I shook my head.
“I’ll cause a fucking scene,” Krit warned.
“We discussed this. What’s wrong with you?”
Two girls came up to Krit and grabbed on to both his arms and started telling him how good he sounded. He shrugged them loose. “Thanks. Now go,” he said, pulling me again. “I need to talk to you, love. Don’t make me do it here.”
The girls walked away, scowling at me. I pointed my glass at their retreating backs. “You should go get them. I bet they’ll do a threesome,” I said.
“Fuck, Jess,” Rock groaned.
Krit got in my face, and I felt Rock move behind me. “Back up,” Rock warned him.
“Is that what you want, love? You want me to leave and go fuck someone else backstage?” He wanted me to say no. I could hear it in his voice. But he needed me to say yes.
“Yes, that’s what I want,” I replied, and he stepped back like I had slapped him.
He wiped his thumb over his bottom lip and shook his head in disbelief. “That’s it, love. That’s it. I’m done.” He threw his hands up and stalked off. I didn’t watch him go. I turned back to the table and met Dewayne’s eyes.
“He’ll get over it. You did the right thing. He ain’t for you,” Dewayne said.
“I just hope we can be friends again one day.” I did. I shouldn’t have let things get out of hand with him. I also shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t belong here. I didn’t want this anymore. I set my glass down. “I’m gone,” I said.
“You okay?” Rock asked.
I looked up at him. “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I just . . .” I looked around at the place. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” I told him. “I want more now.”
Rock pulled me into a hug. “You’ll get more,” he whispered into my hair.
I pulled back and forced a smile. “I hope so.”
Turning to leave, I walked to the door and ignored people who called out my name. I just needed fresh air and time alone. Right before I reached the door, it opened and Jason Stone walked in. His eyes locked on me, and we stood there staring at each other. I hadn’t spoken to him all week. Not since his call.
He stepped back and opened the door for me. I walked through, keeping my head down. Should I say something? Or was he going to stay inside without a word?
The door closed behind me. I spun around to see Jason outside. He nodded toward the parking lot. “Can we talk?”
All I could do was nod. Even if I should be leaving here and protecting myself.
We walked over to his Hummer. This time there was no limo, no driver. Just him. He opened the door for me, and I climbed in, realizing that this was something Krit had never done. Opened my car door. I had missed it.
I thanked him, and he just smiled before closing the door and walking over to the driver’s side. The Hummer smelled like him. I breathed in deeply and enjoyed it before he opened the door and climbed in.
“Were you leaving?” he asked.
I turned to look at him, and seeing his face only made my heart speed up. His gaze was focused on me, and just being this close to him made everything seem better.
“Yeah,” I replied, not sure how much I should tell him.
He glanced out the window, then back at me. “Is he going to come looking for you?”
I shook my head. “No. We ended that . . . whatever it was.”
His eyes widened and his shoulders visibly relaxed. “Why?”
Did he want me to tell him it was because of him? Not that I would. I shrugged. “We don’t fit, I guess,” I replied.
Jason nodded like he agreed. I bit back a smile.
“Where were you headed?”
“Home,” I replied honestly, even if it made me sound pathetic.
“Could I convince you to come back to my place?”
God, how I wanted to say yes. He could convince me of anything if he tried hard enough. But the regret that would come when he left and didn’t call . . . The pain was something too fresh. I wasn’t ready for that again. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Jason leaned toward me and kept his intense gaze focused on me. “Why?”
“Because you’ll make me miss you.” I said it before I could stop myself.
He reached over and touched my hand. “That’s why I want to talk. The way we left things . . . I don’t like it.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to misunderstand him.
“I miss you, Jess,” he said in a husky whisper. That was my undoing.
“Okay.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay . . . you’ll go back to my place?”
I nodded and he let out a sigh. “Good. I was trying to weigh my options and abduction seemed risky.” The grin on his face brought the first real smile to mine in a week.