On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss
Chapter 73
Seth
“Wait, so...” Drew tilts toward me on the hotel barstool next to mine. “The morning I asked for your blessing, you took off... because you had to tell Jenna that you loved her?”
I sip my beer. “Yup.”
“Because what I said made you realize you did?”
“Yup.”
“Wow...” he muses. “Did she say it back?”
“Nope.”
He hums with no response to that.
“Anyway, we kept at it,” I continue. “Kept pushing off telling people until you told me to bring my mystery girl to the party and then... well, you pretty much saw the rest.” I turn up my hands. “That’s the story of us so far. Me and Jenna. Jenna and me.”
“Wow,” Drew says again. “That’s a lot of information to digest.”
“Goes down sweeter with alcohol, I find.”
He raises his bottle, amused.
I raise mine. We take a drink together.
“I should have told you first,” I say. “I shouldn’t have sprung it on you guys like this.”
“Maybe not, but...” Drew shrugs. “Not much to be done about that now.”
“At least the rest of the party went okay?” I ask. “I didn’t catch any of it from this stool except for the vibrations from the music which sounded… really good.”
“Yeah, it did. Band was good. Food was good. Cake was good. Jenna really made it happen.”
I glance at my phone sitting on the bar at the mention of her name. I’ve left her messages, but she hasn’t replied.
“Seth.” Drew waits until I look at him. “This is going to blow over.”
“Is it?”
“It did last time.”
“Sure, but it got really ugly for a few minutes there. We got into a fistfight on the lawn of Delta Xi.” I peek over my shoulder toward the table in the back. “I mean, was tonight the worst of it, you think? Is Heidi still mad?”
Drew looks, too. Heidi sits at the table surrounded by Ellie and some of her friends from the art department who stuck around for post-party drinks. She laughs, clearly tipsy with big, pink cheeks, until she notices us looking. Her smile dips. Her happy eyes fire a few daggers at my back before she forcibly turns away.
“Yup,” I say, twisting forward. “Still mad.”
“She’ll cool down.”
“I shouldn’t even be here right now. She doesn’t want me here.”
“Iwant you here.”
“Heidi hates me. Jenna’s ignoring me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” I say. “When I woke up this morning, I did not envision that I’d end the night with the two most important women in my life being pissed at me.”
“Well, what do you want to do?”
“I want to fix it, but I don’t know how.”
“You know exactly how to fix it, Seth. Or, at the very least, you know where to start.”
“Do I?”
Drew grins. “You have to apologize to Jenna.”
I chuckle at the absurdity of it. “Full fucking circle.”
“Go see your girlfriend.” He pats me on the back. “She’s your priority.”
“What about Heidi?”
Drew peeks over his shoulder again. She’s smiling — thankfully. The happy birthday girl, for the moment. Happy and engaged.
“She’s my priority,” he simply says.
I smile. “Man, you really have this whole thing figured out, don’t you?”
He raises a cocky shoulder as he takes a swig from his drink.
Apologize to Jenna Abrams. At least he didn’t tell me to let her go again. I’m not ready for that outcome just yet.
I check my phone. No new messages. No missed calls.
A manicured hand taps Drew on the back, a hand belonging to Melanie Rose. She’s world famous for her romance novels, but she was also well-known amongst our Delta Xi class for… well…
Eggplant.
“Great party, little brother,” she says. “Congrats again.”
“Thank you. You guys heading out?” he asks her.
“Early meeting with my publisher tomorrow.”
Drew bows his head. “Thanks for coming, Melanie.”
“Don’t mention it.” She looks at me as her smile curls. “Mr. Newbury.”
“Ms. Rose,” I greet with a wink.
“Have a pleasant evening.”
“You, too.”
She leaves, but she keeps a sinister eye on me until the last possible moment. I do my fair share of staring as well, but it’s not serious. This bit has been going on since our freshman year. It’d be a shame to stop it now.
It’s even funnier now that sisters clearly aren’t off-limits anymore.
Drew elbows my ribs. Hard. “Dude.”
“She divorced again yet?” I joke.
“You realize after tonight she’s going to write you into one of her books, right?” he says. “She takes rigorous notes on public lovers’ quarrels.”
I raise a brow. “On the bright side, the fictitious Rath Oldsbury will probably have a giant cock.”
Drew flexes his jaw as he takes the last sip of his beer.
God bless the romance genre.
He sets the empty bottle down. The sound draws Billy in our direction from the other end of the bar.
“Refills, gentlemen?” he asks.
“I’ll take another round,” Drew says.
“None for me, thank you,” I say.
Billy bobs his head at me. “Heard about earlier, buddy.” He keeps his voice low. “Tough break. Ian can be a real asshole.”
“Eh.” I shrug. “He’ll be shining my shoes someday.”
He snorts as he sets a fresh beer on the bar for Drew and walks away.
“What happened earlier?” Drew asks.
I sigh. “As of 3:45 this afternoon, I am no longer employed here at the Botsford Plaza.”
Drew shifts forward. “What?”
“It’s my fault. I screwed up. I was going to tell you tomorrow since tonight was, well… busy.”
He nods. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, but my half of the rent is going to be a little short for a while.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, I’ll figure something out fast.”
“Seth, I can cover you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You don’t have to,” he says. “I will cover you until you find a new job. Actually, you might not even have to.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I was talking to my dad before. He asked me how it was going at Little Black Book and he actually looked shocked when I told him about everything.”
“Guess an old real estate guy like him didn’t think a mentorship at a dating app would be worthwhile?”
“No, he did not. Anyway, in the end, he was pretty much on board with our plans for the first time.”
I blink in surprise. “No shit?”
“No shit.”
“About damn time.”
Drew nods. “He asked if we had any investors lined up yet. Cue the instant panic. I haven’t had time to even think about that.”
A chill touches my spine. “Me neither.”
“So, now that you have some free time on your hands...” He smiles. “Maybe you can put that MBA-in-progress to good use and start making our bar happen.”
“That’d be a huge step forward,” I say nervously.
“I think we’re ready.” His eyes bleed confidence. Delta Xi confidence. “Don’t you?”
I sit taller on my stool. “Maybe,” I say, “but that would leave you footing the bill in the meantime.”
“You secure us some capital and we’ll cut you a salary from it. You are technically working.”
“I guess I would be, but—”
“No buts!”Drew knocks twice on the bar. “This is our year! It’s number three on my vision board and we’re going to manifest it. You and me. Together.”
I laugh. “All right. Let’s manifest this shit.”
He raises his bottle. “Delta Xi!”
“Delta Xi!” I repeat.
We drink. I finish my bottle and push it aside as I stand.
“Where are you going?” he asks me.
“I...” I snatch my phone off the bar. “I am going to go find Jenna.”
“Good thinking.”
“Then, I’m going to tie her up and annoy her until she takes me back.”
He furrows his brow. “Will that work?”
“Probably.” I shrug at his confusion. “It’s complicated.”
He hums. I turn to leave again.
“Seth...” he says, making me pause. “Don’t worry about it, brother. Everything is going to work out.”
I don’t respond to that. I’m not sure I believe it myself yet.
“Congratulations again, Drew,” I say. “I’m sorry if I ruined your night.”
Drew smiles over his shoulder as he looks at Heidi in the back of the bar again. “You couldn’t,” he says. “Not this night.”
I leave the Botsford Plaza, possibly for the last time.
* * *
I turn my truck onto Shanty Row.
I suppose the perk of us being out is that now I don’t have to park down the block anymore. No more slinking through backyards. No more sneaking in through the back door so I can quietly curl up with Jenna overnight. Hair scrunchies on the knob. Silent whispers in the sheets.
I park my truck in the driveway without worrying about who might see it, then I march across the lawn and up the porch stairs to the front door.
I knock twice. No answer.
“Jenna? It’s me.”
Still, nothing.
I knock again, this time a little louder. She might be asleep.
“Jenna?”
I turn the knob, but it’s locked. I chuckle. Figures this would be the one time she didn’t leave it unlocked.
Another knock. Another undisturbed silence beyond the door. She should be home. Her car is in the driveway, though so is Heidi’s and my little sister is definitely not home.
I abandon the porch and walk around the house to her window. On the tips of my toes, I stretch up to peek inside. It’s dark. No movement. Her bed is made.
She’s not here.
I pull my phone from my pocket. Still no messages. No calls. She’s not responding, nor is she hiding away in her bed.
Where are you?I text her.
No reply. No read notice, either. I almost wish she would leave me on read, then at least I know she read them.
Jenna, where are you?