Chapter Three

"Where the hell did everybody go?" Raven looked confused as he sat down at the bar's table. "I mean, I know where Laurel and Briar went, but Clarissa left, too?"

"She said she was leaving because Briar left," I answered. "Sorry that it's just me."

"You don't have to be sorry about that." He smiled. "Honestly, I like that it's just you. Makes me feel like I'm finally off the clock."

"Yeah, I imagine being a wedding planner is a 24/7 kind of thing..." I let my words trail off as I spared a look over at Raven.

I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest when I realized that he was staring back at me, too.

"So, what do you do?" he asked as he scooted his chair a bit closer to mine.

"I... what? Sorry, what were we talking about?"

I'd been too distracted by Raven moving his chair over a few inches to catch the context of his question, and now I was probably coming off as an inattentive asshole.

What was going on with me tonight?

"For work? What do you do?" he asked again. "Does it feel like a 24/7 kind of thing?"

"Sometimes, but not really," I admitted. "I'm a remote manager of a small sales team."

"Oh. You're in sales?" Raven hummed. "That's kind of funny. You don't really seem like the type."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed. "Is it because I don't have horns coming out of my forehead?"

He laughed, too. "Hey, I never said salespeople were evil. Now, managers on the other hand..."

"I'll have you know that I've been a manager for years and haven't had to call on Satan for help. Not even once." I grinned. "No, but I really do enjoy my job. I didn't think I would but turns out, it's miles better than the alternative."

"You mean the alternative of being unemployed?"

"Sure. Yeah," I lied.

I just didn't feel like bringing up the family business right now. The Easton's Exchange had been in my family for generations, evolving from an original network mostly made of farmers to a network now made almost exclusively of rich people in expensive suits and with even more expensive assets.

I was set to inherit the whole thing, which would've made me a multi-millionaire in the blink of an eye. My father had offered to turn the reins over even earlier, trusting me with the business as soon as I graduated from college.

His only requirement?

I needed to get married first.

And not just married to anyone. I needed to marry Irene Marseille, heiress to our company's fiercest competitor. Her father and my father thought the union would lead to a failsafe merger between the families, which would eventually lead to an even more important merger between the companies themselves.

I'd told my dad that I wasn't interested in getting married back then. And he'd told me that the company would be waiting for me, whenever I was finally ready to settle down.

Until then, I was on my own.

I was happy enough with that. I didn't want to be just another pawn in my family's game, and I didn't want my father picking out a wife for me like we were living in the 18th century.

I just wanted to be my own person, even if it was currently costing me a cushy office job and a few zeroes missing from my paychecks.

"I like wedding planning, too, better than the alternative." Raven gave me a knowing grin. "Not to sound corny or anything, but there's just something so magical about weddings. It's like... when a good one comes together, it's like I can almost touch it. Just for one night, something in the world opens up, two people put their hearts on the line, the band plays, the glitter and the rice get thrown... and I can feel it. Everywhere."

"That's... really beautiful," I murmured.

"Mmm. Not the only thing I'd call beautiful right now." Raven's eyes lit up as he spoke.

My heart began to race as I forcefully gulped down what felt like a mountain of air.

Was Raven flirting with me?

No.

That couldn't have been right. There was no way that Raven would've been flirting with me. Why would he even try something like that? It wasn't like I'd told him that I'd been staring at him all night.

It wasn't like he knew that I thought he was the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" Raven asked.

"What?" I tried to act calm, even though I felt myself freaking out on the inside.

He knew.

Raven knew that I was attracted to him. I'd somehow made it too obvious, and now it was coming back around to bite me in the ass.

"It's just that this gay bar is about to get really gay," Raven joked, "and I don't know a lot of straight guys who also happen to know all the lyrics to the beloved musical, Hello Dolly!"

"Oh. Is it karaoke night or something?"

"Or something," Raven answered as he stood up from his seat. "It's not karaoke though. More like a singing match to the death. I tried to enter the contest with Laurel last year, but he missed a few notes and they put us up on the Wall of Shame."

"There's a Wall of Shame?" I squinted as I looked around the room.

"Right there." Raven pointed at the wall right across from us. "They put Laurel and me right next to the guy who attempted his first handstand during a moving rendition of "Memory" from Cats."

Just then, I spotted the photo of Laurel and Raven, with Laurel proudly wearing what looked like a dunce cap. Raven stood beside him with an annoyed expression, his arms crossed over his chest.

"So, did you want to go?" Raven nodded toward the door. "I can cover the Uber back for both of us."

"Uh, yeah, sure." I nodded back at him as I grabbed my coat off the back of my seat. "Sounds good."

I nervously followed behind Raven as he led us out of the bar and onto the darkened city streets.

* * *

"Shit. Is that a Thunderbird?" Raven whistled as we stood outside Neon City. "I haven't seen one of those in years."

The car was pulling up to the bar, getting ready to park at one of the meters in front of it. Raven and I had been standing beside each other in silence until that moment, and I was a little taken aback by his sudden interest in having a conversation.

"Wait. You like classic cars?" I couldn't hide the surprise in my voice.

"Oh, please don't tell me you're one of those straight guys who thinks that only straight guys like classic cars." Raven shook his head. "Thunderbirds are for everyone, Sky."

"No! I'm not... that's not what I meant." I grimaced, hating that Raven was probably putting me in the same mental box as a bunch of assholes I'd never even met. "I'm just... Not a lot of people even know what a Thunderbird is. It's just nice to meet a fellow car enthusiast."

"Well, I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast," Raven chuckled. "I can really only recognize a Thunderbird and a DeLorean and that's about it."

"DeLoreans? Really?" I took a step closer to him. "Have you ever seen one in person?"

"Haven't had the chance yet."

"You can!" I heard my words come out a lot louder than I'd intended. I tried to calm myself down before I continued. "I mean, you can. I'm actually working on restoring a DeLorean right now. Would you want to come see it? Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Raven seemed interested in the offer. "What time?"

"Around two," I beamed. "Do you think you'll be able to make it?"

"Yeah. I think so," Raven beamed right back. "Wow, a real DeLorean, huh? How'd you manage to get your hands on that?"

"The Airbnb I'm staying in is located in a building above a garage. The owner is letting me work on the car in exchange for a big discount on the Airbnb. Truth is, I'm actually just working on it because I love cars."

"I think this is your ride." Raven pointed toward a black SUV slowly rolling up to the bar.

"My ride?" I asked. "I thought you were getting a ride in the Uber, too?"

"Nah," Raven sighed. "It's a nice night. I think I'll just walk home."

"Are you sure?" I was worried, and it probably showed.

"I'm sure." He smiled over at me. "Don't worry. I've walked home a million times from the bar before. I'm just right down the street."

"Okay. As long as you're sure..." It was all I said, even though I'd wanted to say so much more.

I wanted to tell him that he was being an idiot, and he should've just hopped in for a ride, even if his place was just down the street.

I wanted to tell him that he was being irresponsible, that it was never safe to walk home at night, no matter how familiar he was with the route.

I wanted to tell him that I'd wanted to ride home with him, because I wanted to make sure that he made it home all right, that knowing he was fully out of harm's way was going to make it easier for me to sleep tonight.

I wanted to say all of that, but I stopped myself, because I knew that I would've sounded absolutely insane.

I wasn't supposed to care about Raven. Not like this. Not at all.

He was just Clarissa's wedding planner. He was just in charge of throwing my cousin one of the best parties he was ever going to have in his life.

There wasn't anything more to it.

There couldn't have been.

"Have a good night, Sky." Raven smiled before he turned away from me. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure, see you tomorrow," I muttered before I opened the backdoor to the SUV, my thoughts still swirling with memories of Raven's smile.