This was ridiculous. While he hadn’t been nearly this skeezy on their previous dates, tonight his true colors were flying too high to ignore. She was ashamed of herself for having let things go on as long as she had. It was one thing to tell him that she didn’t want to see him anymore, but now she was getting spiteful, and she’d always detested that in people.
Except when it came to tormenting Jack. There it was all systems go, because some things were sacred.
As for her current dilemma, maybe if she said something quickly their order could be canceled. Or she could offer to pay for half the damages and just take a taxi home.
“Billy…”
He turned back with a jerk and a guilty expression. Confused, she glanced to the side where he’d been looking. A beautiful woman wearing a long gown had bent over to get something from her purse. The woman and her gown were both fantastic, the bodice clinging to breasts that had to be held in place with two-sided tape. But even while Pepper went through a mental scroll of which A-list model could be seated next to them, it registered that Billy had been ogling the woman’s boobs.
His phone buzzed, and though he looked apologetic he pulled it out and checked the screen. “Never know when work will call,” he said importantly.
“Of course.” Although she didn’t think parking attendants were on the emergency response list.
He tapped something in response, his confusion clear.
“Something wrong?” Pepper asked.
“Nothing to worry—” The phone went off again, and this time his eyes widened and his face grew completely white. “Excuse me.”
Before she could ask anything else, he got up from the table and left, headed for the washrooms.
Pepper collapsed back in her chair, the inelegant pose not doing anything for her figure, but she was done pretending. It was the perfect moment to escape. She reached for her wallet and pulled out a number of twenties, eyeing them sadly.
She was about to dash a quick note to go with the money when someone sat opposite her. She killed the curse before it could escape her lips and worked up the courage to explain in person that it was time for her to go.
Only it wasn’t Billy sitting across from her.
“Jack?”
“Pepper,” he responded, his gaze fixed on hers as if he didn’t give a damn who else was in the restaurant, or that he was sitting in some other man’s chair.
“Jack.” Firmly this time, because she did not need his bullshit right now.
“Pepper.” The bastard signaled to the waiter who rushed over as if his ass were on fire. “Cancel whatever was ordered for this table. Something has come up, and I’m afraid they won’t be able to stay.”
Her jaw hit the ground, and she suddenly understood the whole concept of sputtering mad. Even as Jack passed over a wad of bills to the suddenly willing waiter, Pepper prepared for battle.
Gentle piano music playing in the background. The low murmur of polite dinner conversation and utensils clinking against fine bone china. The ambience was one of peaceful luxury, but she was ready to salt the earth and burn it all down.
She leaned forward. “I hope you’re wearing a cup.”
Jack’s expression didn’t change. He just kept smiling. “You look more as if you hope I’m not wearing one.”
“Well, since I’m never ever finding out what comes between you and your Levi’s, why don’t you get your bossy ass out of here before my date gets back?”
“He’s not coming back.”
“He’s not—” Oh God. What had Jack done?
She shot to her feet, gave him one last dirty look, and raced for the washrooms.
She wasn’t sure what she would find. If Billy’s sudden absence involved decapitation or blood, she wasn’t dressed to hide the evidence. Though considering Jack was on her tail, two steps behind her as she stomped from the table, maybe she’d be the one to pull a citizen’s arrest and get him locked up for a night or two. Damned bastard.
There were no dead bodies in the hallway, which she figured was a good sign. The men’s room door was closed, and she hesitated for all of two seconds before pushing it open and walking in.
No dead bodies there either.
She whirled to face Jack. “What the hell did you do to him?”
Masculine cursing broke out at her back from the man at the urinal.
“Why don’t we discuss this outside?” Jack suggested. “Give the poor man some privacy, for God’s sake.”
Her cheeks were flaming hot, but a little bit of seclusion for when she skived him would be a good thing. She darted down the hall, slipping past the front desk even while the waiter gave an enthusiastic farewell to Jack.
“How much money did you give him?” Pepper demanded over her shoulder as she hurried into the parking lot.
He caught her by the arm and tugged her to the side into a small garden area with fountains. “More than Billy would’ve given him, I can almost guarantee.”
The death grip on her arm meant it was easier to follow him instead of protesting again in front of the group of elegantly dressed women making their way to the front entrance.
They were tucked all the way into a back corner of the garden before Jack finally stopped. He pointed at the ornate granite bench. “Sit.”
“You sit. Or play dead—that would be even better.”