Every. Single. Time.

Now? Shay and Kali took him to my section on the first go because what was the point?

He wanted me as his waitress and he got me as his waitress. He’d make sure of that.

I was officially stuck.

I could be a bitch. I could give him shitty service. I could grow a new disease on his food and make him eat it.

Jamie McCade was unstoppable.

And the parts of me that didn’t mind looking at something so beautiful hated him for it.

Yes, unfortunately on top of being the most irritating man in the history of irritating men, Jamie was beautiful.

He was cocky. He was unashamed. He was over-the-top pigheaded and spoke like a Neanderthal wielding a club.

And he was beautiful.

It sucked.

Seriously.

I’d noticed the first day he walked in here and I’d been noticing ever since. But I would never admit it. No way.

Not to him. Not to Kali or Shay, who I knew would agree with me. Not to Syd, my best girl, who I admitted everything to.

Not to anyone. Not ever.

He’d always be a loser. He’d always be a player. He’d always be the man who disrespected my relationship, even though my previous relationship with Wes turned out to be nothing more than a joke—one I wasn’t in on until I was being introduced to his wife and sweet-looking daughter in the middle of a crowded mall—didn’t matter, though. Jamie wasn’t in on the joke either and so, unknowing, he still disrespected it.

It didn’t matter how he looked. His heart was ugly. His soul was ugly. And nothing was going to change my opinion.

“What are the chances he hasn’t spotted me yet and I can sneak out the back?” I asked Kali, turning to her after setting down the pitcher of sweet tea. “I get off soon anyway. You could cover for me with Nate if he asks where I am. Say I’m sick. Say I was kidnapped. Whatever. Just make up something.”

Today had been a great day. A ten-hour-shift delight. Great tips. Friendly customers. I really didn’t want to end my night on a low note and go home grumpy.

So if I could find some way of getting out of serving Jamie, I’d take it. Even if it meant getting shit from Nate.

“He already spotted you,” Kali replied without pause.

I pinched my eyes shut and muttered a disappointed “Damn.”

“Yeah … sorry. It was pretty immediate.” I watched Kali look over my shoulder, wince, then look back to me to add, “He’s currently spotting you right now.”

Of course he was.

I turned my head and saw dimples and brilliant blues.

Then shifting my attention left, I saw a group of teenage girls sitting in the booth next to Jamie, whispering and talking closely with one another while craning their necks around to stare at him.

Perfect. Just feed his ego, why don’t you.

“Whatever,” I sighed, turning away to pop a slice of lemon into the tea. “Maybe today will be the day he catches something fatal from the food and I’ll never have to look at him again.”

Fingers crossed Stitch tracked in something deadly back there and coated the tile with it.

“I don’t think I want him to die,” Kali admitted quietly. She bit her lip when I frowned at her. “Just … maybe he could get sick but with a full recovery? I could support that.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re just as bad as Syd. You know that?” I clipped. “She’s so Team Jamie at this point, I’m certain her first child will be named after him. I don’t even believe her anymore when she tells me she got Stitch to do something to his food. I think she’s faking it.”

Syd was the only other person Jamie ever allowed to wait on him, and I swore she loved every second of it.

I think it had everything to do with her being locked down with his best friend.

Brian and Syd were magical. Meeting under the craziest circumstances a few months ago and then building something from that, something beautiful. I was over the moon happy for my best girl and couldn’t imagine anyone better suited for her than Brian.

He had all the potential in the world.

Syd was over the moon happy, too, blissed out and fanatically in love, and because of this, she was wanting to pair me up with her boy’s closest friend, I just knew she was. The signs were all there.

And they were becoming more obvious with each passing day.

She was constantly bringing Jamie up and bragging about him whenever we were together, throwing his name into conversations he had no business being in but doing it casually so as to not raise suspicions until I later thought back and realized what she’d been doing.

Plus, there was the whole assigned seating arrangement during Sunday dinner—the tradition Syd started a few weeks ago that had everyone, including Jamie, gathering at her and Brian’s house and eating together.

Syd was putting out place cards now, and every time, without fail, mine would be directly next to Jamie’s.

No way was that coincidental like she was always telling me. I was so onto her.

“I just don’t think he’s an asshole like you think he’s an asshole,” Kali explained, pointing at her chest. “I know assholes. Believe me. I know them all too well.” She shifted her eyes away, then lowered them, pulling her lips between her teeth and appearing deep in thought.

She was referring to her son Cameron’s father. Although I’d never met him, I’d heard enough to know he was definitely an asshole. Kali didn’t deserve his shit, but she still got it dished on her anyway.

And because of this, I decided to drop the asshole debate. Then my eyes caught sight of the cute side braid she was rocking, and I had a perfect subject change.

“Your hair looks really sweet like that, by the way,” I said. I’d meant to tell her earlier but kept forgetting when I got caught up in waitress duties.

Seeing as she was getting quiet on me and most likely thinking about the shit her ex was always dishing out, now seemed like the perfect time to boost her spirits with a compliment.

And I was right.

Kali looked up, reached for the braid that was hanging over one shoulder, and wrapped her hand around the end of it. “Thanks,” she said, smiling big. “That means a lot.”

“Of course, babe.”

I gave her a wink before I turned around and walked out from behind the counter with the mason jar.

After checking on all my tables twice, I finally took my time walking over to Jamie’s booth. And before I could utter the most impersonal greeting in the history of impersonal greetings, I was forced to witness fangirl flirting on an eye-rolling level.

“You’re Jamie McCade, right?” asked one of the girls from the booth next to Jamie.

She stood on her knees, angled forward with her elbows resting on the back of the seat, her head tipped down as she dragged the tip of her finger across her glossed bottom lip and gazed at him from behind her false lashes.

Her friends giggled with their hands to their mouths.

Give me a break.

“The one and only,” Jamie replied with a smirk.

“Oh, my God. We are your biggest fans,” another girl quickly said. “Like, in the entire world. We love watching you. We think you’re so hot.”

Squeals and muffled “oh, my Gods” erupted from the other side of the booth.

Jamie laughed quietly under his breath.