Bait (Wake, #1)(39)
“Yeah, what time do you fly out?” he asked, thankfully not inquiring for more details.
“Have her meet me downstairs at five thirty, please. That will give us plenty of time.”
He said that he'd tell her and asked again if everything was okay. I hated not telling him the whole story; it probably made it seem much worse than it really was. But I did care about Aly and I didn't want to embarrass her.
I had to get to the bottom of the phone thing though. I almost had myself convinced that she'd contacted her and that that was the reason Blake never called. I still hadn't heard from her. I needed to know if Aly knew why. But I wasn’t confident, if she had done anything, that she'd even tell me.
After my call with Marc, I took my time, cleaned up my things and packed them away, readied myself to go home. I brought my bags down to the lobby. I'd planned on having a drink at the bar until it was time to leave. When I saw that Aly's bags were already sitting on a cart by the reception desk I knew I'd find her doing the same.
She was facing the bar, away from me, when I walked in. I caught her reflection in the mirror that hung behind the glass bottles. She lifted her glass to me when she saw me, too. The bartender, who'd seen me come in, headed in my direction as I sat next to her.
“What are you drinking, Aly?” I said as I perched on the stool to her left.
“Vodka martini. Three olives.” She sounded like she'd already had a few, but it wasn't my business. It might actually work out well for me that she was a little buzzed. Maybe she'd tell me what the f*ck happened.
“Vodka martini with three olives and a Gin and Tonic.” He nodded and busied himself with making the drinks.
“Thanks,” she said, finishing down the last of her current cocktail.
“What happened yesterday?” I went out on a limb with what my gut had been telling me. “What did you say to her?” She audibly exhaled and stretched on her stool.
“So she can't leave you alone either, then? I guess you two talked?” she asked guiltily, looking at me from out of the corner of her eyes. I watched her in the mirror looking straight ahead.
I didn't answer, only thanked the bartender when he placed our drinks in front of us on napkins.
“I didn't think she'd call you back. And I kind of thought that if she did we'd be...you know,” she admitted, catching my gaze in the reflection. I shook my head at her, and gave her a friendly smile. If I wanted to get the real truth out of her, she needed to feel like she could talk. I wasn't about to show her my real feelings. I wasn't about to throw my glass at the wall and scream, because that is what I wanted to do with all my might.
“She said you were just friends and that you could pick who your friends were.”
Atta girl. She didn't take any shit.
“What else?” I quirked a serious eyebrow at her refection.
“Nothing else. I told her to leave you alone.” My mind screamed, She's already leaving me alone! I was angry, I wanted to argue with her, but again, there wasn't anything to argue for.
Then, my fury was doused with relief, I had no claim to Blake, but hopefully, Aly was the reason she didn’t call. Maybe she wasn't with Grant doing things that my mind envisioned for those long hours that I couldn't sleep the night before.
My fingers itched to grab my phone and send her something, but I had to wait. It wasn't the right time.
At that moment, I needed to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with the girl hammering back Vodka martinis.
“Aly, don't do that again,” I told her. “We're friends. We're co-workers. Hell, we're kind of partners. You're smart. You're beautiful.” I turned in my seat, choosing to look at her for real, instead of in the mirror. I wanted to make sure she got the final point. “We're not going to be together like we were ever again. Find a nice guy and be happy, if that's what you want. But don't ever call her again.” Her eyes looked red and she bit her lip. I prayed she'd got the message. I continued, “We don't need to talk about this anymore. Do you want another drink? We have about an hour before the cab comes.” And that's where I left it. That was all I needed to say about it.
“I'm sorry, Casey,” she said, and I let her pay for the next round.
The air felt a lot clearer in the car on the way to the airport. Aly seemed to understand what I'd been trying to tell her. At least I'd hoped she did. We talked about the sale and she was genuinely happy about the deal. She was a little more than buzzed, so she whooped and hollered, even asking the driver for a high-five.
She was feeling no pain for our flight back. I had to make sure they’d let her on the plane first. We'd be making a coffee stop before we went through security. Our cab pulled up to the curb behind a black town car. There was a guy leaning against it wearing a nice suit.
I hopped out of the cab and rounded the back as it popped open to get our luggage out. As I was closing the trunk, I saw a flash of the most perfect color of brown and I looked up.
It was her. It was Blake. I forced the lid down until it latched and moved our bags to the sidewalk. The whole time looking at her as she bounded up to this man. She threw her arms around him and he rocked her side-to-side, embracing her back.
Surely my mind was playing tricks. What would she be doing in Chicago? Who in the f*ck was that guy? Was it him? Wasn't she with him last night? I opened the door of my car, glancing back and forth between my drunk-ish travel companion and what was happening no more than twenty feet away.