Page 62 of Crazy About Love (All About Love)

Chapter 16

PRESENT DAY

I’ve always appreciated the art of the grand gesture. It was part of the reason I started dating Eli way back when. To be completely honest, I never gave him a romantic thought before he proclaimed his true feelings for me. After the announcement at the football game and the invitation to the prom delivered by the marching band, Liz had to physically hold on to me so I didn’t swoon. Eli’s elaborate surprises were unlimited; every anniversary and birthday he never disappointed. I got used to that love language, anticipated it, even; it’s the only language of love I know how to speak.

Pacing outside the club, whipping my neck around every time I hear the door open, I wonder if I should switch up the language so that Alec understands my intentions. Go with words of affirmation and scream it out to him as soon as he steps through the door? It’s tempting, but…it just doesn’t seem like it’s enough, not after everything we’ve been through.

I check the time, then go back to tapping my phone against my thigh as I pace up and down the walk. Maybe I’ll text him, but I shake my head free of that thought because Alec never checks his phone when he’s out with a woman. Damn his generosity.

The faint smell of spray paint hits the night air, and I cough as I accidentally inhale the strong perfume of it. Someone must be tagging nearby. It’s not an uncommon activity in this part of the city, yet I suddenly feel the need to look over my shoulder.

Twenty excruciatingly long minutes later, Liz squeezes her bundled-up self out of a cab and joins me on the walk. Her cheeks are the same color as her bright pink marshmallow coat, and her big round eyes tell me she already means business, even though we haven’t said anything yet.

“How much do you need?” she asks, stuffing a gloved hand into the pocket of her oversized winter wear. It’s actually quite warm for a New York winter—I only brought a jacket and a scarf tonight, which are currently hanging backstage—but Liz has always been a summer enthusiast.

“Nothing,” I tell her, looking hopelessly at the bar’s door. “I got kicked out of my own event.”

“Oh no.” She winces. “Did you hit a bitch?”

“Didn’t get the chance. She has a bodyguard or something. Massive muscles shepherded me out the door.”

Liz snorts, pulling at her white-faux-fur-lined hood. A chill runs up my arms, and the adrenaline and panic that kept me warm start to fade. Maybe I should’ve called her and told her to abort; this Rian character seems set on taking Alec and having her way with him.

“Don’t look so sad, boo bear,” Liz teases in a baby voice I ought to smack out of her. “I’ve got your back.”

“What exactly is your plan?”

“I’m super-persuasive.” She blows out a breath and begrudgingly unzips her coat. A pair of high-waisted leather pants and an off-the-shoulder rock T-shirt are underneath. Both belong to me, but they flatter her body more than mine.

“ ’Kay,” she says. “Who am I looking for?”

“Short girl, purple hair, lots of tattoos. She has a whole sleeve that goes up onto her neck and a little of her face. Her name is Rian.”

“Rian? The street artist?” She laughs. “Explains the bodyguard.”

“Is she famous?”

“Google will help you out from under that rock.” Liz hands over the coat and shows off her skills by sprinting across the street in her stiletto-heeled boots. I jam my arms into the pink marshmallow before all her body heat escapes it, and then take a deep breath.

Oh my…the spray paint scent in the air really plays with my brain, making me believe that Alec is standing in the shadows of the alley next to the bar. I squint, trying to focus on him. It’s dark, but I think it’s the same blond hair, the same build. Alec has such a false-advertising type of body. He looks so lean, like there’s nothing underneath his clothes but skin and bones. I know much better now, and the feel of his taut and well-hidden muscles are imprinted against every ounce of skin they have been in contact with…so pretty much everywhere. Tingles erupt all over my body, and it’s so not the weather making it happen.

He turns his head, and I swear I see the shadows dip on his cheek, indicating that one deep dimple that transforms Alec’s smile from adorable to panty-dropping. I take a step toward him and nearly run into a man passing me on the sidewalk.

“Sorry,” I say with a smile, and then I jolt back becausehelooks exactly like Alec from behind. I shake my head, and another doppelgänger shows up in my peripheral vision before he gets into a cab.

I stuff the bottom half of my face into the faux fur of the coat’s hood. The fumes are causing Alec-hallucinations, and I don’t want to see any more impostors, only the real deal. So I tear my eyes away from everyone around me and turn all my attention to Google and its abundance of knowledge on Rian. I get a good dose of local celebrity education before I hear a kerfuffle across the street. It takes me a few seconds to realize that one of the girls talking animatedly is my best friend in my jacket and scarf.

“What?” I say when I get next to her. Her eyes round as she turns away from the other girl she was talking to and shakes her head slightly at me.

“I…I just…don’t know what I was doing in there.”

The bouncer lifts an eyebrow at us, and so I take Liz by the arm and pull her to the side of the building that isn’t enveloped in spray paint fumes

“I couldn’t find Rian, so I started looking for Alec, but couldn’t find him either,” she spouts, barely taking a breath. “Then I just started…cawing.”

I hold back a laugh. “Like a bird?”

“Exactly like a bird.” Her shoulders lift like she has no explanation. “It just came out.Caw!Caw!”

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