Page 53 of Doing It for Love

“What?” I laugh, as she grabs Jace by the arm—the non-injured one—and pulls him to the center of the room.

“We’ll chant around him. It’ll work.”

“Are you pulling this out of your ass?” Alec asks, stepping up next to me.

“Of course not,” she lies. But hey, I’m willing to try it. I’ve looked like an idiot in front of my friends before. Maybe I should add my parents’ visit to the blood chant as well.

Theresa slides up Jace’s sleeve, being careful around the cut, and then positions his arm out. He’s laughing, flexing his muscles for her, but she just smacks him.

“Should we all start singing ‘Balls,’ like onThe Proposal?” Alec asks, and I snort.

“You’ve seen that movie?”

“Youmade me watch it!”

Theresa starts chanting unintelligible noises, and then pushes Alec and me to move circles around Jace.

“Winter sale!” she shouts, making me laugh so loud I scare Jace enough to jump. We’re able to keep it up for about two more rounds, but then I break formation, hunch over, and clutch my side. Alec bumps into me, then Theresa into him, so of course Jace hops on all of us, and my ass hits the concrete floor.

“Y’all get off of me!” I shout, but no one takes me seriously since I’m near peeing myself. It feels good to laugh this hard. I’ve been so wound up about everything it’s nice to know I don’t need sex to make it better.

Though…it wouldn’t hurt.

A phone alarm goes off, and Jace says, “Shitshitshit,” and weight is lifted from our sandwich pile.

“Hey, gotta run,” he says, shoving his phone into his tattered jeans pocket and fixing his messy brown hair. “My current lady wants some of this.” He gyrates his hips, and Theresa smacks his shin.

“Your lady?” I ask, finally freeing myself from the tangle of my friends.

“Chantal.”

“When did that happen?” I swear Landon doesn’t tell me anything, and with working so much I’ve been out of the loop.

“Like three days ago,” Alec answers. “He’s already got it bad.”

“Jace has it bad for someone?” Theresa says, opening her mouth in mock shock. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“And I’m ditching you guys now.” Jace grins and fixes his shirt. “See you at the party tonight, yeah?”

We all nod and wave him out. Alec sighs, helping Theresa to her feet. “Guess I better turn into your boss,” he says to me, tucking his own polo into his pants.

“Boo.”

He hands me my time card, and Theresa grabs her jacket. “I’ll see y’all later,” she says, and shares a hug with Alec—which shouldn’t seem so weird, but it does now. So instead of sticking around, I slide out, clock in, and get ready for the second half of my very long shift.

Chapter 16

“Hey, all you Bed Bath & Beyond shoppers. Doors close in T-minus fifteen seconds. And I’m so beat I’ll lock you in here. Don’t worry…there are display beds for your convenience. But if you sleep in it, you buy it.”

Alec grins from across the store where he’s mopping invisible dirt from our invisible customers. “You’re fired!”

“No, I’m not. You love me,” I say into the intercom. Olivia laughs from the plunger section as I swing my legs over the register counter and tread lightly on the mopped floor to lock up. We’ve had probably two people all night, since most are out at parties or trick-or-treating with their kids. Olivia and I strapped pillows to our bellies and ran into each other for about an hour.

I go to twist the lock, but there’s a woman jogging through the rain, straight for the doors. When she lifts her head, I throw the doors open and meet her.

“Mom!” I squeal, and toss my arms around her neck.

“Hi, sweetie!”

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