“Something you have in common with them?” Cord joined the conversation. His date looked unable to form words, much less thoughts. Her eyes were bulging out at the band.
“Not anymore.” Tiffany gave him the snarl instead. “That’s changed since I caught him with my sister.”
Jamie had the decency to show a little shame. He pressed a kiss to his girlfriend’s forehead. “She’s the only one I want anyway.”
Jesse had been quiet beside me, but Luke caught sight of him. Still singing, he lifted his head in an acknowledgement. Jesse gave one back. Everyone caught the shared greeting. Cord was the one who asked, “You know the band?”
“Remember that night I almost got arrested because I helped a guy out in a fight?”
“Yeah.”
“Luke was that guy.”
“Holy shit!” Jamie exclaimed again and shook his head in irritation. “What? Do all you famous and rich people know each other? Who else do you know? I want to know them.”
“I’ll make a list.”
“Good. I want to be rich and famous someday.”
“He was being sarcastic, ass**le.” Cord shot him a dark look.
Jamie frowned but kept quiet. His arm tightened around Tiffany and an awkward moment filtered among the group. Derek and Kara were the first ones to break it as he gestured to the back area. “We’re going to go look for a booth back there.”
“I want to be closer to the stage.”
Everyone knew Tiffany wanted to keep an eye on her sister.
Derek said again, “We’ll look for a booth in the back.”
She looked ready to argue, but Kara leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. After a few seconds, the elder Chatsworth’s shoulders loosened and dropped in defeat. She nodded and was tugged behind Kara. Their fingers were interlaced. Derek cast a shrewd glance over Cord to Jamie, but followed them. As they disappeared, Jamie frowned and asked, “What’s your problem, man?”
“Nothing.” But Cord took his date and went after them.
Jamie looked to us. “What’d I do?”
Jesse shrugged and clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Cord’s been off lately. Just give him space.”
“I give everybody space. Am I that bad to be around?”
The cockiness fell away and a flash of vulnerability replaced it. I was given an image of a five year old version of Jamie. It was as if he’d lost his favorite puppy as he waited for our answer. I held my breath, but Jesse spoke up, “You’re asking me that? You just got back into the house.”
“Oh yeah.” The little boy was gone and he winked, full of his old self, all slimy again. “Never mind then. That’s awesome that you know Braille. Really awesome. Thank god too. I didn’t want to have to be nice to Hannah to get in an introduction. All right. I’m off for shots. You guys want some?”
Jesse shook his head. “No, but take a bunch to those guys back there and stay away from Cord.”
As Jamie left, I moved closer to him. “What’s wrong with Cord?”
He shrugged and put both of his arms around my waist. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. His lips brushed against me as he answered, “He gets like this sometimes. These are the nights when he winds up in jail.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“I don’t know. We’ve never talked about it. Why?” He moved away so he could peer down at me. “Are you worried about Cord?”
“No, but he’s helped me. And I know he’s the closest guy friend you have here.”
“Oh.” His expression softened and he pulled me close again. He rested his cheek against my forehead. “He’s not family, Alex.”
Warmth filled me. He meant Ethan and me. At that thought, the small grin slipped. I had tried blocking all thoughts of my brother over the last month, but they snuck in. This wasn’t a time to start dwelling so I pulled away. “I’m going to get some drinks.”
Jesse frowned, but didn’t say anything. Instead, his hand held mine firm and he adjusted so he led us through the crowd. We went to the edge of the bar. It was where the other staff could go behind the bar, but Brielle saw us right away. We had our drinks almost as soon as we told them to her. She flashed two fingers in a greeting to us before she was off, filling more orders. Jesse gave her a five for a tip before we went in search for the others.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The band took a break an hour into their set, but I was drunk by then. After our entire group settled into a table closer to the stage, Hannah and Jamie declared themselves in charge of drinks. She kept putting shots in front of me. Jamie tried, but I slid those over to Jesse. When he reminded me that he was the sober driver, I pushed them to Hannah instead. She took half and made Beth take the other half. It wasn’t long before Beth disappeared. When I asked her cousin where she went, she leaned close and yelled into my ear, “She called her f**k buddy. He came to get her. He’s not working at Club T tonight.”
I still wanted to know who he was, but I was starting to figure out that Beth would never tell me. Only Hannah knew, but she wasn’t told. She’d followed her cousin one night to find out.
Thinking about that, I started giggling. I couldn’t stop. Even when Jesse pulled me onto his lap and nuzzled underneath my ear, I kept going. That was when the band descended on us, or Emerson swooped in on Hannah. She’d been dancing by our table and he merely lifted her in the air and carried her through the bar.