Page 62 of The Catch

She shakes her head. "I don't owe you anything but basic respect as a fellow human being."

I chuckle.

"We're over," she insists.

"Right." He studies her, then me.

"Good night, Aidan." Ames rests her head on mine.

"Toodaloo, mate," I echo.

I'm obnoxious and I know it. My words are nettle leaves thrown at him.

He ignores me. His face saddens as he looks at the woman in my arms. "I… miss you. I never meant to hurt you like this."

Ames shakes her head. "Enough, Aidan. Go."

She stares up at him and waits.

The tall singer shakes his head and gazes at her for a long minute. He ignores everyone else. Ames gazes back, but her face is inescrutable.

Eventually, he gets the message and nods. He turns to leave, but stops himself at the last second.

I squeeze Ames to me again. Just in case.

He scoffs. "My first single. It's coming out next week. It's one of the songs I wrote for you."

In my arms, it's easy to sense the way she stills.

"I'll take it as your goodbye," she says.

"It can never be," he says. "Music is forever. Every time that song plays, it will be for you."

He leaves, going straight for the stairs down to the dance floor.

I take a deep breath. At least, my cock is dormant again, in the face of what just happened.

"Wow," Evie says. "That was a lot."

"How are you doing?" I ask Ames.

"I'm okay." She sighs. "I think this was a better goodbye than last time I saw him."

"So should we celebrate?" Evie asks.

"I'll buy you drinks," Logan says.

"Yeah." She sits next to me and smiles at our friends. "Let's enjoy the night. Maybe we'll get to dance some more later?"

Her eyes land on me. The need to surrender overtakes me again.

"I'll dance with you for as long as you want," I say.

Chapter 21

Saint

We dance until late into the night. We don't talk much. Ames looks like she wants to lose herself to the music, moving close to me no matter the song, and I am only happy to oblige.