Black Hearted - An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Complete)

Black Hearted: Chapter 54

The pulse of the dance music reminded Solana of Jack's heartbeat. Even here, in Las Vegas, in this dingy club off the strip, everything made her think of Jack. 

Damn him.

She threw back a shot of tequila. "Thanks, Mac."

The big bartender nodded her way as he swept the used glass off the bar top. "Can't believe you're back here."

"Neither can I." Solana tugged at her borrowed shirt. The rough material scratched against her skin, and she grit her teeth.

Trixie trotted up to the bar and hip checked Solana. "Good to have my partner in crime back. This place was dull without you."

"Hey." Mac held his hands over his heart. "You wound me."

Solana faked a smile. She faked everything these days. Fit right in in this fake town. When she fled LA, she didn't know where to go. At the station, the first bus leaving was headed to Vegas. She figured fate was telling to go back to where things had gone wrong, start again. Ticket in hand, she boarded the bus and cut off all her emotions, told herself she wouldn't cry.

She lasted twenty minutes. An older woman in the seat across the aisle offered her a little package of tissues and Solana sobbed through the ten pack. Somewhere around Barstow, she ran out of tears and the dry heaves kicked in, her eyes barely able to stay open they were so puffy.

"Oh, admit it, you're happy to see our girl again." Trixie put her arm around Solana's shoulders and squeezed. More than she usually would have, she leaned into the embrace, soaking up the warmth of her friend. January had been unseasonably hot in Las Vegas, spring however, was experiencing a cold snap and no matter how hard she tried, Solana couldn't seem to stay warm.

Mac's soulful eyes found hers. "Always glad to see Solana." Something in the way he said the words left Solana with the feeling he meant he wasn't seeing her, though, like he understood that while her physical body was here, her soul was back in LA.

To avoid Mac's intense stare, she turned to her friend. "Thanks for letting me stay with you." The couch at Trixie's place was probably the most uncomfortable thing Solana had ever slept on, but the price was right. The night she'd turned up on Trixie's doorstep, her friend hadn't turned her away.

"Are you kidding? I love having a roomie." Trixie twirled her hair. "And you make awesome coffee."

"It's the beans, not me." Solana straightened her shoulders. "Best get back to the salt mines. Need the tips." She nodded in the direction of her assigned section, where a group of businessmen were slowly getting wasted.

At least at work she kept busy, had something to do. The hours between the double shifts she pulled as part of Alfonso giving her her job back at the Peppermint Stick felt like days. Or years. Nothing to do but miss what she didn't have. Here, she had a purpose. Deliver drinks with a smile. This she could do, no fuss.

The music changed beat and the club's patrons continued to enjoy their evening, drinking, dancing, laughing. Solana watched a couple on the dance floor grinding together, a hair's breadth from full on making out. A shadow of a memory of another dance floor, a tall handsome man picking her up off her feet, threatened to emerge. She slammed the reminiscence down with a hammer. Her past was the problem she wanted to avoid.

Trixie tapped her on the shoulder. "Boss wants to see you."

Mac buzzed her in, and she trudged up the staircase, failing to avoid thinking of the time she'd walked Jack up here. How he'd stood on the step before her and glared at her with those handsome blue eyes that always made her feel safe. Wanted. She hadn't known it then, but that pull in her stomach she'd experienced was the first indication this man was the one for her.