"Really?" Jack challenged. "You don't remember carving that with your house key when I brought you here after that party?"
"Well I was pretty drunk..."
"Yeah, but I bet you remember what we did after..."
"Jack!" I hissed, giving his leg a firm kick. "What would Lauren think if she heard you talking like this to me?"
"Probably the same thing she thinks of me in general."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Which is?"
Jack shrugged and looked down at his hands. He had his shoulders hunched forward, and a few brown locks framed his brows as they furrowed in thought.
"Forget it," I said. "It's none of my business."
"Nah, it's fine," Jack said, clearing his throat. "It's just … sometimes I get the idea that she doesn't think very highly of me."
I frowned and waited for him to continue.
"Her dad's one of my biggest sponsors," he elaborated, scratching his jaw. "She seems to think I'm just kissing his ass to fund my campaign."
"And you're not?"
Jack shook his head. "No, but I do what I have to in order to keep him happy."
"Like marrying his daughter?"
I wasn't sure what compelled me to say it, but there was no taking the words back once they were spoken.
"It's not like that," Jack said, hardly even sounding like he believed himself. "See, that right there is exactly the kind of thing Lauren hits me with."
"Well there must be a reason," I insisted. "Women aren't dumb. We can tell when a man isn't entirely invested in us."
"I'm invested."
"You sure about that?"
Jack's eyes danced against mine for a moment before trailing back to the window. It was obvious that he didn't want to discuss this any longer, so I took the opportunity to ask him where he was living these days instead.
"Here and there," Jack said with a shrug. "I'm back in D.C. for the time being though. At least until the end of the election."
I was just about to respond when my phone vibrated.
"Are you on your way back?" Malika questioned as soon as I picked up. "Because Mayor Greenwell's secretary just called. He wants you over to his office to go over the fundraisers seating arrangement. I told him I'd send Jada, but he was adamant that I send you."
"Alright," I said with a sigh, eyeing my watch. "Let her know I'm on my way. Fifteen minutes. Twenty at the most."
Jack eyeballed me for an explanation.
"I have to run," I told him. "Duty calls."
Jack offered to give me a ride, but I assured him that it was fine. We'd already spent more than enough time together today. I wasn't about to let him be my chauffeur. I went outside to hail a taxi instead, bursting through the door to Mayor Greenwell's office with ten minutes to spare.
"Ms. Woods," the receptionist greeted, raising an eyebrow at my frazzled appearance. "Mayor Greenwell's been expecting you. You can head on in, but take heart. He's pretty grumpy today."
What else was new?
I thanked her and made my way into his office, where I found him fidgeting with the various trinkets on his desk. "Sorry for the delay," I said, sliding into the empty chair across from him. "My assistant told me you wanted to go over your seating arrangement?"
Mayor Greenwell nodded. "Correct," he confirmed in a dull tone, sliding me a laminated piece of paper to look at. He pointed to a row of seats with his pen. "I have a few colleagues who aren't on the best of terms right now, so we need to switch a few things around to ensure that they won't be brushing elbows."
I nodded as he spoke, making a mental note of each seat that he wanted to be changed. I didn't ask him why it was necessary for me to come all the way out to his office for something so minor. I'd learned a long time ago not to question the motives of my clients, especially ones as hotheaded as he could be.
It was almost five o'clock by the time I finally made it back to work, and Jada raced out of the conference room to greet me as soon as she saw me walk in.
"What is it?" I questioned, approaching the water cooler to quench my thirst. Interacting with Mayor Greenwell never ceased to leave me feeling like I'd run a marathon.
"I saw you leaving with Jack earlier," Jada said, failing to hide her smirk. "Mind if I ask where you went?"
"It was really no big deal," I assured her. "We just grabbed some lunch and went over a few things concerning his wedding."
"Uh-huh," Jada said, nodding a slow nod. The look on her face made it clear that she wasn't buying a word of what I was selling. "Because it's not like you were once in a passionate, off-limits relationship with him or anything..."
Dammit.
Malika really had told her everything.
I scoffed and shook my head, pushing past her to my office. This wasn't a conversation I was about to have after spending the better part of an hour listening to Mayor Greenwell trash talk almost every candidate in the upcoming primaries. What I needed right now was a stiff drink. Not the third degree.
Jada was just about to say something else when Audrey from accounting entered the mix. "What's up?" she questioned, taking a seat on the edge of my desk. "I feel like I haven't seen you all day."
"I just got back from a meeting with Mayor Greenwell," I said, hoping she'd pick up on my lack of enthusiasm and back off. All I wanted to do was go home. I wasn't in the mood for mindless chitchat.
"Ah," Audrey said, giving me a sympathetic look. "He give you any trouble?"
"You know it."
"That's not what has her all worked up though," Jada added, smiling secretively. "Jack's back in the picture."
"Jada!" I hissed, giving her a pointed look. As if I needed every nosy-nelly in this place knowing more about my business than they already did.
Audrey gasped and brought a hand up to her mouth. "The Jack? As in your super hot brother?"
"Stepbrother," I corrected. "And it's nothing. I'm just planning his wedding."
"Uh-huh," Jada said, giving me a disbelieving look. "If that was the case you wouldn't be so adamant to correct anyone who refers to him as your brother."
I couldn't deny that she had a point, but I definitely wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of admitting it. "Whatever," I said, standing up to shepherd both women out of my office.
It didn't matter what they thought. Jack and me were over. In just a few months' time he'd be waiting down a long aisle for his wife.
A woman who wasn't me.
~ CHAPTER SEVEN ~
Jack had been back in my life for all of a day and he was already driving me to drink. Fortunately, it was a Thursday night, and I was far from the only person who'd decided to kick off the weekend a little early. The bar I was in was packed from wall-to-wall with expensively dressed people, all of whom were dancing and throwing back shots.
"You're too pretty to be looking this down," the bartender, Seth, called out to me over the music. He grabbed a bottle of vodka off a nearby shelf and proceeded to work his magic, setting a tall pineapple sour down in front of me a few seconds later. "No worries," he said when I tried to pay him. "Rico Suave over there has you covered."
Rico Suave?
I followed Seth's gaze and exhaled a deep sigh when I saw Jack studying me from across the bar. "And I'll have a whiskey," he called out, his eyes never leaving mine. "Dry. I've never been much of a cocktail guy myself."
Seth held out his knuckles to him in solidarity. "My man. Any liquor preference?"
"Nah, just make it strong."
Seth grabbed a bottle of Crown Royal from beneath the counter and filled a glass to its top off point, setting it down in front of Jack before walking off to greet another customer.
"Nice," I deadpanned. "All the clubs in this city and you just had to pick this one."
Jack laughed and sunk into the unoccupied barstool beside me. "That's funny, you know, considering I was the one who introduced you to this place to begin with."
"Yeah, and?" I replied. "I don't remember Seth naming a drink after you."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Seth named a drink after you?" He looked over at him and snorted. "He's never gonna give it a rest, is he?"