Chasing Christmas Eve Read online

  “She didn’t want to bet on something that might hurt her BFF,” Pru said. “That’s why we’re here tonight. To make sure you’re okay for Spence, that you’re not holding him back. And if so . . . well, I don’t know what. Maybe off with your head!” she said dramatically.

  When no one else laughed, Pru closed her eyes, smacking her own forehead. “Right. Don’t tell Colbie that Spence asked us to be her friends or that Elle wanted us to audition her for him . . .”

  Colbie blinked and then stared at the others, hating that the alcohol was scrambling her thought process, making her slow as a turtle. “Wait . . . so this wasn’t girls’ night—it was an . . . audition?”

  Pru winced. “Listen, we —”

  “No.” Colbie stood and grabbed her purse. And a little bit of the edge of the bar so she didn’t tip over. “What the flip?”

  A warm hand helped steady her. “Whoa, darlin’, careful.”

  It was Tina from the coffee shop, tall as a mountain and dressed in head-to-toe flapper girl, looking fab while she was at it. She took in the now tense group and her smile faded. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

  “Colbie,” Willa said, regret heavy in her voice. “We just wanted to make sure—”

  “—That I’m Spence-worthy, I get it,” she said. And oddly enough, she did. But it didn’t take away from her embarrassment and hurt that she’d been fooled. “You let me think you wanted me here.” She shook her head, feeling stupid . . . and drunk—a bad combo. “And I gushed about it,” she said. “I went on and on, and you let me.” Feeling her throat go tight, she knew she needed out of there, now. “I’ve got to go.”

  That’s when the fire alarm came on. And then the overhead sprinklers.

  And then the lights went out.

  Chaos reigned. People screamed and called out, and there was more than a little bit of shoving. Colbie was pushed into a wall and she shrank back against it, not wanting to get trampled. Then suddenly there was a beam of flashlight and a hand grabbed hers and tugged, hard.

  She tried to dig in her heels.

  “Come on,” someone said, and she recognized this voice.

  Elle.

  Someone else came up at her back.

  “Just me,” Willa said cheerfully.

  “And me,” Kylie said, not cheerfully, sounding like she’d just run a marathon.

  “Pru,” Elle called out sharply. “Haley. Tina.”

  “All right here,” Tina chimed in.

  They were all soaked to the bone and shivering as Elle led them through the back, past a kitchen, and out a side door into the night.

  “Damn,” Kylie said and crouched down, wrapping her arms around her bent legs, dropping her head to her knees. “Damn, damn, damn . . .”

  “She’s claustrophobic,” Willa murmured to Colbie.

  Colbie dropped to her knees in front of Kylie. “Chocolate,” she said and snapped her fingers before holding out her palm to Willa.

  Willa dropped a piece of chocolate—also wet—into her hand and she passed it to Kylie.

  Kylie chomped it down and nodded. “Thanks,” she said and her breathing slowed. “How in the world did you know that would help?”

  “Chocolate fixes everything,” Colbie said.

  Everyone laughed but Elle, who gave Colbie a long speculative look. Colbie tried to give it back but she was more than a little tipsy, so she ended up cross-eyed, which had her losing her balance and falling to her ass on the sidewalk.

  Kylie laughed and hugged her. “Perfect remedy for a panic attack. A friend acting drunk to cheer me up.”

  “Who’s acting?” Colbie said. She managed to get to her feet and wobbled. Dammit. She gripped the wall. “You guys are the only actors here.”

  Willa winced. “Colbie—”

  “No.” She pointed at them collectively. Or at least she hoped she did. Hard to tell since her vision was wonky. “I’m leaving now.”

  “Sorry, ma’am, but you’re not.”

  This from one of the two police officers who’d shown up out of nowhere. “No one’s leaving until we find out who set off the emergency fire system. It might’ve been a joke, but the building’s got a lot of damage, which makes this a felony.”

  “We didn’t do anything wrong,” Tina said, putting herself between the girls and the cops. “We’re patrons here and were lucky to get out without injury. We’re going to walk away.”

  “Not yet,” one of the cops said, a hand on his baton, eyes on Tina.

  “Oh hell no,” Elle said and stood arm-to-arm with Tina.

  “Let it go, Elle,” Tina told her. “Just drop it.”

  Elle jabbed a finger in the cop’s chest. “Are you racial-profiling my friend?”

  The cop yanked his cuffs out. “Okay, face the wall. All of you.”

  “Bite me,” Elle said.

  Which was how they all ended up in the back of a squad car.

  Later they sat in lockup long enough for Tina, Willa, and Haley to make friends with everyone else in the cell. Pru and Kylie were more muted but still friendly. Elle didn’t make friends.

  Shock.

  Colbie told herself to relax and take in the entire experience for research but she couldn’t. Because tonight hadn’t been their idea. They’d invited her only because Spence had asked.

  She felt her face flame just thinking of it.

  “Stop,” Elle said. “You’re thinking so hard your hair is smoking.”

  “You I’m not talking to,” Colbie said.

  “Fine. I’ll talk. Watching you handle yourself tonight, I realized I’ve misjudged you. You’re tough and smart, and you care. That combination is rare and I admire it. I’d apologize for being a bitch, but I can’t promise it won’t happen again, so I’ll just say that I think you’re good for Spence.”

  Colbie shook her head. That was the thing. She wasn’t good for Spence. She kept him from his work, for one. And two, they had a big geographical problem. “You’re wrong there,” she said softly. “I’ll hold him back.”

  Elle had the good grace to wince.

  “You did not say that to her,” Tina said.

  Elle sighed. “Did you miss the part where I apologized?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Colbie said. “Look, I know you’re a good friend to Spence. And I want you to take care of him.”

  “Why?” Elle asked. “Where will you be?”

  “New York.”

  Tina gasped. “You’re . . . leaving him? You can’t leave him.”

  “I’m going home.”

  “But he got dumped last time too—” Tina broke off when Elle elbowed her in the gut.

  The guard outside the door pointed at Elle.

  Elle gave him an innocent look.

  The officer looked at Tina, who in turn smiled and winked at him.

  The officer shook his head but relaxed.

  Elle started to say something to Colbie, but another officer came down the hall and after consulting a list, he called their names.

  They’d been bailed out.

  “That was fast,” Pru said.

  “Not fast enough,” Elle grumbled. “I hit my panic button the minute we had trouble at the club.”

  “Panic button?” Colbie asked.

  “Archer is serious as a heart attack when it comes to Elle’s safety,” Kylie said. “She carries a panic button in case of trouble. She hits it and he shows up, no matter what.”

  “That sounds either really paranoid or really romantic,” Colbie said.

  Haley laughed quietly. “A little bit of both.”

  They walked through the precinct and out into the night. It was cold and raining, but they were still soaked through from the sprinklers, so it didn’t matter.

  “I’m taking an Uber,” Colbie said. “Alone.”

  “Oh, honey, please don’t be like that,” Willa said.

  “We really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Pru said. “Please stay with us.”

  “I’ll be fine on my own.”