Page 191 of One Bad Idea

Stupefied, I glanced around. "Were you talking to me?"

One of her companions snickered, and I felt my body go stiff.What was this? Some sort of joke?Who knows, maybe theyknewthat I'd quit, and this was their way of rubbing it in.

If so, it would be the perfect ending to a crappy workday.

I turned to glare at the person who'd snickered, only to pause when Darla turned to the woman and demanded, "What was that?"

The woman – whose name was Robin – froze in mid-snicker. "Sorry, what?"

"That noise," Darla said. "You weren't laughing, were you?"

The woman glanced around. "I, um…" She lowered her voice. "Wasn't I supposed to?"

"No," Darla said. "You weren't."

As I watched from the sidelines, I wasn't even sure what I should do.Leave? Stay? Dig a ditch and throw myself into it?

Finally, I settled on mumbling, "You have a good night, too," before turning once again toward the exit.

"Hey!" Darla said.

Startled, I turned around. But as it turned out, she wasn't even looking in my direction. She was glaring at her companions. In a voice so loud, it carried throughout the whole lobby, she said, "Aren't you gonna tell Allie goodnight?"

The women exchanged glances. The one standing closest to Darla whispered, "Are we supposed to?"

"Hell yes," Darla said, "and not just when I'm around either." Darla gave me a quick sideways glance. In a quieter tone, she mumbled, "I mean, she's notsobad."

Coming from Darla, this was high praise indeed.

But I had no idea what it stemmed from, until I recalled that just yesterday, I'd been whining to Jaden that no one would talk to me.

Obviously, he'd had some sort of chat with her.

At the realization, I wanted to die of embarrassment. I appreciated it. Really, I did. But how humiliating was this? Now she – and heaven knows how many other people – would know that I'd been complaining to my boss-slash-boyfriend.

Shit.

As thankful as I was, this wasn't what I'd wanted. Stubbornly, I'd been hoping to win them over on my own – without threats or cajoling from Jaden or Jax.

Too late for that.

And yet, through my discomfort, a new hope kindled in my heart. If Jaden cared enough to convince Darla to be nice to me, what did that mean?

Maybe it wasn't over, after all?

As my mind whirled with this new possibility, the women awkwardly wished me goodnight while I returned the sentiment as best I could, even as my face burned with the certain knowledge that they were only doing it under duress.

When it was over, I was beyond relieved to get out of there. Soon, I'd be home, and then, I could crawl into my own bed and try to forget about this whole mess, if only for a few hours.

But that didn't happen.

And why?

It was because when I rounded the corner and spotted my truck, there he was, Jaden, leaning against passenger's side door, just like he'd done on the first day we'd met, all those months ago.

I stopped to stare, and our eyes met across the distance.

And then, he did something that sent my heart straight into my throat.