Stay by Kelly Mooney Read Free Book Online Page A

Why was he staring at me like that? He
knew her-I could tell he knew her. He wiped the bar with his
rag.
    “Nope. No Maggie here. Sorry, man.”
    I fixed my eyes on him, sure he was lying. But I
hadn’t seen her, and maybe Dean was just too shitfaced and wanted
it to be her. I started to walk away, heading back to Dean, but
turned one more time. The bartender was gone, heading into a back
room covered by a curtain. The bar was slammed busy; the two other
bartenders were barely keeping up, and our waitress was frazzled
all of a sudden. Dean and I stayed put for another hour watching it
all happen. “What do we do? Should we tell Jer?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t know, man. What if it
wasn’t her, and he loses it again? He’s just getting over his
dad.”
    “Well, if she was here, she’s gone now. We’ll come
back tomorrow with Jeremy.” Dean sounded confident, but then
grimaced. “Are you okay, man? What if it was her?”
    Little did he know I was not fucking moving from
this spot until someone peeled my ass off the stool and proved to
me she didn’t work here. Dean pounded several more beers, but I
switched to water. I needed to be sober if she really was here.
    God, Maggie.
    Please let it be you.
    “I don’t know. I just don’t know. I really want it
to be her, man.” I looked around once more, noticing the bartender
keeping his eye on us since he’d taken back his spot behind the
bar. I rubbed my eyes, peering down at my watch. It was almost two
in the morning. We’d been here for three hours, and Maggie still
hadn’t shown up from Dean’s first sighting. “Maybe she saw us and
took off,” I pointed out.
    He shrugged watching the dancer for a few seconds.
“This is fucked up as fucked up can be. If it was her, why would
she run? It’s just us. Shit, I mean, we’ve all been inseparable our
whole lives, until she took off.” He took another swig of his beer,
eyeing me. “And I still think you’re full of shit and know the
reason she up and left.”
    We waited until closing, the place all but empty.
The big-ass bouncer came over to our table, peering down at us.
“It’s closing time, boys. The girls don’t go home with customers,
if that’s what you were hoping.” I glanced past his massive body,
taking note that the bartender had slipped out.
    “We’re leaving,” I told him. I hoisted Dean from his
chair. “Let’s go.” I leaned up against the brick exterior of the
place once outside. I knew Maggie was close by. It was like my body
was on high alert. “She’s here. I can feel it, man.”
    “I told you so,” Dean slurred.
    A few minutes later we heard laugher, and a door
from around the side of the building slammed. The bartender and a
couple girls strolled around the corner talking about how much
money they’d made, and how they couldn’t wait to get to eat. Dean
and I followed closely behind. The guy who’d watched us like a hawk
stopped at the door to the diner.
    “I gotta go make sure she’s okay. I’ll see you
tomorrow night.”
    Jackfuckingpot!
    We followed for two more blocks. When he turned
right, we trailed quietly behind, trying to stay inconspicuous. I
wanted to beat the shit out of this guy if he thought he was the
one who was going to make my Maggie feel better. Who the fuck was
he to her? Suddenly, Dean stopped. “Dude, I’m gonna hurl.” He
immediately bent over to puke, and by the time I looked up again,
the bartender was nowhere in sight.
    Fuck!
    I carted Dean’s drunk ass back to the room. “I think
we should go back in a few days. Throw her off the trail,” I
commented.
    Dean stopped his epic piss and zipped up his shorts.
“We should tell Jeremy.”
    “Tell me what?”
    We froze. Jeremy moved around the two of us to get
to the toilet. He pushed Dean out of the way. “Dude, Phoebe may be
hot, but did you know she snores like a fucking dude?”
    I shook my head at Dean, mouthing, “Not yet.”
    Dean nodded but went into the other room.