Page 27 of Big Trouble
8
Lo
At six, I was home getting ready to meet Jack.
A date.
I shouldn’t think of it as a date.
This was a small town. Everyone would know. We were going to one of the only bars in town. Jack was a semi-celebrity in Cali Cross. And I was the new girl.
If my boss got to hear about any of this, I’d probably lose my job.
Ha, who was I kidding? I’ddefinitelylose my job.
I hated to admit how much I was looking forward to this, in spite of how quickly it had all built up. After all, he’d had me in tears not so long ago.
But he was hot and a challenge. I needed that in my life.
Plus, he could be a friend. My God, I needed someone else besides Ciara to talk to and hang out with. I’d long given up on finding my soulmate.
Maybe Jack could be a friend with benefits.
While I waited for him to arrive, I did some internet stalking on him. There were plenty of pictures of him in his leather gear, undone to the waist, showing off his smooth, muscular torso. By the time I’d finished, I was practically drooling.
My stomach rumbled. How attractive. I grabbed a snack from the refrigerator, thankful Ciara had left some of last night’s pizza. As I swallowed down the last of the pizza with a flat soda, my phone buzzed.
Ciara: Come to Ladies Night! Everyone is asking about you.
Me: Who? I don’t know anyone.
Ciara: Lyla, Maddox and some friends you haven’t met before.
Me: Okay, who are they?
Ciara: Lyla’s brother and his girlfriend. Plus, Scarlett. She’s pregnant, but she’d here to sing, not drink. Oh, and eat.
She followed up the last text with a winking emoji.
I laughed. Scarlett sounded like my people.
Me: Jack’s picking me up at 7. See you later xx
I waited for her response. The heart eyes and kissing emoji she sent did not disappoint.
To kill some more time, I scrolled through social media, liking and commenting on a few of my old friends’ posts. I sighed. Even though it seemed I was starting to make some new friends now, it wasn’t like being in Chicago.
When I looked up, it was seven thirty. Christ, how had that happened? Social media really was a time suck. But Jack still wasn’t here. I checked out of the window to make sure he wasn’t waiting out there. There was no sign of him. I wished I’d had the foresight to get his number so I could find out what was keeping him.
This was the first time I’d been stood up.
I paced around the floor, my unease growing with each step.
He really was as bad as the prick who’d walked into my treatment room only the other day.
Whatever he’d said at lunch about being sorry was complete and utter bullshit.
His friends, who I’d thought were going to be mine too, had been sympathetic to how he’d treated me. Now they were probably all in CC’s with Ciara laughing about how naive I’d been to think he was different.
