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I had to see Addison again. I wondered if she was in her apartment. She probably was. She probably sent her bulldog friend out to grill me and stay the hell away from her. As she should have. But knowing she was so close, yet so far was pulling me apart.
Maybe I should have tried harder to see her.
I would try harder. I would come back tomorrow and I would make sure she couldn’t ignore me.
My phone rang just then, and I half-hoped it was her. To my disappointment, it was Freddy.
“Hey, man,” he said when I picked up.
“Hey,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed that it wasn’t Addison.
“Are you coming out tonight?” he asked.
“For what?”
“Uh, my birthday.”
Shit. I forgot. That was the last thing I wanted to do when I had this much on my mind.
“I don’t know—”
“Yes, you do. You are. Lavo. 11 o’clock. If you don’t, I will officially disown you as my best friend.”
I rolled my eyes. He was so dramatic. Still, I had never missed Freddy’s birthday. Not since we were kids.
“Fine. I’ll be there.”
I hung up and tossed my phone on the seat beside me.
The rest of the ride back to Manhattan, I stared at the ultrasound and felt a small chance of hope I might see Addison tomorrow.
When 11 o’clock rolled around, I rode the elevator down to the parking garage where Armand waited with the car. I was late, but I didn’t care. At least I was going at all.
I arrived at Lavo twenty minutes later and Freddy was already three drinks in and feeling friendly. There were four women surrounding him in his private booth. Normally, this would entice me, but this was the last place I wanted to be.
“Look who showed up!” said Freddy excitedly.
“Happy Birthday,” I said, sitting at the edge of the booth and keeping my distance from the vultures in little black dresses who had spotted their next prey.
It was funny how things changed. I used to relish in the fact that women were impressed by my money. It turned me on. I liked the idea of taking care of a woman, and her being eager to take care of me. Now, I couldn’t care less about impressing anyone.
Brody handed me a drink from the tray before whispering flirtatiously to the cocktail waitress, who eagerly giggled. I took a sip. A lemon drop. My worst nightmare. But whatever. I’d be a good sport for Freddy’s birthday.
I spent the next hour pretending to be interested in what anyone was saying, all the while thinking about the ultrasound sitting in my jacket pocket. It was a risky move bringing it with me, but for some reason I wanted it with me. It was like this quiet reminder of what really mattered. None of what was happening in this club did.
As soon as Freddy had his tongue down someone’s throat, I took my chance to leave. He would be busy for the rest of the night. He would hardly miss me. Plus, I wanted to get to bed, so I could get out to Brooklyn early the next morning.
“Freddy, I’m going to head out.”
He pulled away from the platinum blonde who was now straddling him.
“Yeah, I have an early work meeting. But this was…fun. Happy Birthday.”
He gave me a small salute and went back to jamming his tongue down the girl’s throat.
I laughed as I began pushing my way through the crowd. That was when I spotted Kiera on the dance floor. I tried to avert my gaze, but she latched onto my eyes and made her way over. She wore a white dress with a plunging neckline and I would be lying if I said it was hard to look at her face.
She slung her arms around my neck and moved her body to the music.