76. Chapter 76
“Talking wasn’t what I had in mind,” Lindsey mumbled into a shot glass, promptly emptying it.
“What’d you say?”
The bartender was smiling at her breasts as if he’d just won the lottery.
“Up here,” she said, and his eyes flicked to her face. “Another shot, please. Keep them coming.”
“You got it.”
There wasn’t enough whiskey in the world to wipe away the image of Jase, half-naked, looking sheepish in the hallway with his pants practically down.
Of course Jase brought the concert blonde back to his hotel room. Of course he was getting laid. This was what Graham always warned her about.
“Rough night?”
The bartender was drying pint glasses from the dishwasher, still smiling as if he had a chance. It must’ve been the leather.
“Rough week,” she said. With her second shot down, she set the glass out for a third.
Her reasons for staying were too feeble to hold now. If her book appearing in the bus station was enough to gloss over Graham’s cheating, knowing Jase was in bed with someone else bleached all sense of magic and the miraculous from anything that happened since they left Ohio.
“Have I done enough now?” she asked the heavens, if—in fact—Jason ended his journey there. After meeting the Demons in the desert, she wasn’t sure.
“Come again, sweetheart?” the bartender asked.
“Hey!” someone yelled behind her. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Damn it.” She forgot about Declan. Of course he hadn’t forgotten about her. Lindsey turned on her stool.
“I know my rum’s pretty terrible. If you wanted a proper drink, why didn’t you say so?” he asked.
“Hi, Declan.”
“You know, a guy could get the wrong idea, you sneaking off.”
“This guy bothering you?” the bartender asked.
“No.”
“Worry about yourself, mate,” Declan told the bartender.
“It’s okay,” Lindsey said. “You want a drink?”
“Lindsey!”
The sound nearly startled her out of her top. Jase, fully clothed, was crossing the lobby to the hotel bar.
“What does this arsehole want now?” Declan groaned. “Thought you shook him off.”
“Jase—”
“You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”
“Oh, trust me, I knew what you were doing.” Lindsey swung her stool around to find another shot in front of her, which she took.
“Lindsey, come on,” Jase said.
She waved her hand dismissively. “I’m sure she’s lovely.”
Declan put a hand on Jase’s chest. “Hey, I’m trying to have a conversation with my lady. D’you mind?”
“Oh, I am not your lady, honey,” Lindsey said. After the third shot, she cared just a little less anyway.
“Want me to get security over here?” the bartender asked. Lindsey shook her head.
“Get your hands off me.” Jase swiped at Declan like he was swatting a fly. “Why is he even here?”
Lindsey shrugged. “Why’re you?”
“I’m spending the night with her,” Declan said.
“Yeah, about that,” Lindsey said.
“The fuck you are,” Jase shot back.
Declan reached for Lindsey’s hand. “Come on, babes. Let’s go back to your room where we can be alone.”
“Don’t touch her. She’s not going anywhere with you.”
“Piss off, mate. I’m serious.”
“I said, take your fucking hands off of her,” Jase said with a shove that knocked the Brit back into the bar.
“Now you’ve done it.”
Declan lunged at Jase, full of piss and drunken gumption, and was easily knocked away by a solid punch to his jaw. Lindsey jumped to her feet as Declan collected in a pile of rum-soaked expletives on the ground.
“Declan!” she exclaimed, kneeling beside him. “Are you okay?”
“He’s fine.” Jase rolled his eyes. “I barely touched him.”
“You hit him in the face.”
“He was putting his hands on you.”
“As if you care.”
“Excuse me, what’s going on here?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Lindsey looked up into the pursed mug of a humorless man in a cheap business suit and a name tag that read, Albert Keene, General Manager.
“They’re fighting over the lady, sir,” the bartender explained.
“This bloody arsehole hit me.” Declan slowly climbed to his feet, making a show of massaging his jaw.
“Is this true?” Albert Keene, GM, asked.
“I was minding my own business—”
“Fuck off,” Jase snapped. “You tried to hit me first.”
“Is this true?” the GM asked.
“It’s all a misunderstanding. We’re fine,” Lindsey said. “He’s fine.”
“I’m not,” Declan said.
“Don’t push your luck,” she warned under her breath.
“Sir, should I call the police?”
“I want to knock this wanker out proper.”
“Take your best shot, dipshit,” Jase said.
“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” GM Keene was turning the same shade of maroon as his clip-on necktie. “Are you guests of this hotel?”
“It’s over, we’re all fine,” Lindsey said. “Sorry for the disturbance.”
“Are you guests of this hotel?”
“I’m staying with her,” Declan said.
“Really?” Jase cocked his head. “I thought we cleared that up.”
“He doesn’t have a room,” Lindsey said, brushing Declan’s arm away once he was stable. She motioned to Jase. “We do.”
“Not anymore. Let’s go.” With an air of exaggerated importance, GM Keene flagged down two lesser-titled employees. “Get them to their rooms. They have exactly five minutes to collect their things and vacate the premises or I’m calling the police.”
“Please, you don’t need to do this,” Lindsey said.
“Would you rather your boyfriends spend the night in jail?” he asked without giving her a chance to respond. “Then clear out. Now. The clock is ticking.”
“Well, that’s brilliant,” Declan scoffed, turning to Lindsey. “You can stay with me and Marc if you don’t mind his snoring. We’ll go up, get your stuff—”
“Declan.” She cut him off in front of the elevators. The stainless-steel doors opened and the employee in charge of Jase nudged him inside.
“You coming, babes?” Jase asked with a wink.
Babes. They’d been kicked out of the hotel, and he was still egging Declan on.
“We’ll catch the next one, mate,” Declan sneered.
“Actually…” Lindsey faced the gorgeous Brit who didn’t realize she’d closed his chapter already. “I’m sorry, Declan.”
“Are you serious?” His dark eyes narrowed on Lindsey as she stepped into the elevator beside Jase.
“Au revoir, bitch,” Jase said.
The elevator doors closed on Declan muttering, “American girls…get me back to bloody England.”
Jase chuckled and Lindsey glared at him.
“You didn’t win, if that’s what you think.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
“Then I guess you think it’s funny we don’t have a place to sleep tonight?”
“Don’t worry. I have an idea.”
Lindsey shook her head. “Why am I not surprised?”