old friend, then so be it. She could be just as nasty.
Fair was fair, right?
“I’ll talk to my agent—I’m sure MGNT will handle it.”
Just like that, Cassie’s face drained of color, and her pleased grin faded into a thin, grim line.
“Well, okay,” Cassie muttered, glancing away.
“Have a good time with Matty.”
Not bothering to waste any more energy on Cassie—besides, the whole situation was kind of sad—Gigi turned back to the laptop and the browser she had brought up. The second her fingers hit the keys to start typing in the search bar, Cassie’s sigh echoed behind her. Thankfully, she heard the girl’s footsteps receded into the hallway outside the bedroom. She put her attention back on the computer screen.
Nickie’s Bar, she typed into the search engine. Considering the time was later in the day, it really was a last-ditch effort on Gigi’s part to say goodbye to a man she’d only recently met. She still had to finish packing, tomorrow was an early run to the airport, and then it was goodbye New York. She didn’t have Lev’s phone number, but she did know where he worked and hell ... it couldn’t hurt to try.
It wasn’t like she owed him shit—he hadn’t made it seem like he expected anything, either. A part of her still just wanted to.
The bar’s information came up as the top result with a photograph of the front, address, and ... yes, she thought. A phone number, too. A little before dinnertime was probably a bit early for a bartender to be working on a Thursday, but maybe she could get his number—or even a time when he would be working later to call back.
Gigi grabbed her cell before she could think better of it and plugged in the number to call. It rang four times before someone picked up.
“Nickie’s,” a gruff voice said into the speaker.
“Hi, this is Gigi Parker,” she replied, knowing how silly her request was going to sound but determined to get it out anyway. “I’m hoping I might be able to get a hold of one of your bartenders—Lev Arsov? He’s a friend, and I’m heading out of town. I wanted to—”
“Lev doesn’t work here anymore, sweetheart. Can’t help you.”
“But—”
“Can’t fucking help you.”
Each word was enunciated a little stronger than the last. Then a click echoed in the speaker before the dial tone sounded.
He hung up on her.
Asshole.
What could she do now?
• • •
“Miss Gigi, I really don’t think we have time—”
“It’ll only take a couple of minutes,” Gigi replied, already pushing open the rear passenger door of the black town car sent by the agency to ensure she made it to the airport on time.
Ha.
She was really pushing that now. Besides, those damn flights never took off on time, and she was sure she had at least a half-hour of cushion to make this work.
“We only have an hour, and you need to go through security!”
“Just two minutes!”
She headed for the familiar apartment building waiting across the street as the driver called out behind her, “It’ll take that long for you to ... get inside!”
Oh, well.
It was too late now.
She was already halfway there.
Over the night as she finished packing her bags, Gigi decided she did have one last chance to say goodbye to Lev before flying out of the country. Going to him—or his place, rather. Was it a long shot?
Probably.
If he’d recently quit, or lost, his job then he was likely out trying to get another. She really was going through more effort than was needed to see the man one more time considering their time together had been mostly spent in bed, but it felt right.
Like she should at least try. After all, he did say they would meet up again.
Right?
Gigi climbed the cement stairs at the front entrance of the building and expected she would have to buzz in. Instead, she found the front door to the place propped open by a plastic crate filled with bricks. Giving it, and the stack of packing boxes inside the entrance hallway near the mailboxes, a look she sent up a silent thanks to whoever was looking out for her that day. Probably saved her some time.
She didn’t waste time, since she couldn’t afford to, and headed straight down the steps to the basement level of apartments. Again, another plastic crate filled with bricks held the metal fire-safety door open down there. Another three packing boxes, stacked one on top of the other, waited a few feet inside the