Page 40 of Open To Negotiation

“Of course not, Knight made it clear you’re welcome here any time.”

“Do you always work the door?” I asked to hide the slight blush that rose on my cheeks at his words.

“I run overall security for the club but we’re short tonight so I’m working the door,” he said. “Which also means I can’t walk you up. I can either call Wade to meet you halfway there or if you wait ten minutes, I’ll have an extra man and can pull someone off the main door.”

“Damn, first class service,” Aubrey whispered, but I ignored her and shot Dane what I hoped was a normal smile.

“You don’t have to do that. I think we can make our way in.” I didn’t want Wade to tell Theo or any of the other guys that I was here.

I hadn’t really decided if I was going to go and see him or spend the night with my friends.

“Knight made it very clear—”

I waved him off with a smile and a small laugh. “He’s an overprotective ogre, I think we can make our way in on our own.”

He watched me for a moment before he decided I was right and nodded, moving to allow us to pass.

“Holy shit! We just got into the hottest club in the city for free in under five minutes!” She squealed into my ear as we made our way in.

It felt like being hit by a wall of noise and people. The dance floor was packed, and the bar was busy enough that we would need to push through the people to get to the front.

I snuck a glance up at the VIP loft above the club. There were more people up there than last week. It looked like there wasn’t much space to move there either. I saw the back of a man, pretty sure it was Jaxson, and there was a girl with her mouth on his neck. He was the only one I could spot but there were a lot of women. I looked away, mad at myself for the jealousy brewing in my stomach, even worse though was the disappointment.

I was a mess.

Goal one for tonight: ignore the man who was upstairs and not look up there again.

Goal two: get drunk.

“I need alcohol,” I yelled at Aubrey to be heard over the music. She nodded, grabbed my hand and led the way to the bar. I didn’t often drink a lot but tonight was going to be an exception.

“Four shots of Tequila please!” Aubrey said as she pushed her way to the front of the line and got a bartender’s attention quickly. Perks of being a woman.

I leaned my hip against the bar to look around the room. The place was busy but with the bar being massive and there being a lot of space to mull around the edges of the dance floor, people seemed to get their drinks and move on.

Our drinks were placed in front of us and I started to pull out my credit card, but the bartender held out his hand, shaking his head.

“It’s on the house,” he said as he passed us our drinks and then wiped his hands on his pants.

“I have a boyfriend, just so you know,” Aubrey said as she slid my drinks toward me and he let out a snort.

“It’s not for you. She doesn’t pay here.” He tilted his head toward me.

I was confused for a moment before I remembered why I was getting free drinks. “Theo told me the bartenders had seen a picture of me and were told that I drink for free. I didn’t think anyone would remember,” I told Aubrey with a shrug as she looked at me with wide eyes.

“It’s going to be a good night then. Bottoms up, bitch!” Aubrey clinked her glass with mine as she smiled and then we both shot it back. I coughed after it passed but enjoyed the burn. “Ryan is around here somewhere, I sent him a text. I’m sure he’ll find us soon. This is fun! We haven’t done this in so long!”

We downed our second shot before leaving our spot at the bar.

“I want to dance!” I announced, focusing on feeling good but that was ruined as I broke rule one.

I’d glanced up at the VIP section to see Theo leaning on the railing looking over the bar, luckily not in my direction. But the problem was he had a girl pressed against his side and he didn’t look unhappy; he didn’t push her away.

Not that it mattered, because it didn’t.

At least that was what I was going to tell myself. That the unease in my stomach had absolutely nothing to do with Theo.

Maybe I’d read the signals wrong or maybe he just wanted to get laid. I had no right to be upset because even if he did like me, he didn’t owe me anything. We weren’t together, we hadn’t really gone on a date, we weren’t even really friends.