CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As we entered the club, a hostess met us at the door. She had perfect teeth, bleached blonde hair, and wore a skimpy uniform. Her eyes trailed over the group and lingered on Jesse, who stood next to me. He had a hand on the small of my back, but straightened as she headed straight for him. Her arm was extended. “Jesse Hunt! Welcome to Haze! It’s a pleasure to have you here.”
Then she trailed over the group again. Her eyes lingered on me, but her smile never slipped. “We were not aware you were with the Grant West group. We’ll make the accommodations immediately. Will your father be joining you?”
He straightened abruptly. The easy smile he’d had vanished. A hard look came over him. “He’s here?”
Her eyes widened a fraction. “He was in earlier, I believe.” She was rattled from the sudden intensity from him; hell, I was as well. Everyone was taken aback, but she still oozed a professional friendliness that verged on the line of being too friendly.
“Hunt, I didn’t know your dad was coming to our game.” Camden pushed through the crowd and slapped a hand on his shoulder.
The hostess’ eyes skipped over him, but snapped back to Jesse.
My eyes had narrowed as I watched the exchange and I saw the interest in her depths. I couldn’t blame her. Jesse was hot when he was laidback, but he was lethal when he was angry, which he certainly was now. His eyes were hard, jaw clenched, and his body had tensed. A dangerous aura came off him in waves.
And then Angie pushed forward. She gave the hostess a chilly smile. “Can we please go to whatever these guys booked? I have to pee and I don’t think you want me to take a piss on your floor. Or would you like to gawk at the famous movie director’s son some more?”
The guys snickered and Camden was taken aback. He rapidly glanced from Angie to Jesse, who had shifted closer to me again.
The hostess returned Angie’s chilly smile before she turned. “Follow me, gentlemen.”
Angie huffed, but no one paid her any attention. Justin curled his arm around her waist and drew her close again.
We were taken to a private box on the second floor, overlooking the dancing area. Camden threw his arm up and gestured around the table. “Can we get a round of shots, on me?”
The hostess glanced at Jesse, who murmured, “We’ll take the VIP treatment.”
Her smile was blinding before she left.
“Dude, what was that?”
Jesse stiffened beside me. “Nothing. We’re going to get our own bottles and shit.”
A guy snorted from across the table. “Coach is going to kill us if we’re all hungover.”
“Yeah.” Camden frowned. “We should take it easy tonight, party tomorrow night.”
“I know.” Jesse’s eyes had remained hard at the mention of his father, but they slipped another notch into the danger area as he stared his captain down. Camden glanced at me, then lowered his eyes and turned to one of his friends.
“Street girl.” Cord tapped me on the shoulder.
I twisted around. “Yeah?”
He shoved his phone in front of me. There was a list of Marissa’s name on the screen, all from text messages and missed phone calls. “Your girl keeps calling. What’s up with that? I thought she had a boyfriend here.”
“She does.” Eric leaned forward now, beside Cord. Angie and Justin were beside me, in front of them. They turned to listen as well.
Angie grabbed the phone and bent over. Her fingers flew over the keyboard before she held her breath and waited. It beeped a second later and she showed me the phone.
I read the conversation. ‘hey, where are you?’
Angie had texted on his phone, ‘At Haze. Come here.’
‘how?’
‘Take a cab. Tell the lady u with the g west group.’
‘ok. B there soon.’
‘k.’
I looked up with a chest full of tension. “What’d you do?”
She shrugged and sat back. When she threw a leg up on the table in front of us, I got a glimpse of Angie that I hadn’t seen in a long while. She was pissed, she was beyond pissed, and she was calculated right now. Marissa didn’t stand a chance.
“Angie, I don’t think you should have done that.”
“Are you kidding me?” She gestured over her shoulder. “She took off and left him high and dry. She left when we were trying to talk to you about our concerns. She always just takes off and shows up with a new guy. It’s got to stop. I’m sick of it.”
She had a point, but it didn’t sit well with me. Not at all. In fact, after I had taken my third deep breath in a row, Jesse dragged me out of the booth and into a dark hallway. The music was muted slightly, but we were allowed a little privacy. A few people wandered past us, looking for their own boxes.
He pressed me against a wall and stepped close. I felt his breath on me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I looked away, but he turned my face back to his. He was so close, agonizingly close. My heart started to thump louder and louder. Then he leaned even closer. His lips brushed against mine as he asked again, “What’s wrong?”
I started to shake my head. He stopped me.
“Alex.”
His lips were on mine now, lightly. But he held back. Desire was starting to build between my legs. It was throbbing down there and I wanted to pull him tight. My arms ached to grab him, but I kept them against the wall. I knew he was tormenting me for information. He had no intention of finishing what he had started. Not then, anyway.