fuck? Or Evan McGrady could have seen it. There were millions of people watching that segment, and you just figured, Let’s blast Q all over the damn country just for funsies.”
“Not funsies,” he grins. “I got you to call me, and I didn’t have to pay a cent. Like I said, the only people who get screwed over in one of Soph’s traps are the people she targets.”
“You targeted me?”
“Mm.” He takes a chip from his plate and loads it up. Then, because he gets off on being obnoxious, he taps my bottom lip and smiles when I accept it into my mouth. “It was so simple, so obvious, I told Soph there was no chance it would work. But alas, I guess she knows you better than I do. You made the call, she tracked you, just like she promised she would, and now here I am, four years after last seeing you, and I’m eating dinner with my girl.”
“Your girl.” I turn away from him, mad about how arrogant he is, mad about how naïve I was to run straight into his trap, and scoff. “Still delusional I see. Do you still declare love for girls you literally don’t know?”
“Only you. Do you remember our first date? The time I was teaching you how to hit?”
“Uh huh.” I pick up my burger, and bite into it, since I can’t bear to look him in the eyes while discussing the time I first made love. My first date, ever. The first time I was ever truly exposed, heart and soul.
“Tonight feels a bit like a date, doesn’t it?”
“No.”
He snickers. “Music, food, and we’ve been hugging a little bit.” He leans in, and presses his lips to my temple. “After this, maybe we could fu—”
“Nope. No chance in hell.”
Throwing his head back, Jamie laughs and draws the eyes of Pool Cue Guy and all of his buddies. “You’re so mean,” he teases. “I was gonna say find a strawberry field and go picking.”
“Yeah, sure you were.” I shrug his arm off and go back to eating. I have a stomach to fill, and then an escape plan to devise.
Will is going on a suicide mission twenty-four hours from now, which means I have to leave tonight and get back to him before he steps outside again. If I could take a moment to think it all through, I’d be able to acknowledge that even if I left right now and had a fast car, twenty-four hours is still not enough to retrace the distance we’ve already come.
I don’t have a car, and now that I think about it, I don’t have cash either. But I’m going to try. I’m going to do my damn best to get back to him. Because in this war, Will and I are the only two left in the trenches.
Selfishly, I don’t want him to leave me all alone.
Twenty minutes after our food is delivered, I toss the last bite of burger into my mouth, then wash it down with the last of my Coke. Jamie is still working through his food, still sipping, still enjoying his quasi-date. But I have places to be. People to save.
“Can you scoot out?” I tap his arm and smile my most convincingly innocent smile. “Please.”
He snorts. “You can hold your pee for ten more minutes. Then we can head outside.”
“First of all, it’s gross that you think you can decide where and when I get to go to the bathroom. Controlling Boyfriends 101.”
“So you admit I’m your boyfriend?”
“No.” I tap his arm again. “Second, I’m not going to the bathroom. I’m going to the bar literally twenty feet away to get another Coke. You’ll be able to see me the whole time.”
“They have table service here. But nice try.”
With an impatient sigh and a shake of my head, I twist to my feet and walk across Jamie’s lap. I make extra sure to stomp on his dick, and ignore the tingles in my stomach when his hands whip to my thighs to stop me from falling.
“Quinn!” he grunts past my weight on his crotch. “Dammit, Q.”
“I want a drink, and you need to practice not being so controlling. It’s win-win, really.”
“Quinn!” he growls as I jump to the floor and turn back with a smile.
Dozens of eyes stop on us. Games of pool pause. Men lean against their cues and watch.
“Sit down,” Jamie hisses. “Don’t make me drag your ass outta here.”
“I’m going to get a drink. Want