she said, even as she felt a force, like gravity, drawing her closer to Dustin.
“A plan,” he echoed, his eyes fixed on hers, the space between them growing smaller and smaller. “We should totally get one of those.”
Teri smiled and he brushed her hair back gently. In that moment, it felt like maybe everything tonight—all of it—had happened so that she could be right here, with this boy. And maybe nothing else mattered. She tilted her head to the side, and so did he. They were just a breath apart. She closed her eyes—
BAM BAM BAM!
They both jumped—someone was pounding on the front door. Teri gasped. She squinted through the darkness, thankful the door was locked.
“We’re closed,” Dustin called as he slid off the counter.
The figure outside paused—then kicked the door so hard wood went flying, and the door came off its hinges.
The figure stepped through what remained of the door. He was tall, mid-thirties, Black, wearing a suit. He glanced back at the mess he’d made and shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t have time to wait around.”
“Who are you?” Teri demanded, trying her best to sound brave.
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge, flipping it open. “Damon Gilroy,” he said, snapping it closed again. “CIA.”
CHAPTER 21
Stevie
Beckett?” I asked. I mean, obviously it was him. But what was he doing here? “What are you doing here?”
“Please enjoy your Josephine’s experience,” the hostess said warmly, clearly choosing to ignore whatever was happening right now, and then hurrying away.
“Hi,” Beckett said, standing up slightly and giving me a nervous smile. Our table was a small, circular booth, covered in soft, cracked brown leather. I slid in next to him and he sat down too. I just looked at him for a moment, trying to understand this. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be here.”
“You weren’t sure that I’d be here?”
“Well, Kat thought you’d gone back to Stanwich,” he said with a shrug. As though this was a normal conversation to be having. Like he always passed along messages from Kat and surprised me in five-star restaurants.
“Kat?” I echoed. Now that she wasn’t the person waiting for me at the table, the absence of her was hitting me all over again. It suddenly seemed crazy to think that she would have been here—she’d obviously gone to the play like she’d planned.
“Hi.” A smiling, redheaded waiter had appeared in front of us. Like all the waitstaff, he was wearing a denim shirt and black pants, but whereas some of the servers just seemed like maybe they happened to wear this in off the street, something about him suggested this was more like a uniform, a costume he wasn’t quite comfortable with just yet. “I’m Todd, and I’ll be your waiter tonight. I’ve just finished my training, but I want you to know you’ll be in very good hands. There’s no question I can’t answer.”
I turned to Todd. The vengeance that had brought me down to the Village was suddenly coming back full force. “What’s the most expensive nonalcoholic drink you have?”
Todd opened his mouth, then closed it again, and blinked at me. “I—don’t think I can answer that question,” he said, deflating a little. “Let me just… check on that for you.” He hurried away.
“What?” Beckett asked, staring at me, a smile starting to play around the corner of his mouth.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving it off. Though it now occurred to me that if there were two of us, we might be able to do more damage. Lobster and steaks and truffles on everything. I didn’t exactly like lobster, I wasn’t exactly sure what truffles were, and when we’d been together, Beckett had been going through a vegetarian phase, but who cared? I could give it all to Todd or something. “What do you mean, Kat said?”
“I ran into her,” Beckett said, playing with his silverware, turning the knife and fork over, then crossing them. It was funny, the details about someone you used to know so well that could then get fuzzy and fade away. I’d forgotten, until this moment, how there was some small part of him that always had to be in motion. “On Fifty-First.”
“Huh.” What was on Fifty-First Street? What had she been doing all night? And since when was she hanging out with Beckett?
“Yeah,” he said. “She told me your dad bailed on dinner. And she said that she broke your phone, and you guys got separated—”