"What?" James looked astonished by my outburst.
"You heard me. If he would never have done this to me then I wouldn’t be stuck dealing with this shit!"
He didn’t have a response, he knew I was right. Instead, he proposed something else.
"Get cleaned up, we’re going out," he smiled large.
"I don’t want to—"
"Get in the shower before I call Dixon and have him sponge bath your ass!"
I shuddered at the threat, earning a chuckle from James. He pulled out his cell and made some calls. I drudged off to the bathroom hoping that the hot water would make me feel a little more like myself.
Once I was showered and dressed in a pair of black slacks and a white button down, I met James in the living room. He gave me a once over and shrugged while slightly moving his head side to side.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he chuckled. "You look alright but I don’t know if you look like husband and father material." He laughed and headed toward the door.
"Shut the hell up." I yelled as I followed him.
Once James parked his sleek red car, I finally noticed our destination for the night.
"Are you serious?"
He smiled and shrugged.
"I thought we would hang out at a bar or something." I groaned.
"Hey, there's a bar in here," he smirked.
I rolled my eyes as I climbed out of the car.
We entered the club and weaved through the bodies to reach the bar. Celia moved behind the bar, she was working with some red head tonight.
"What can I get you guys?" The red head asked, trying to be seductive. She wasn’t successful. She was irritating. James ordered our drinks and she went about the task.
"Dude, she was totally eye-fucking you." He smacked my back and laughed loudly in my ear.
"I can’t believe Elora lets you out of the house." I glared at him.
"She has nothing to worry about." He grinned.
"What? Did the playa just put his balls on a shelf?" I chuckled.
He smirked.
"Oh, they aren’t on a shelf. They're in Elora’s mouth." He laughed back. I shook my head laughing.
"Hey stranger." Celia stood smiling before us.
"Hey," I smiled back.
"Haven’t seen you for awhile, how are you doing?"
"Good," I lied.
"Liar," James snorted.
I smacked him. Celia eyed us curiously.
"So, I heard you finally got a woman," she smiled.
I felt the frown form on my face. Celia’s smile morphed to regretful. Before she could say anything, I simply blurted out a quick response.
"Nah, let’s just say that we didn’t see things the same way," I forced a smile and tossed my bourbon down slamming the glass onto the bar.
"Let me get you another." Celia quickly returned with a full glass and I thanked her.
"So, don’t you and Lilli usually work together?" I asked between gulps.
"Uh…yeah," she answered. Her forehead creased with worry.
"What’s wrong? Everything okay?" I asked, with a small amount of true concern.
"Yeah, well…Lilli had to go back to Maine. She’s been gone for like a month." She sighed unhappily.
"She’s been gone for a month?" I furrowed my brow.
"Yeah, her father got sick again and she was in the hospital with him for two weeks before he was allowed to come home with a nurse." I could see the tears start to form in her eyes. "Sorry," she said when she realized that I was watching her get upset. "I just feel bad for her and I miss her," she shrugged.
I was about to ask her more but she gave me the just a minute motion and went to help some people who had just sat down at the bar.
My mind started to digest what she had just said. The wheels turning so wildly in my head, I didn’t hear Dixon or Oscar arrive.
"Hello!" Dixon’s boisterous voice brought me out of my head.
"Oh, hey, Dixon!" I replied, seeing Oscar over Dixon’s shoulder. "Oz," I raised my glass to him and he nodded.
"What’s this we hear about that Natalia bitch?" Dixon blurted out and Oscar shook his head.
I turned to look at James and scowled.
"What? They are like your brothers so quit with the damn glares." He tossed back his drink and set it on the bar for a refill.
Celia appeared and took his glass. When she brought it back she leaned over the bar to kiss Dixon.
"Hey baby," she winked.
"Hey," he smiled goofily.
He had it so bad. I quietly chuckled.
"You heard from Lilli?" Celia asked him.
He nodded.
"Yeah, she doesn’t know when she is going to leave or if she can even come back." He looked upset. "She’s already cancelled her classes for the current semester. It sucks."
"What happened?" I asked. He eyed me warily before he told me what happened to her father.
It wasn't until that moment I knew three things. One, I was definitely going to work tomorrow. Two, I was a total douche bag for what I was about to do. Three, the plan would be placed into action as soon as possible.
~
After making what felt like hundreds of calls, all before noon, I began implementing the return to Plan B. My next move was a text message. I pulled up her number and typed out a message.