Page 56 of Love Is Ale You Need

“Oh, yes.” She tilts her head. “But he didn’t mention bringing a helper.”

Helper? What the hell does he need help with?

“I just need you to sign in and I’ll get you a badge. He's usually in the main dining hall, but sometimes he wanders off.”

After she slides a badge across the counter and directs me toward a hallway. I thank her and turn on my heel. My heart pounds in sync with each step. The farther down the hall I get, the more the static in my head increases, drowning out all the other noises around me. I’m on autopilot, preparing for the worst. To see him cuddled up with a nurse. Her head thrown back, giggling at some stupid joke he made. Because that’s what he does. Makes stupid jokes. When I reach the opening to the dining room, it’s worse than I imagined. I’m an idiot.

Standing in front of the large room behind a table is Trey. He’s without the suit jacket and tie but kept the button up and has the sleeves rolled up. His forearm flexes as he spins the bingo carriage until a ball drops out. His deep voice sounds through the microphone. “Bee nine. I have a bee nine.” He turns around, his slacks are molded to his perfectly formed ass as he checks off the number on the white board. That explains why the front row is nothing but women.

“Bingo!” an older woman yells from in front of me.

“Doris. You’ve called bingo for the past two rounds, and I’ve only called three numbers. Are you sure you have a bingo?” Trey spins around and immediately our gazes connect. “Rylee?” My name echoes through the dining hall.

Shit. Fuck. I spin around, my hair whirls around me, smacking me in the face as I speed walk down the hallway.

“I’ll be right back, folks.” There’s a muffled bang as the microphone hits the table. “Rylee wait up!” Trey’s voice is louder this time, along with his footsteps. “Rylee! Donald! Stop the brunette in the pink shirt coming your way!”

An older man with brown tweed pants jackknifes his wheelchair right in front of me. In that moment, I have two seconds to decide to either hurdle him like a gold medalist or stop. Since I’m not wearing my hurdling pants, I choose the latter.

“Thanks Donald. I didn’t want this one getting away.” Trey clasps the older man on the shoulder, taking a second to catch his breath. “Next week, I’ll give you an extra bingo card.”

Donald gives him the thumbs up and continues rolling his way down the hallway.

Trey spins me around to face him. Leather and spice invade my senses and I do everything to not melt into a puddle from embarrassment.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh. Um. Uh.” Words are failing me right now. The puddle may be the better option.

“How did you know I was here?” A smile flirts on his lips. “Did you follow me?”

My shoulders slump, and I blow out a breath. No sense in lying. The running away gave that one away. “Yes.”

“Yesss…” His eyebrows raise in question as he waits for me to say more.

“I followed you here.”

Two nurses swerve around us, and Trey grabs my hand and leads me to a quiet visiting area by the reception desk. He directs me to take a seat on the blue floral couch. The cushion depresses as he sits next to me.

“Follow up question. Why’d you follow me?”

“Dessa got in my head that maybe your dinner plans were maybe with another woman.”

“So, it was Dessa’s fault?”

“Ugh. Fine. It was mine. You should really be a cop.” I pick at the sparkly nail polish on my fingers. “The first time I asked you to hang out and you shoot me down. I didn’t know what else to think.”

His lips swoop to one side.

“Dumb.” I bury my head in my hands, not wanting him to see my embarrassment. “I know.”

He grips my wrists, pulling my hands away. “No. It’s not that. You know you could have asked me instead of playing double oh seven.”

I huff out a humorless laugh. “Clearly, that would have been much easier.”

“Just to ease your mind. There are no other women, except Helen, in the front row. You might have to fight her for my attention.”

I move away from him, but he grabs my hand.

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