh, so this is about Luke.”
I know how quick news spreads around here, so I shouldn’t be surprised that Izzy knows—but at the same time, hearing her say it is jarring. I nod my head.
“I really did think it was different with him and now I feel like a fool,” I admit.
“No,” she says as she brushes my hair behind my shoulder. “You’re not a fool. It’s men. They can be idiots sometimes. Why don’t you head home and shake things off. We’ll be closing soon anyway, and I can help hustle out there if we need.”
“Are you sure?” I ask as I try to sniffle and hold back another flood of tears.
“Yeah. I know how hard it is to be all smiles when you’re not feeling it on the inside. Head home and then we’ll see you at the picnic on Monday. Don’t forget to bring your potato salad. You promised me you’d bring it.”
I smile and nod even though I had thought about skipping out of that. How can I now, when Izzy is being so kind and letting me out early? “Thank you,” I say as I wipe my tears with shaky hands and grab my purse.
Thirteen
Luke
“Daria!” I call out, and she meets me at the end of the bar.
“Where’d Chloe go? I haven’t been able to get away from the bar all night, but saw her go to the break room and haven’t seen her since.”
“Izzy sent her home. She wasn’t feeling well or something,” Daria says as her eyes flit around the room. Either she’s ignoring me or she’s just as busy as I’ve been.
“What does ‘something’ mean?” I ask, and try to keep my voice from sounding as pissed off as I am.
“She just didn’t feel well. I gotta get back,” Daria says as she leaves right after telling me that.
I watch her walk over to a group of guys but see her turn to look back at me.
“What’s going on?” Sandy asks as she scoops ice from the bin next to me.
A woman is calling out her order to me, and I nod my head to acknowledge her.
“I have no idea. What am I going to do? Chloe went home sick, but I doubt she’s sick.”
Sandy stops for a moment and I see her mouth pinch to one side.
“You know something, don’t you?”
She breathes out as she finishes making a drink and sets it on the bar before reaching for a pilsner glass. “I heard the rumors. Just about all the women are saying how you used Chloe to match up with Jimmy. I think when you and Jimmy were talking about his new conquest and high-fived she probably thought it was about her.”
“No. I was glad he was moving on from trying to get Chloe again. I actually told him how I felt about her and he said he’d back off!” I run my fingers through my hair as Sandy stares at me a moment longer.
“If that’s the case, you need to do something big—something in front of the whole group here so all the women will stop gossiping and making Chloe doubt you.”
“Like what? What the heck am I supposed to do? I can’t propose. I’m not there,” I say, and as I’m about to finish it by saying yet, I know that even though I’m not ready for marriage, Chloe would definitely be the only woman I’d consider.
“You don’t have to propose, but if you are serious about being with just her, you need everyone—especially Chloe—to fully understand that she’s got your heart.”
“When the hell am I supposed to do that? She hasn’t been here and she’s been avoiding me like the plague. We’re not even back here until Tuesday when the bar opens back up.”
“The picnic. Memorial Day picnic,” Sandy says as she perks up one of her eyebrows. “That’ll be perfect.” She turns to fill more orders as I stand there thinking about what she said.
My mind starts racing, trying to figure out the best way possible to let Chloe know how I feel about her in front of everyone. I’m not sure why, but all my ideas—most of them crappy—still give me hope. Hope that I’ll get Chloe back. Well, not that I really ever had her, but I’ll make damn sure she knows it now that that’s exactly what I want. I just hope she really does want that with me too.
Fourteen
Chloe
“Maybe I’ll just drop this off and then head out,” I tell Ava as we head toward the pavilion Izzy rented for our company party. It’s an absolutely gorgeous day: the sun is shining, but there’s still a cool breeze that isn’t too windy. It’s perfect, actually. If only I felt the same way.
After yet another day of feeling sorry for myself, I finally got tired of it. Who cares if Luke and Jimmy were mocking who had me and keeping some sort of weird bro score? Well, actually, I do, but that’s beside the point. I need to move on, and after getting outside of the apartment yesterday, I went for a run. An actual run. It felt good, although today my legs feel like Jell-O. But the point is—I did something for myself.
Not only that but I decided that tomorrow, before work, I’m going to go apply at some real estate jobs and see if I can’t get my life going—at least in some direction. It might not be advancing in the romance department, but maybe not searching for someone is exactly what I need right now.
After setting down my bowl and getting a huge hug from Izzy, I turn around and scan the crowd. Luke isn’t here, and maybe I can stay and mingle for a little while. I spot Sandy and Max and head over to say hi.
“Hey. How’re you feeling?” Sandy asks and I’m slightly embarrassed since the last time she saw me I was probably in tears. Or now that I think about it most everyone here knows about my outburst.
“I’m okay. Thanks.” I smile and hope to avoid any questions. Maybe she thinks I really did go home sick.
“Good. Luke’s been worried about you,” she tells me, and I almost roll my eyes.
“I’m sure,” is all I manage to say, and start to walk off when Sandy catches my arm.
“No. Really. I’ve never seen him like this about anyone.”
I dare to look into her eyes and see how serious she is. After crying about him all week and seeing him with Jimmy on Saturday night, I can’t believe she’s actually trying to tell me that. I’ve known Sandy almost as long as Luke, and I wonder if she’s just saying that because Luke doesn’t want our friendship to be weird. Or maybe Sandy doesn’t want things at work to be weird.
I nod my head just to acknowledge her words, and turn to walk back to Ava. For some reason I need her snarky comments t
o pull my mind from possibilities. As I start toward her, I see her eyebrows raise and her blue eyes are full of surprise. Her gaze is past my shoulder.
I turn to see what she’s gawking at, and the moment I see him, I know my expression matches hers.
Luke is walking across the field in a suit, carrying a bouquet of flowers—stargazer lilies—and is staring right at me. His gaze is piercing and I want to tear my eyes away from staring at him to see if he’s really looking at me, but as he comes closer, I know it’s me he’s gazing at. My heart swells as my mind tries to warn me that this isn’t what I want it to be. It couldn’t be.
Luke stands right in front of me and smiles. He takes my hand in his and squeezes. “These are for you.” He hands me the bouquet and then wraps his hand around my waist.
“Your attention, please!” Luke yells and everyone’s eyes turn to him and I feel my cheeks warm. “I want everyone here to know that I meant how I felt and acted at the wedding with Chloe.” His voice booms above our coworker’s chatter. “No more gossip about us. About me. I’m putting all the rumors to rest.” He turns to me and wraps his other warm around my waist. “Chloe, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about me. All I care about is you—how you feel about me and what you think of me.” He smiles again as his eyes glance from my lips back to my eyes. “I know you thought Jimmy and I were talking about you at the bar. We weren’t. I mean, actually we were—but not how you think. He told me he’d back off from calling you for night calls after I told him how I feel about you. I know you’ve heard rumors and you’ve believed them, but from now on I need you to believe in me.” He squeezes my waist. “To believe in us.” He shakes his head. “Despite what we went through with our parents and how they treated us. How they’ve made us believe” —he shakes his head—“or really disbelieve in other people. I need you to know that I’m being completely honest with you. We’ve been friends, and I don’t want that to change.”
True Kisses: A Friends to Lovers Romance (Alluring Kisses Book 4) Page 4