Page 18 of Power

Me: Thank you for the drink. Sorry my friend invaded your night.

I handed it to the bartender, who acted like my little mail pigeon and delivered it, back a minute later with another napkin.

Jace: The invasion was welcome.You still haven’t answered me. Why was your day so bad?

I took a sip of my drink, looking at his penmanship. Jeez, even the guy’s handwriting was sexy, a delicate blend of curved letters and easy-to-read font. The guy could moonlight as a calligrapher.

The appropriate thing to do, if I was serious about being left alone, would be to end all communications right now. No more napkin exchanges.

I pushed the note aside and stared defiantly in front of me, but of course, my damn eyes wandered. They claimed it was just curiosity, but it took eight milliseconds to find his gaze locked directly on mine. Heat exploded in my cheeks, and my eyes were unable to break from his, like they’d been locked with a dead bolt while the rest of the bar—muted conversations and cackles of laughter, clanking of glasses, and the smell of beer—faded around us.

In that instant, I wanted to throw caution to the wind and join him.

But my stress relief was more of thego home and organize my closetvariety. Besides, Prince Charming himself couldn’t kiss the disaster spell of my life away, so I shot back one final conversation-ending message.

Me: I’m not in the mood to talk. I’m sorry. P.S. Everyone has bad days.

Another returned. This time, the bartender wasn’t smiling though. Not that I could blame him. We were being high maintenance and a little selfish, making him pass notes.

Jace: But I’m interested in yours.

I stole a quick glance at Jace. He was leaning on his elbow, seemingly casual, but his eyes were fixed on me.

Me: Don’t be. It’s not interesting, I assure you.

As I passed this note, I bit my lower lip when another returned, surprised the prospect of opening up didn’t come with irritation. But rather … was that intrigue? Especially because I’d seen Jace slip the bartender a cash incentive to keep this up.

Jace: I presume this has to do with the guy whose balls you want to shove an ice pick into?

The bartender retrieved my next message.

Me: My friend helped with the FICTIONAL revenge ideas. I’m more of the glitter bomb fantasy kind of girl.

Jace: Glitter is brilliant; the guy would find it in nooks and crannies for years. The herpes of craft supplies, if you will.

When a laugh escaped before I could catch it, Jace’s lips quirked up, clearly pleased with himself for breaking through my armor.

Sipping my drink, glancing at the time on my phone approximately every twenty seconds, I resisted the urge to look over at Jace.

Until another napkin appeared.

Jace: Hair remover mixed in shampoo.

I reread the sentence as if it would help it make sense. But it didn’t. I glanced over at him (finding him looking at me expectantly, by the way), and I bet my expression was something along the lines ofwhat the school of assclowns did this mean?With a devilish smirk, he motioned toward the bartender with the grace of an angel, and another napkin appeared before me.

Jace: You tore up your revenge list. I’m starting a new one.

I couldn’t believe after everything I had been through tonight, my lips curled up into a smile. But I guess the simple gesture put me at ease a little, for three reasons.

First of all, I had lost myformer(let me repeat, former) friend in Operation Don’t Panic Over Losing My Job. Having him step into her place as my cheer-up squad was nice. Second of all, I assumed this guy would think I was a nutcase or something, but here he was, playfully joining my distraction party, making me feel like I wasn’t the worst human in the world for making such an immature list. And third of all, his playful banter in beautiful penmanship unwound some of the tension coiled around my ribs.

Evidently, Sex Ears wasn’t just a big bucket of eye candy. Clearly, he had a charming and fun personality to go along with it.

God help the other women in this bar when they discovered that.

Feeling the smile reach my eyes, I made an adjustment to his napkin and sent it back.

Hair (I crossed out remover) DYE mixed in shampoo. HOT PINK. With glitter for extra spite.