Libby
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
“There you go, Gabe.” I set the Moscow Mules on the wooden bar top in front of one of my regulars and then flashed him a sly grin when he left a hefty tip in their place—as he always did. I made a show of slipping the note he’d hidden under the bill into my pocket and then stuffed the cash into one of the nearly overflowing tip jars.
“I repeat. What are you doing?”
“See you around, Libby,” Gabe said and turned to go.
Finally letting my eyes shift to where my best friend had situated herself on a barstool, I gave her a dry look. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re failing at avoiding someone.” Her eyes glinted with a tease. “Not that I’m disappointed.”
“Can’t avoid you when we live together, Einstein.”
She snatched a cherry from my garnish tray before twirling it between her fingers. “Was I talking about me? I don’t think I was. Then again, I think you already knew that because you aren’t an idiot.” She placed the cherry between her teeth, smiling knowingly at me as she tore the stem out. “So . . . whatcha doing here?”
Instead of responding, I began making drinks for the people I knew wouldn’t be far behind her. Our friends—our family.
Einstein and I were too similar. If we wanted to know something, we didn’t stop until we had our answers. The only difference was Einstein was a genius—hence the nickname—and she usually already had all the answers to her questions. She just wanted the person to confirm them.
“Last I heard, you were taking tonight off and staying as far from The Jack and downtown as you could get. And by last I heard, I mean just this afternoon.”
I slanted a glare at her but didn’t comment.
This morning my pain was too overwhelming.
This afternoon my anger was too unpredictable.
I had had every intention of hiding in my apartment until Henley left town.
But I knew how to work the bar on pure adrenaline and heartbreak until the doors closed. I’d been doing it for months. I was determined to do it tonight.
So I spent an extra hour getting ready—not that I’d admit to that—and my fixed smile was as wide and as fake as they came.
“Yet, here you are,” Einstein continued. “In the same lovely establishment a certain band is playing at tonight. A band a certain Max—”
“Someone needs to take home all the tips we’re gonna make tonight.” I sent her a smirk. “Might as well be me.”
Lie.
I had no doubt tonight’s tips would be better than I’d ever seen them. The Jack was overflowing with fans who were eagerly waiting to see Henley perform in the bar they’d started out in. But I wasn’t here for the tips.
The truth was, I’d been to every one of Henley’s shows in this bar . . . and part of me couldn’t imagine being absent for this one.
Another part swore I was standing tall because The Jack was my home, and I refused to let any man run me out of it.
And yet, the biggest part was aching to know I hadn’t made it up. Begging to know it had been real.
“When are you gonna let me give you my last name, Rebel?”
I raised my arms out wide, letting the breeze play through my fingers. “Told you I’m never letting a man tie me down.” A laugh ripped from my throat when Maxon grabbed my waist and pulled me to the ground with him.
He rolled on top of me and nipped my neck teasingly, his fingers racing up the inside of my thigh. It didn’t matter that we’d just finished not long before or that we were outside. We were somewhere no one would ever find us . . . and this was Maxon and me. We’d never been able to stay away from each other, and we only had days before he left again.
“I remember a few times you begged me to tie you down,” he murmured, his voice dripping with seduction.
My eyelids fluttered shut, and my legs opened for him. “You know that isn’t what I meant,” I said breathlessly when he pressed a finger inside me. “I don’t want to be owned. And you’ve never owned any part of me.”
From the laugh that shook his body before he kissed me, I knew he could hear the lie in my voice.
Because he had owned me for as long as I could remember.
Heart. Body. Soul.
“And the show?” Einstein leaned forward and snagged another cherry.
I lifted a shoulder and set the drinks on the bar. “There’s live music nearly every night. Tonight isn’t any different.”
The tick of Einstein’s brow let me know she wasn’t buying it.
Because it was different. It was so different.
Maverick slipped up behind Einstein and snatched a drink off the bar. “Are these for us?”
His identical twin squeezed into a space near Einstein and offered me a grin as he grabbed the wrong drink. “It’s like you knew we were coming.”
I pointed at Einstein. “I did. Clearly. And that isn’t yours.” After taking the drink from his hand, I set it onto the bar and slid him his whiskey. “Where’s—” I looked up, a ghost of a smile crossing my face when I saw Dare leading Lily toward the bar.
“This is insane,” she yelled to me once he had her pressed against the bar and was blocking anyone from getting too close to her.
“It usually is when they come back to town,” Dare responded, concern for me shadowing his eyes. “I’m not surprised you showed.”
“Get me if you need anything else,” I called out, but as soon as I turned to help more customers, Dare snatched my wrist and forced me to look at him.
His gaze darted over my face, studying me.
I knew he was worried. Knew they all were.
There wasn’t a need to be. I’d be fine the morning Henley were on the road to California.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen him?” Dare demanded, his tone low and barely reaching me over the roar of the crowd.
Eight months and twenty-seven days.
I wasn’t counting.
I forced myself to stand naturally, to stare at him as if I had no idea who he could be asking me about. This was just another night. Just another band.
There was nothing special about any of it.
“Seen who?”
Dare’s eyes locked on mine, and his lips pressed together in a weak attempt to hide his grimace. And I knew in that short answer I’d already given myself away.
I turned when he released me but didn’t make it a step before he said, “Maxon.”
His hand twisted in my hair and pulled until all I could do was stare above me.
My knees shook and belly swirled with white-hot heat.
“Rebel,” he whispered in my ear, a plea and a question.
A ragged breath tore from my chest, mixing with my whimper. “More . . . Oh God, more.”
I glanced over my shoulder and shrugged. “Why would I care?”
From where she stood in Dare’s arms, Lily gave me a soft, understanding look. He must have told her the entire story, and I hated him for it.
It wasn’t his story to tell.
I stilled when screams and yells started pouring through The Jack, crying out for Henley and its members.
Each time I heard his name called louder than the rest, it was like a shock to my system and a knife to my heart. Pride surged through me just as heavily as my bitterness, leaving electricity dancing along my skin and a sick feeling racing through my veins.
Don’t look. Don’t look, Libby.
And then he began, the bass leading them off, sending a rush to my core. Each deep note worked through me the way his fingers had so many times before.
I reached out to steady myself on the back bar and hesitantly turned my head, keeping my eyes downcast until I could no longer stand it.
And there he was. Maxon James. Eyes locked on me. Fury and possession streaked across his devastatingly handsome face, making my knees weak.
The rock star who frequented my dreams and haunted my sheets.
The boy who vowed to be my forever.
The man who shattered my world.
I hated him.
I gritted my teeth against the emotions threatening to overwhelm me and lifted my hand in the air, flipping him off. Not waiting to see if he reacted, I turned and threw myself into making drinks for the next hour.
Refusing to look at the stage.
“Libby, I love you.”
Acting like I couldn’t hear his voice mixing with the others.
“Your heartbeat will always be my favorite song.”
Pretending not to know every aching word by heart.
“Every lyric I write, I write for you.”
Accepting goodbye was already here.
“It’s gonna be you and me forever.”