Chapter 10 Audra
AUDRA
Iwas the first to Savvy Sips, and that surprised me because I knew I was running late.
Ordering a vanilla chai for me and coffee for my ladies, I caught up with Noelle about our night out and a couple of other things, then sat to wait.
Truth be told, the solo decompression felt good.
I had been picking up too many shifts, and it was taking a toll on me.
Last shift, I had that little guy again, and his parents weren’t any nicer than before.
Moreover, he was getting sicker, and though the big decisions were out of my control, it weighed heavily on me.
Multiple times, I suggested that we move him to a hospital more equipped for a case like his, but as usual, I was ignored.
While I waited, I scrolled social media, did some crosswords, and caught up on text messages.
I was about to text them when Maeve came busting in almost twenty minutes late.
“I’m sorry! Sir Donovan felt like making a list, and I was held hostage! Wait, where is Cora?” She asked, looking around, confused.
Shrugging, I responded, “No problem. It was nice to just sit and catch my breath today.” Even just sitting and laughing with Maeve for that brief spell recharged my emotional battery.
Cora walked in at the last minute, and I picked up a weird vibe from her immediately.
I was pretty in tune with people, and something was definitely up.
“Girl, what took you so long? I only have like ten more minutes before Sir Donovan comes to find me!” Maeve whined.
After profusely apologizing for her tardiness, she started talking about her new store, Grá, that she was opening down the street.
She and I had talked about the name before, but she was starting to tell people, and Maeve was next.
We both took time to properly gush over it because loving on your friends never gets old, but when Maeve threw out an off-handed comment about her glowing, Cora turned red immediately.
Bingo. There it was. I knew there was something different about her vibe today.
She was glowing because she totally got laid, but who was she sleeping with?
The obvious candidate was Maeve’s brother, Maverick, because watching the two of them interact was electric.
You could see how into each other they were, as well as feel the tension between them.
We were so preoccupied with trying to figure out what was happening with Cora that we completely missed Donovan walking in.
He just appeared tableside with a bag of treats for us to eat, and asked to sit and join us.
I didn’t hesitate and scooted right over, but I was curious as to why he was interrupting our coffee date.
This man was so freaking stunning, and he was sitting even closer to me than the night at The Yard.
He had the body of an Olympic swimmer: tall, broad, and perfectly muscular.
His long legs hardly seemed to fit under the table, and his thick thigh was brushing up against mine.
Damn. He was naturally just a little tanner than everyone and had dirty blondish hair with those chocolate brown eyes.
Sir Donovan Wright was easily the most gorgeous guy in this town.
He made small talk for a while, and I couldn’t help but notice the way he kept looking at me.
Like he wanted to say more. Then, he followed up with the heavy-hitting question, the one I guessed he’d come here intending to ask.
Could he join us for a Friday Flyer night?
I looked over at Maeve and could feel her unease with it, but she rolled on and told him they were coming to my dart league game today at Hip Hops.
He looked at me with a raised brow, and I smiled brightly at him while shrugging.
“That sounds fascinating,” he said, his gaze lingering. “I’d love to meet you guys there for that drink to see you in action.”
“I’m not super good or anything,” I threw out nervously.
“You also said you were just okay at cooking, but those fajitas could have easily held their own in some of the best restaurants in New York. Why do I have a feeling you underestimate yourself often, Miss King?” His voice curled around me, and I felt the blush rise on my face.
“But I think a dart night would be fun. Does that sound like a plan?” There’s no way he thought a small town dart league was fascinating; he probably just had nothing else to say.
But the way he was looking at me? What was that?
I continued to over-analyze those few words after he stood up.
Right before he stepped away, my phone dinged, and when I saw the alert, my heart dropped. Damnit, darts was canceled. “Ugh,” I said out loud.
“What’s wrong? Cora asked.
“Scratch all that. Darts just got canceled for tonight. Apparently, there was some sort of water main break?” I was extra disappointed because I was looking forward to a night out that involved my new flirty friend.
“That sucks, but no mind,” Maeve replied immediately. “We can go to The Yard to mix it up instead of Flyers? It’s karaoke night. Let’s say 7:00, so we can be there early enough to get a big table?”
After we all agreed to that, Donovan took off.
When the door closed, we all looked at each other and broke into schoolgirl-like giggles.
Maeve made a comment about how she thought he was there for one of us.
Truth be told, he and Cora probably worked better on paper, but I knew she was wrapped up in whatever was making her glow.
That let my mind wander a little. What if he was there for me today?