Page 119 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
She takes our orders, then brings our food, and I notice the entire time that her eyes keep drifting back to Jonah. He ignores her all through dinner, but when she starts picking up the empty food plates, he finally makes eye contact.
“You were great tonight. Thanks for taking care of us.”
Abigail turns bright red and bites her lip, obviously trying to keep from giggling. She nods. “Yes, of course, my pleasure Jo—I mean, Mr. Hen—I mean...uh...sir.”
And then she curtseys. Now I have to bite my lip to keep from giggling. Poor Abigail. He’s said two sentences to her, and she’s aboutto swoon. I can empathize, though. Four years ago, I was the same bumbling mess of a fan.
Jonah flicks his eyes briefly to Torren, then looks back at Abigail. He gives her just a hint of an amused smirk, and she gasps.
Good god, the woman is going to expire.
“You can call me Jonah, sweets.”
“Jonah.” Abigail’s voice is a giddy whisper as she replies, and then she turns and rushes back into the kitchen. As soon as she’s gone, Mabel groans loudly and throws a napkin at Jonah.
“No,” she hisses, keeping her voice low so only we can hear her. “No way. Tor’s not playing, and you do not fuck where we eat, Jo.”
I feel Torren stiffen beside me, and Jonah sighs, slouching into his chair, that signature disinterested expression back on his face. I furrow my brow. He wasn’t even flirting. He just thanked the lady.Playing? Do not fuck where we eat?Mabel’s reaction more than confuses me.
“What?” I look from Jonah to Mabel. “What are you talking about?”
Mabel sends another glare to Jonah, then rolls her eyes. “This dumb game they like to play. You nickname the girl first, you get dibs.”
My jaw drops, and my heart starts to pound in my ears, but Mabel doesn’t seem to notice.
She throws another napkin at Jonah. “But she’s aserver, not agroupie, dickhead.”
The rest of what she says fades out. If Jonah responds, I don’t hear it. All I hear is his voice from four years ago.
You named this one?
It’s a compliment.
My head starts to swim with all the contradicting statements swirling around inside it.You were more. Agamethey like to play. You weremore. Nickname the girl, you get dibs.
You. Were. More.
“Thanks for dinner,” I say abruptly. “I’m tired. Night, everyone.”
I shove up from the table and rush out the door, ignoring the questions and concerned looks. Thankfully, the buses have returned, and by the time I reach the door to the guys’ bus, Torren is hustling in my direction.
“It’s not what you think.”
His voice carries across the parking lot, but I ignore him and climbthe stairs into the bus. I’m just reaching the door to my bedroom when he’s climbing in after me.
“God damn it, Callie, would you talk to me?”
I whirl on him. “Is it true? You guys play a game where you nickname groupies to see who gets a crack at them first?”
He winces. “Not anymore. Not exactly.”
I raise my brows. “Okay. So,whatexactly?”
“Now...it’s more like...aselectionthing.”
My eyes widen and my jaw drops as I process what he just said.
Aselectionthing.
