And she sees me. Her gaze stops on me.
She steps all the way out and lets the door close behind her. “Rett?”
Fuck. This is fucking bad. I suck on my cigarette and wait. Maybe she’ll take the hint and go away.
But Gigi never cared what I said or did, back then. She stuck by my side through my silences and snarky comments.
Obviously she hasn’t changed.
She heads straight to me, plants herself in front of me and shakes back her white-blond hair. “Rett. What now, you’ll pretend you can’t see me?”
Damn, how could I ever pretend that? She’s wearing a low-cut red sweater over a tiny skirt and those damn knee-length socks that drive me crazy. Girl likes wearing red. And damn if I can tear my eyes away from her cleavage.
I’m so fucking hard I’m about to bust a nut.
“What do you want?” I mutter, flicking ash from my cigarette, a thoughtless gesture, when it becomes clear she isn’t budging.
“Did you see Sydney out here? I’ve lost her again.”
She smells of something sweet, like toffee. My mouth waters. My dick throbs. She smells like home, and like pleasure, and like danger all at once.
“Go away, Gigi,” I whisper. “Go back inside. That’s where your friend is.”
“So you saw her.”
Throwing my cigarette away, I take a step toward her. “Go now.” She’s wearing down all of my self-control. I have to send her back inside, send her away from me. Having her around is risky on a thousand different levels.
She takes a step back. “Not unless you tell me what you saw. Did she buy drugs? Tell me, Jarett.”
“And what will you do if I tell you?” I back her into the club’s fire escape ladder. “What the fuck can you do about it?”
“Not me. She won’t listen to me, or talk to me about this. But you could help me.”
I blink, not sure I heard her well. I’m looking down into her pretty eyes, at her full, red mouth, and shake my head. “What did you say?”
“For old times’ sake, Rett… I need your help.”
Chapter Seven
Gigi
What am I doing? This wasn’t the plan.
This isn’t what I’d intended to do when I came out the back door of the bar to look for Sydney. I never expected to find Jarett here—though I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t hope to catch a glimpse of him—and I had no desire to talk to him again, let alone ask him for help.
Why should I want to catch a glimpse of him after the way he behaved?
No idea. How should I know? I mean, he’s hot.
And we have history. I guess somewhere deep inside I can’t accept that he brushed me off like that, like I’m nothing to him.
I wanted a second shot, a second chance to see if I misunderstood him. If he’s different without his friends around, like Sydney suggested.
Sydney. God. I don’t know what’s going on with her, and Jarett…
Jarett is way too close. He’s moving toward me, and I have nowhere left to go, the fire escape digging into my back.
My breath leaves my lungs in a rush. What’s going on here? He’s stalking me in the half-dark, powerful muscles shifting in his thighs, his faded jeans molding to them like second skin, his jacket stretching over his wide shoulders, and his eyes…