Page 60 of Jackal

I turned, wrapping my legs around him, holding his shoulders. “We are literally the worst.” His dark hair was loose around his face. His soulful eyes stared at me like they had so many times, but now I couldn’t ignore the love that sparkled in them. “I don’t understand how someone like you fell for me.”

He adjusted me on his lap, pulling me closer. “Probably the same way someone like you fell for me.”

“Someone is sure of himself.”

“You don’t have to say it to me. And you can crack your jokes. I know you feel the same way. And that’s good enough for me, Lil Bird. And I told you before, I’m not trying to cage you. Just want to keep you safe. We’ll figure this all out. And if the CDC doesn’t reach out, I’ll find that fucker who interviewed you and have a chat.”

“Well, I don’t know if I want to stop you just yet. Clearly theyneed some sense knocked into them. But for now, I gotta figure this shit out for Lacy.”

“The venue may not be available now, but I need to go finish my chat with Hawk. You coming back down?” He kissed my forehead as he squeezed my ass, then lifted me off his lap, placing me on the bed.

“Maybe. Or I could nap. Maybe I should just give up on everything and be a club bunny,” I said as I fell to the bed and gripped a pillow.

He popped my ass and I squealed. “Hey!”

“You’re not a bunny. You’re mine. But I’d take care of you. I imagine you’d get bored fast, though,” he said as he pulled his clothes back on.

Looking at the clock, it wasn’t quite seven. “I may at least call the venue and leave a message. I wish I had a date we could move it to for her. I’ll be down after I freshen up a bit.”

“Okay,” he said as he leaned down and kissed me. “See you soon.”

After being lazy for a few minutes in bed, I finally got up and used the bathroom, then got dressed. I plopped back down on the bed and grabbed my phone off the side table. After a quick search through it, I found the number to the venue.

I was mentally preparing the voicemail I was going to leave when a perky voice answered, “Pines, Wines, and Veils, Angie speaking.”

“Oh, Angie, hi. I figured it was after hours. This is Shiv. I’m the wedding planner for Lacy. We were just there?”

“Oh, yes. We’ve already gotten some folders started for her. I was going to call this week to schedule a time to come look over them. Just need a thumbs up on the colors and designs. Oh, did you get a chance to get the guest list together? If they approve the designs for the stationary we can get the save the dates out in just a few days. With it being so soon we–”

“Hey, Angie. So sorry to cut you off, but we had a little snag. An issue came up and we need to postpone it. We wanted to see what the options are.”

“Oh, well, there was a contract and the deposit is non-refundable.”

“I understand. I just needed to see if we could move the date and possibly keep the deposit, but if we lose it, we lose it.”

“Well, I do apologize, but they signed a contract to have the ceremony and reception. So they would be required to pay for the rest as well.”

My face scrunched and I jumped off the bed. I had the folder that was sent with us so I could remind them when to make payments and look over it all. Opening the folder, I pulled the copy of the contract out. “This says we can cancel, but would forfeit the deposit for cancelling. Which, I guess I could have read before I called, but I hoped we could maybe just move it out.”

“Ma’am, we got them in pretty quickly at their request.”

“Well, I’m not a lawyer, but I can hire one, and I will. So I suggest you just confirm we are cancelling and, when we are ready, we can take our business elsewhere. In fact, I’ll need that in writing.” This lady was messing with the wrong person. She wasn’t about to rip my friend off.

“That’s not necessary, but surely we can work something out. What if we waived the open bar fee?”

I was as thrifty as they came, but this conversation took a weird turn fast. “I–” I looked at the cell. “No. We have to move the date or cancel. At this point, I’m leaning toward canceling. Can we get an email confirmation?”

“I apologize for my tone. It’s been a very long day. But what if we waived the open bar fee and the final payment? Would that encourage them to keep the date?”

“I appreciate your apology but we need to cancel the date theychose. We are aware the deposit will be lost. I just need an email confirmation.”

“M–miss. Please confirm with the happy couple. We can add another entree to the menu as well.”

“Oh my God, I just want to cancel. I’ll just have Eagle drop by tomorrow. Have a good night.” I disconnected the phone, flustered I couldn’t get the damn thing canceled.

Tossing the phone on the bed, I took a few deep breaths, pulled my shoes on, then hustled back downstairs. The whole way down I was fuming, but glad I called, rather than Lacy. She would have just broken down in tears.

Slamming the door open, I walked back to the table the guys were sitting at.

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