Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
BETH:
I’m ordering you a cocktail. You have five minutes to get here or I’m adding a shot to your order.
I smile down at my phone as I take another step forward in the line at The Wayside.
ME:
I’m just waiting in line, hopefully I’ll be at the front in five minutes. It’s busy tonight!
It’s one of their themed nights, and tonight is ‘Red Hot Christmas’. I put on a red lace playsuit with cute ruffled sleeves for the occasion. It’s not normally a colour I wear, but these themed nights at the bar aren’t just for the music and drinks, they’re for the attire as well.
“You’re so lucky you’re cute.”
I look up, startled to find Beth standing on the footpath staring at me, tapping her red stilettos against the pavement with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Oh. Hi!”
“Girl, what are you doing in the line?” She hooks her arm through mine and starts dragging me toward the doors. “You’re VIP.”
“I didn’t want to just walk right up to the door as if I owned the place,” I whisper fiercely in her ear.
We get to the front of the line where two men stand beside the back door. On themed nights, this is the main entry, and you only get in if you figure out the password hidden on their social media sites.
“Hey, Cody,” Beth says as we pass one of the men. “This is my girl, Isabelle. She’s VIP. You’ll let her straight in if you ever see her here, okay?”
“You got it, Miss Beth.” The older man of the two nods to her, while the other opens the door for us.
“Sam, this is Isabelle. She’s VIP.”
I give a small wave to the second guy as he gives a simple nod, and we walk through the doors.
The Wayside feels like a classic dive bar you’d see in the movies—scuffed-up concrete floor, crumbling brick walls, lights hanging from exposed cables.
Leather booths line the walls, and high-top tables surround a big dance floor.
A DJ booth is set up on a stage that will play anything from eighties rock to nineties hip hop, new releases, and even remixed mashups of all of them at once.
Beth pulls me through the crowd to the back, where she always sits. I’ve met her and Tenley here a few times over the last few weeks, trying and usually failing to avoid looking behind the bar where her brother is working.
Even now, my head gravitates to the bar, pretending I’m taking in the scene as a whole instead of seeking out Gage. It’s been three nights since I saw him at Nella Notte. Since I saw a whole lot of him.
Twinkle lights are wrapped around the overhead beams, and green garlands with holly hang from the bulkhead that lines the service counter.
“Beth, did you do the decorating here?”
“Isn’t it gorgeous? Gage always leaves me in charge of his themed nights.”
“This is so cool.” My eyes drink in every detail until I notice two women step away from the bar, and I see Gage standing there.
I stop Beth in her tracks, patting her arm. “Your brother is wearing a Santa hat.”
She laughs. “I know. I totally made him.”
We make it to our usual booth, where Tenley’s sitting with a red cocktail in front of her and two more on the table. “Hey, Tenley.”
She leans over to kiss my cheek, which I return.
“Hey, gorgeous. Look at you in red.” Tenley fans her face, making my cheeks blush at her appraisal.
“Cheers, ladies.” Beth picks up her cocktail and holds it up in the centre of the table, inviting Tenley and me to clink our own glasses to hers. “I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and I would just like to say your friendship is the greatest gift a gal could ask for.”
I smile and tap my glass against theirs before taking a sip.
“And if a big-dicked man was waiting in my bed every night, then I’d consider myself truly blessed.” Thankfully, I had already swallowed when Beth added that last bit, but the cough still burns a little from the lingering spicy flavour of gingerbread.
“Girl, I’d take an average dick, just give me someone who knows what they’re doing,” Tenley says, placing her glass on the table. “Keep your dick in your pants, for all I care. Just. Show. Me. The. Orgasm.” She punctuates each word with a clap in between, and all I can do is laugh.
“Oh, you are not kidding. The last date I went on, bleh.” Beth shakes her head.
“I thought you weren’t dating at the moment?” Tenley asks.
“Exactly. That last date scarred me. I’ve been flying solo for months now. Man, would it be nice to just go into something knowing you’ll have a win. Why isn’t there a service like that? Dial-an-orgasm.”
“Maybe you should go to your brother’s club,” Tenley teases, and my whole body stills.
Beth cringes, a whole body reflex. “How dare you bring that up! We’re changing the subject. Isabelle, when was the last time you went on a date?”
Not quite the subject change you’re hoping for, Beth. “Gosh.” I laugh, wiping at my brow, then pick up my cocktail to battle my nerves. “I think it’s been a year now.”
“You haven’t been on a single date in a whole year?” Beth looks at me with wide eyes filled with dread, before leaning into Tenley. “Tenley, there’s no hope for us. She’s a stunning blonde, we’re billionaires, and between the three of us, we can’t find a decent man. What’s the world coming to?”
“Maybe we’ll have some luck at the ball next week,” Tenley says.
“Maybe Caleb has some pointers,” Beth says as Caleb drops into the seat beside me.
“Pointers about what?” Caleb asks, pulling her cocktail to him. He takes a sip, then winces as the sweet liquid hits his taste buds. “God, that’s awful.”
“That’s what you get for touching my drink,” Beth says, cleaning the rim from where her brother drank with a napkin.
“Pointers about dating,” I say with a chuckle.
Caleb freezes, eyes widening. “I don’t have pointers about dating.”
“Just about sleeping with your client?” Beth stirs her straw through her cocktail, eyes alight with amusement.
Caleb flicks his eyes back and forth between Tenley and me. “I need to go.”
We watch as Caleb disappears into the crowd. “So he’s official with Lex?” Tenley asks.
“One hundred percent, but it’s not family official yet,” Beth explains.
“We don’t introduce anyone to the family unless we know for sure they’re the one.
It’s a promise we made to each other after Caleb got duped by some attention-seeking scammer.
Helps us avoid getting too deep with anyone too early.
He asked Grams at dinner last weekend if he could have a plus one, so I think it’s getting serious. At least for Caleb is.”
“Hey, there.” I turn, startled by the new presence, and look over my shoulder.
A guy with brown hair and dark eyes is leaning over the backrest of the bench seat. He has a thick beard, and he’s wearing a short-sleeved, burgundy button-up shirt. No tattoos, though.
“Hello.” I smile, just enough to be friendly.
“Is there a password to get behind this rope to join you ladies, or could I tempt you into crossing over to my side for a dance?” he asks.
It’s always nice to know you’ve caught someone’s eye, especially to the point where they’ll talk to you.
Even when my crush on Gage was all in my head, I wouldn’t have been able to entertain thoughts of another man.
Gage is simply too demanding of a presence.
But after the other night, it’s even less possible.
There’s something between us, something I want to explore, and I feel confident in my assumption that Gage feels it too.
I look back at Tenley and Beth, needing their quiet encouragement on how to proceed, when I notice something else behind them.
Gage rounds the bar with a smile that I’ve never seen on him. It’s devastating. The way it hooks on one side and transforms his grim features into a new kind of temptation. And it’s all directed at a woman with long dark hair as she launches into him.
With her arms around his neck, he envelops her frame, lifting her off the ground momentarily. The weight on my chest is crushing. I want to look away, but for some reason, I can’t. It’s at that moment he looks over her shoulder and locks eyes with mine.
Gage looks back down at the woman and, with a gentle hand on her shoulder, steers her toward a door behind them marked Staff Only.
“What do you say?” the guy asks again, pulling my attention back.
“I wouldn’t mind going for a spin if that’s an open offer?” Beth says, while my eyes are still locked on the closed door ahead of me.
“It would be my pleasure.”
Beth slides out of the booth, pinning me with a curious look as she passes.
My heart clenches in my chest as I wonder if I misread everything.
Maybe he just saw me as another woman he hooks up with at the club.
Maybe it wasn’t something that would ever exist outside of those walls.
If Beth’s earlier admission is anything to go by, the Heart siblings have a code for falling in love, and maybe I was never in line to play the game.