She doesn’t look happy.
That isn’t exactly the kind of distraction I was going for.
I give her my best panty-melting smile. “Just caught up in the moment I guess.”
She pushes backward out of my arms. “Are you trolling me?”
I squint. “What the fuck istrolling?”
“It’s…it’s like…playing a prank on somebody. Giving them shit just to see if you can get a rise out of them or make a fool of them.” Ava slides her gaze back and forth across the club, then looks me square in the eye. “All of this feels like one big trick.”
I lift my brows incredulously. “You got pretty high expectations of tricksters, you know that, Ava? And pretty low expectations of people trying to do something nice for you.”
“Except that there’s no logical reason forany of this.” She waves her hand in a big arc toward the table. “Did you video call Pearl and Stephen after they missed the contest? Did you tagthemin the video that announced it? Have youkissedeither of them likethatsince they’ve been here?No. You only did those things tome. And I was the one who humiliated myself at your concert, and now you’ve singled me out, and it just seems shady.”
I gesture with both hands at my chest. “You think I’mshady.” I drop my hands at my sides. “I invited you to come stay at myhomefor aweek. I flew youfirst class.”
“I know.” She hitches her shoulders way up to her earlobes. “It seems really shady.”
I scoff again.What the fuck.I can’t even with this girl right now, and I pull out my cigarette case out of my pocket to light up.
“You can’t smoke in here,” she snaps, folding her arms across her chest and backing away from me.
I pause with the cigarette hanging between my lips and wave the lit Zippo at her. “You don’t know that. You don’t even live here.”
“Idoknow that.” Her gaze rakes up and down my form, but not in the way I want it to. “I’m getting a cab.”
Lighting the cigarette, I watch her weave through the crowd back to the table.
“Hey!” some douchebag hollers at me. “You can’t smoke in here.”
I wave the smoldering cigarette in their direction while keeping my eyes trained on Ava. “Fuck off. I do what I want.”
Ava smiles as she talks to Meyer, Stephen, and Pearl, and then Pearl appears to agree with the idea of leaving, so I march back to the table.
“What’s the story, guys and dolls?” I ask, feigning my typical carefree demeanor.
“Well, Ava says she nearly fell asleep on the dance floor,” Pearl says through a chortle. She picks up her martini glass. “And I’m already pushing it by finishing my secondwholedrink. So, we’re going to go back to the house.”
I nod pleasantly, avoiding looking at Ava while also using my peripheral vision to focus on her like lasers. I can see her chugging the remaining three-quarters of her martini. “Stephen. Meyer. How ‘bout you guys?” I drag the cigarette and blow the smoke above everyone’s heads. “Heading back?”
“Nah, I’m gonna show Steve the ropes at Harrah’s.” Meyer pats the table. “Wanna come?”
“Ehh…” I rub my chin, still focusing on Ava in my periphery. She’s got her face turned all the way down while she sets the empty martini glass on the table. Her hair’s doing that half-curtain thing again, and she pissed me off, but in a way that makes me want us to kiss and make up via anger fucking. “Actually, there’s a show at the Maple Leaf I was hoping to catch, so I think I’ll swing by there.” I wave the cigarette through the air. “Don’t wait up for me, all right?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Meyer says dismissively. “Do your deal.”
I reach across the table to pick up Pearl’s hand and bring it to my lips for a smooch. “A very good night to you, my dear. Rest up. We got a lotta fun planned for tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Lucky!” she chirps, happily oblivious. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too, sweetie.” I smile at her, and then turn to Ava. “Goodnight, Ava.” I lower my voice and lean close to her face, catching her gaze with a hard stare. “I hope you sleep all right in such a shady place.”
She looks back at me, frowning subtly, and then turns her eyes low again without saying anything.
It only pisses me off that much more.
I’m not going to the Maple Leaf.
