Duper and Lovey talked all the way there, but sitting in the backseat, Duncan wasn’t listening.
If Amber’d been after his money, she would’ve kept the car. She’d always been annoyed with him when he spent money on her or did things for her. And what had her mom meant by “all their problems”? Sure, he assumed money problems. Apparently Deke Johnson had declared bankruptcy right around the time he and Amber’s mom had divorced, which yeah, probably meant a big lifestyle change for Amber and her mom. Not that he knew anything about their life, but he assumed a three-time Super Bowl champ receiver in the NFL had made good money. Deke had also done a lot of endorsements for some huge companies back in his day.
Did they have to pay off his debts? That would really suck. Nah, that couldn’t be.
Suddenly he found himself burning up with a need to know…and to help. He wanted to take care of all her problems.
Fuck. She wasn’t using him. He’d believed the worst of her because of his own stupid insecurities. And because of that, he’d hurt her.
He leaned his head back and banged it against the headrest—once, twice, three times.
Lovey looked over her shoulder. “You okay back there?”
“Great.”
They walked into the Sin Bin, the lighting dim, the music loud. There were a few empty tables.
“There’s Stoykers and Pilker.” Duper headed toward the table where they sat.
Duncan followed, searching the room for Amber, but he didn’t see her. Then a female voice behind him said, “Hi, Duncan.”
He stopped and turned to see Melissa.
Christ. Just what he needed. “Hey, Melissa.”
“Long time no see. How’ve you been?”
He continued to look for Amber. “Good. You?”
“Okay.” She paused. “I hear you have a new girlfriend.”
“Uh…” He hoped Amber was still his girlfriend and he hadn’t fucked that up irretrievably.
“I saw the picture on the Internet. I know her, sort of. Amber Johnson. I didn’t know she had such an interesting past, though.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes at Melissa. “I gotta go. Nice seeing you.”
He joined the others.
“Melissa.” Lovey gave him an unhappy look.
“Yeah.” He slid onto a stool, bummed that Amber wasn’t there. He was gonna have to sack up and call her. If she’d answer his call. Well, if not, he’d hunt her down like the deer stalker he was. Heh.
—
She should probably quit this job.
Amber returned from her break at the Sin Bin. So far no sign of any Aces players, but the possibility of running into them here—including Duncan—was very high.
She still hadn’t heard from him. Not that she wanted to. She tossed her hair back as she strode into the bar. After he’d walked out yesterday all pissed off, she kept thinking he’d cool off and come back. He got angry, but he got over it fast. But even after leaving the car at his building, she hadn’t heard from him with an apology. At which time she was going to break things off with him, because if he thought so little of her, they had no future together.
So even though she still needed the money from this job, she glumly contemplated quitting.
As if things weren’t messed up enough, sitting at one of the tables in her section were Melissa Cayne and Indie Sandhu. Greeeeaaat. She approached them to take their order, even as she wished for the ability to teleport and reappear in Azerbaijan. Or perhaps shift into someone else’s body, like…The Rock. No, wait. Heidi Klum.
“Hi, ladies.” She flashed a big smile. “What can I get you tonight?”
“Amber!” Melissa gave a wide-eyed smile. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
Hopefully Melissa didn’t plan on going into acting, because that was bad. “Yeah, another part-time job,” she said cheerfully.
“Is the modeling career not going well?” Melissa asked with saccharine sympathy.
Ergh. “I don’t really have a modeling career.”
“Aw, honey, it’s a tough business. Not everyone makes it.”
“No, I mean I only do a few jobs from time to time. I’m about to graduate from college.” She kept the smile firmly in place. “With a degree in Sociology and Urban Studies. Starting my first full-time job next month.” The fucking blog post hadn’t mentioned that.
“Oh.” Melissa blinked. “I’ll have a Cosmopolitan.”
“Same,” Indie said.
“Sure thing.”
Amber hoofed it back to the bar.
“Did you just growl?” Jack asked.
“Ha. Yeah. Two Cosmos, please.”
Jack grabbed the bottle of vodka. “Bitchy customer?”
“Oh yeah. She totally knew I worked here. Probably saw it in that stupid blog post.”
Jack gave her a mystified smile. Apparently he hadn’t seen the blog.
Amber watched Jack mix the cocktails.
Melissa Cayne. Duncan’s ex. The one who’d only been interested in him for his money. Bitch. And he thought she was like that? Ha! That was just…