9. Jeff
JEFF
M ax was a douchebag. Disgust rolled through me as I observed him and how he talked to girls.
The slicked-back hair and constant roaming hands were enough reasons to dislike him, but to see him go from one chick to another, dismissing them when he reached a certain point had me clenching my pint of beer.
Amber hadn’t made a move yet in the past hour and I was minutes away from calling the entire thing off.
I took another drink and met her gaze over the edge of the glass.
She arched her eyebrows and tilted her head toward him.
Is this her way of finally getting to work?
I gave her a curt nod and rubbed my jaw. The muscles had hurt the past two hours I had been in her presence and I had no idea why. Probably all that talk about Brandon.
Or the fact she isn’t wearing panties.
It’s Amber…she’s not hot… Is she?
Oh fuck. She took the blazer off and set it on the back of a bar stool.
Her cherry-red lips stood out against her skin and a shot of heat went below my waist at the thought of them.
It didn’t help how the cold showcased a slight outline of her perky nipples in the dress… hell, did she go braless too?
There wasn’t enough beer in the world to watch this, yet I remained frozen to my seat.
She sauntered up to Max and it amazed me how she transformed herself.
She stood with confidence and oozed sex appeal.
My neighbor who’d done drugs freshman year, who’d given up drinking and wore rainbow socks looked hot as hell and it was really messing me up.
This clashed with who I thought she was.
Max noticed her as she leaned over the bar, letting the front of her dress hang forward, damn well giving everyone in the bar a glance at her cleavage, and a dull pounding began in the base of my head.
He reached out and placed a hand on her arm, caressing her skin, and she giggled.
It sounded so fake, but he responded to it.
He pulled her closer to him and she let him.
Her long black hair flowed over her shoulder and the creep pushed a lock of it back behind her ear. Jesus, that move is old as hell.
“Another beer, please,” I croaked out. One was not going to be enough to watch this shitshow.
By the time the bartender had replaced my drink, Amber stood on the footrails of the stool and leaned over the bar with two fingers in the air to get the bartender’s attention.
It gave me and all the hot-blooded people around us the perfect view of her ass.
Has she always had one that curvy? My god, my mouth watered staring at her and I forced myself to look away.
I can’t get a goddamn boner in a bar, for fuck’s sake.
A different bartender—a young guy who stared at Amber like she was his own personal dream—handed her four shots of clear liquid and she blew him an air kiss.
This wasn’t part of the plan we talked about. She was going to build his ego and comment on his physique, trying to get him to admit he played baseball. We never talked about getting drinks and—wait… Isn’t she supposed to be sober?
Rage wasn’t enough of a word.
This is the Amber I thought I knew.
She threw back two of the shots and slid her arms around Max.
He held on to her and let his hand linger just above her ass.
I couldn’t take it. I chugged the rest of my beer and threw a twenty on the bar, unsure if I needed to punch a wall or abandon our plan.
If I couldn’t trust her to do her part of the investigation, then we had no business working together again.
Why would she drink? Why lie about it then?
With one more glance toward her, I fisted my keys and made my way out of the bar. Damn, I was pissed. She’d lied about being sober, she’d gone off-script and she was going to fuck up the entire thing. For what? Some douche? This is why I have trust issues.
Shame on me for believing she changed.
I passed a couple on the way out and the girl fell to the ground, laughing in a drunken stupor, and the guy helped her up, promising her he’d get her home.
The freezing-cold air whipped across my face as I got a block down from the bar.
It was almost like a slap of reality. She’s was with some asshole she didn’t know and could be unsafe.
While my anger hadn’t dissipated, guilt wove its way in, making me hate my actions even more. I didn’t abandon people because I was pissed, especially not women—and most definitely not drunk ones.
I jogged back to the bar and was ushered in quickly when I showed the stamp on the back of my hand. I scanned the area where they’d been ten minutes ago and it was empty. Fuck. My stomach dropped at all the possibilities of what could’ve happened. If she’s too drunk, he could… No, don’t think that.
“Another round, babe?” the bartender asked, but I shook my head. “Suit yourself. The dance floor opened up so I’ll be in there if you want another.”
Dance floor.
The loud stereo hadn’t even registered with me but now I followed the sounds and flashing lights.
Amber had said she used to get guys to dance.
It was her go-to move. That goddamn blue dress stood out in the sea of people and the relief at finding her shocked me.
My entire body relaxed and my heart went back to its normal pace of beating, but once I settled down, the anger returned.
It had already been two hours and we’d never discussed if it were to run long.
But just as I thought of ways to grab her and get the hell out of there, she looked up mid-grind and winked at me.
What the hell did that mean?
She spun around to face Max, leaned real close to him and whispered something in his ear before walking away from the dance floor.
Her expression was wild. Some of her hair stuck to her temples from the sweat, her large brown eyes glowed and those damn lips were curved up in a huge smile.
We didn’t talk when she walked by me, like we’d planned, and I waited a couple of seconds before following her out of the bar.
She grabbed her jacket and once we were outside, we matched strides.
She looked so confident and smug and when I opened my mouth to say something, she shook her head and put a finger to my lips. “Nope. Not yet.”
“What the fuck?—”
“I said, not yet. Come on, it’s cold as shit.” She looped her arm through mine and dragged me down the street despite the fact I outweighed her. My blood still boiled at being played, but I didn’t get a whiff of alcohol from her breath. If anything, she smelled good.
I unlocked the car and she jumped into the passenger seat and held her hands near the heat vents. She looked freezing, but I swallowed any protective thoughts of her. Not before I had my say. “Look?—”
“I got it.” She grinned wildly. It was a scary look on her face and not flattering the way her eyes doubled in size and her smile was exaggerated.
She held up a plain white business card with a phone number on it.
“He didn’t give me a name because he didn’t know it, but this is the number his parents called to get everything in motion.
He heard about it from a buddy. We have a lead, Jeff. We have a goddamn lead!”
I had a whiplash of emotions to the point a headache exploded at the base of my skull. “You got a number.”
“Yes! It’s probably unlisted, but this is huge. I’m not sure how we can call it to make it untraceable, but it would be a huge lead for us to have a legit number.”
“You got this from Max at the bar?”
“I’m not sure why you’re confused. You were there, right?” A line formed between her eyebrows and she slid me an incredulous look. “I tried our first plan but it wasn’t going to work unless I let him go farther with me than I wanted.”
“You took shots.”
“Is that why you look so goddamn cranky?” She laughed and shook her head like I’d told her the sky was purple, not blue.
“I prearranged a plan with the cute bartender. Told him to get me water, my date vodka, and I gave him a big tip. If I was going to give up on my break from drinking, it certainly wouldn’t be with vodka or that clown.
It’d be an aged whiskey and with friends. ”
She didn’t drink. She planned ahead. Shame filled my entire body and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. “So you got a number.”
“Jesus, Jeff, yes . Max was super into sharing his wealthy-white-boy secrets. Sure, the shots loosened him up and the dancing was a bit of overkill, but he revealed a lot.” She rubbed her hands together and blew hot air into her fingers, reminding me that I should probably start the car and get her home.
I pulled out of the spot, lost in my own thoughts of shock and regret, and couldn’t figure out what to say.
I snuck a glance at her and if she was worried about my strange behavior, it didn’t show.
She had a smile on her face and a lightness to her eyes as she leaned back against the headrest and relaxed.
It made me feel worse. My muscles tightened and I pressed down on the gas harder, desperate to drop her off so I could be alone. She didn’t do a damn thing wrong and I was being an asshole.
“You look deep in thought. Do you want to come in and we can add the new information to our notes?” she asked once I pulled into her driveway.
She had that blissful look on her face again and the selfish part of me wanted to say no.
It was the clear hope and excitement she had that had me nodding.
“Hell yeah! I can make hot chocolate but fair warning, I’m going to change back into my sexy sweatpants. ”
I followed her into the house without saying much and made the decision then and there to trust her. She clearly wasn’t the same girl I remembered from freshman year. Amber had matured and who was I to judge someone from how they’d acted three years ago?