Page 14 of Same Thing

Self-conscious, she took a sip of her drink and waited for the rest of the song to finish.

Liam parted his lips to say something, but he startled, and looked at his phone on the bar top, face up. The screen was glowing with a call, and whoever the caller was upset Liam. She could tell.

Maybe it was his date, lighting him up.

He put it face down, but now there was no smile on his handsome face at all.

“If you need to answer the call, you should,” she told him.

“Bad timing,” he murmured as trouble swirled in his eyes. They were lightening by the second, and he pulled his sunglasses over his face smoothly.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“You can’t ask me that,” he said sternly. He stood and pulled his wallet out and paid Hannah.

“You don’t have to pay for my stuff,” she said in a rush. “I made thirty dollars in tips today. I’m basically rich.” She’d tried to make it sound like a joke, but he seemed to be lost in thought. He reached over in a rush and when he pulled up his phone, it was glowing again with a call. This time, she saw the name.Nate.

“I’ll call you back,” he gritted into the phone, then hung up.

Immediately the phone lit up with another call from Nate, and something terrifying happened. A growl shook the air around her. The rattle in Liam’s throat was so primal and made all of her instincts urge her to run.

Liam was dangerous.

He grabbed a cardboard drink coaster and the pen he’d signed Hannah’s tip with, and wrote down three numbers, but then froze.

“I can’t fucking do this,” he growled in a savage voice. He shoved the coaster away from him, looking confused.

He told Nory, “I had fun for a minute.” And then without another word, he strode toward the front door.

“Me too,” she murmured. “Bye.”

Feeling off-balance, she observed the other bar-goers for the next half an hour as she slowly ate her food, but it didn’t taste that good right now for some reason. Everything sat in her stomach like a lump of cement, and she felt alone. Alese waved to her from her group of guys, but Nory didn’t want to go over there. Not after the confusing goodbye with Liam. What was wrong with him? She had a feeling it had to do with his bad date. Maybe he was headed to meet with her and redo their introduction. That would make sense on why he stopped himself from writing his entire phone number on the coaster.

They weren’t allowed to hang out. He’d made that much clear, so okay. Like he had said, that was fun for a minute, but the minute was up.

She waved to Hannah and then gently gripped Alese’s elbow to get her attention.

“Where are you going?” Alese asked.

“I’m not feeling so great—”

“Ho, you are meeting up with McHotty Pants, aren’t you? I knew it!”

“Shh, what? No.”

“He left, and now you’re leaving. Dude, you don’t have to play coy with me. Just come back here after if you’re up for it. I can get the hint.”

“The hint…” Nory said, baffled.

“I was giving you space all night with the hot guy. And now you’re going to hook up with him.”

Nory narrowed her eyes as the guys around Alese chuckled. How many drinks had they bought her? “Are you drunk?”

“This is only my second drink,” Alese assured her, holding up her half-full margarita. “And I have my own tab. I am in complete control of this situation. Go have fun!”

“Uhh, okay,” she said, not feeling right about leaving her friend here. She’d been planning on asking if they could leave in thirty minutes or something, but now that Alese was offering her a pass on the rest of the night, she was kind of excited about the thought of going home and dressing in her oversized pjs, and overthinking every word Liam had said to her in the sweet silence of her living room. It was hard to think clearly in the loud bar.

“Text me if you need anything, I’ll come get you,” she told her.