Free Midnight Heat (Firework Girls #2) by J. L. White Page A

eyes go to her and his expression changes. He looks like he’s still trying to recover from his shock, but he does a fair job of it. Better than me. I’m watching it all unfold with my mouth hanging open. He’s smiling. At Sam. I don’t understand why until she goes up to him and puts her arms around him and kisses him right on the lips.
    That’s when my heart stops again and I look away. I can’t breathe. My heart hurts. It really hurts and I don’t think it’s beating.
    Oh god, can a person die from shock?
    She leads him back to our table and I hitch my mouth into a smile, trying to look normal. Do I look normal?
    “Girls, this is Grayson,” Sam says. “Grayson these are my girlfriends, Ashley, Chloe—” his eyes flit to mine and I try to look normal, am I still smiling?—“and the lovely bride, Isabella.”
    Then I remember. He’s met them before. Everyone but Sam. He and Mr. Greek God came right up to our table there in the Perched Owl.
    The girls apparently don’t remember because they say some variation of the whole “nice to meet you” routine.
    “Where’s your stuff?” Sam asks him.
    His eyes flick away from mine and he looks at her. My Grayson is looking at My Sam and her arm is still around his waist. I can’t feel my body.
    “I left my suitcase in the car,” he says. “I figured I’d find out where our room is first.”
    Our room??
    Oh my holy fucking god, if you have any mercy, strike me down right now.
    “I’ll take you,” she says, leading him away. She glances back over her shoulders and gives us a wink.
    I watch them go. He doesn’t turn back. They just disappear, on their way to get his suitcase and take it to their room where Sam’s going to do god knows what to him.
    I take a sip of my water with trembling hands. I really can’t breathe.
    “He’s cute,” Isabella says.
    “He looks kind of familiar,” Ashley says.
    I look at her in alarm.
    She catches my expression and gives me a look of concern.
    Oh, did I forget to keep the fake smile plastered on my face?
    I pull my lips into a smile but it feels funny. Am I smiling?
    “You okay?” she asks.
    I stand and give a fake laugh. I even bat my hand at her like an idiot and say, “Of course, of course. Yes, I’m fine I just have to... go to my room for... something.”
    I’m walking away from the table on unsteady legs.
    “Uh... okay,” Ashley says. “See you at dinner.”
    I raise one arm in acknowledgement but keep walking.
    I exit the patio and make it to the sprawling lobby. It’s when I’m stuck waiting for the elevator that I realize I might see him.
    Them.
    I glance around but they’re nowhere in sight. At his car maybe? Has she been to his house? Has she been all over his house the way I was?
    I punch the button again. I don’t want them to come in and see me standing here but I don’t know where else to go. I just have to get to my room.
    The elevator dings and I squeeze through as soon as the gap is big enough to admit me. I’m punching the round “7” button before the doors even finish opening.
    I punch it again. “7.” Then the “Close door” button. Why do those never, ever work? What’s even the point of them? I glance at the lobby again, which I have a clear view of because the doors are still all the way fucking open. I still don’t see them. As I’m pummeling the “7” button, the doors finally close and I’m on my way.
    As I clear the lobby level, the glass back of the compartment opens up to provide a view of the grounds and, as the car goes higher, the coast. I was enjoying this view earlier, when I’d checked in and brought my suitcase up to the room, but I keep my back to it now. I’m gripping the brass hand rail and bending part way over.
    I can hardly think. All I can see in my mind is Grayson and Sam kissing each other hello then walking off together. My Grayson and my Sam.
    The car dumps me out on the seventh floor and I rush down the hallway to my room. I fumble with the