“Sorry you’ve got the long shift tonight,” I tell him. “And it’s so busy.”
“I’ll live,” he says with a shrug, but he looks forlorn. “I heard you’re all going to the diner.”
“Oh, yeah, we are,” I say. “Sorry you can’t come.”
“Me, too. Have fun. Try the pancakes. They’re the best.” He gives me a half-smile, and I pat him on the shoulder before pushing through the door to the employee area.
The rest of the girls are all laughing, getting their purses. “There she is!” Sadie says.
“I’m ready!” I tell them. “Let me get my stuff.”
“You wanna ride with me?” Allie calls.
“That sounds great.” I’d rather not drive to a place I’ve never been before, even if it is nearby.
They all gather in the corner by the exit, and I hurriedly get my bag to join them, but when I turn around, Hunter is standing between me and the girls.
“Hey, Meghan,” he says quietly, rubbing his hands together. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
I have no idea what he wants to talk to me about, but I don’t want to keep the other girls waiting. “Not now,” I say dismissively. “We’ve got plans.”
He opens his mouth, and I can tell he wants to protest, to ask me to stay and talk to him, but he doesn’t. He glances over his shoulder, and Allie waves at him. Dropping his head, he nods. “Fine. Have a good time.”
“Yep.” It’s all I can manage as I step around him and saunter over to the girls, and as I go, I can’t help but begin to whistle that familiar tune I had stuck in my head the other night—“Another Mistake.”
CHAPTER25
HUNTER
Something is definitely different about Meg.
It was clear to me earlier in the night when she’d come out of the bathroom, looking like a million bucks. She always looked good, that was for damn sure, but whatever happened while she was in that restroom, when she walked back out, it wasn’t just her makeup and hair that looked different; it was the way she was holding herself.
I watched from across the club floor as she went about serving her tables, bringing beers to loud guys who’d obviously already had enough. Thankfully, we would make sure they got rides home as part of our concierge service. Meghan held her own with all of them, gathering in tips by the handful because of her confidence. She looked amazing, and she knew it.
Even watching her talk to other women, some of them celebrities who had stylists who wouldn’t let them leave their houses if they didn’t look like they were camera ready, told me that this was a new and improved Meg. She was just as dazzling as the most famous movie stars in the club tonight.
So…after her shift was over, I couldn’t help but approach her. I really wanted to speak to her about what happened between us. It hadn’t been enough for me to merely ask her if we were okay. No, I needed to actually talk through the situation with her and let her know that I still care for her—a lot.
That doesn’t mean I’m ready to throw all of the rules I’ve set into place out the window and start dating an employee again, but it does mean I’m fully aware that I need Meg in my life. I’m not content to just stand by and watch her with her customers and friends and be an outsider. I need to be able to speak to her again, to approach her, to touch her… I wish it could be more, but for now, I’ll take it.
Now I am sitting in my vehicle outside of an all-night diner watching my girls laugh and chat it up, wishing I was in there with them. Taking a deep breath, I run my hand through my hair, my eyes locked on that beautiful face as Meg giggles at something Allie has just said.
Her hair catches the light above their table, exploding in fiery sunset hues, and her jade eyes sparkle, even though it’s so late it’s practically early, and she’s got to be tired. She looks right at home with the other girls, even though she hasn’t been here all that long, and I am glad she’s made friends so quickly and easily.
Making friends isn’t easy for everyone. After all, I am sitting out here in my SUV alone, watching them like some kind of an outsider. I miss that sometimes, that comradery, that easiness that holds people together. It’s been a while since I’ve felt like I was really a part of the group that works at Club Limelight. It’s different when you’re the owner, the boss. People are afraid to be too open with you, afraid they might get in trouble, afraid they might be judged.
So…here I am, all alone, glad for Meg and the other girls but wondering whether the syrup is as sweet as it looks and if the coffee is strong enough to keep them up all night after they get home.
I won’t know.
I can’t continue to sit here. I’m not afraid that they’ll spot me. After all, they are busy carrying on a spirited conversation. No, I haven’t seen one of them even glance in this direction since I arrived almost thirty minutes ago. They’re too caught up in one another for that. I could probably bang on the window and demand some pancakes, and they wouldn’t notice.
Instead, I shift my vehicle into reverse and slowly pull out of the parking lot, not sure where I’m going but not ready to go back home yet. The club will be closing in about twenty minutes, and I just don’t want to deal with any of that hassle at the moment. I’ll let Leah and Carter handle it tonight.
That’s one thing about living at the club: I don’t usually get any privacy. Even when I tell them I’m not working, there’s a good chance they’ll come and hunt me down. If I let them get everything closed up and head home themselves, then I can sneak in the back and go straight to my rooms without having to worry about them wanting to tell me about what I missed… not until tomorrow, anyway.
The streets of LA are never asleep. Plenty of other people are driving around even at this hour of the night, though most of them probably have more legitimate business that has them out at this hour. Either that or they are up to no good. My grandma used to say no one has any business being out at 3:00 in the morning unless they’re up to trouble. And I would know because there’ve been plenty of times I’ve been up at this time and also into trouble…