The bartender’s brow went up. “Not you.” She waved Keiran away, his mouth dropping open at the obvious dismissal. Cherisse suppressed the urge to cackle at his stunned face.

“Hey, CK.” She smiled back.

They’d gotten friendly when CK had been roped in to work the bar at a fancy event last-minute. Cherisse had been there too, having supplied the desserts. They’d struck up a conversation after CK had tried flirting with her but soon realized nothing would come of it, which they’d had a good laugh about. Then they kept running into each other whenever Cherisse came here, and a sort of friendship had formed, one where CK did some harmless flirting, which guaranteed Cherisse got her order quickly. A trade of sorts, which they both found amusing and just rolled with.

Cherisse rattled off the drink orders and fixed Keiran with a smug stare as CK went off to fix them right up.

“What the hell just happened?”

Cherisse patted the front of Keiran’s shirt, ignoring the way his solid chest felt beneath her palm. She snatched her hand away before she could dwell on that. “Sorry, buddy. You’re not her type.”

He mumbled something she couldn’t catch over the excited shouts of the sports fans. She was enjoying this way too much. They stood waiting on the drinks, not saying a thing until CK returned. Keiran muttered thanks as he slid his card over. When CK returned his card and the drinks, she propped her elbows on the bar, leaning over.

“Tell me something, though. How you always getting finer every time I see you?” CK asked, winking dramatically.

Cherisse grinned, shrugged. “Well, when you have a messy, public showdown with your cheating ex, you gotta make sure you keep it all on point going forward, right?”

CK nodded. “Giiirl, yes.” Her gaze slid to Keiran. “This the new man?”

“No. Hell no.” Her and Keiran? What a joke?

She snorted at his affronted look. He could twist up his face all he wanted. Cherisse wasn’t going to pretend that was a thing. That they were a thing.

CK eyed Keiran up and down. “Shame,” she said, looking back at Cherisse, mischief dancing in her brown eyes. “Y’all look kinda good together.” CK was pushing things now. Time to exit.

Cherisse grabbed what drinks she could, threw a “later” at CK, then carefully made her way back to the table. She didn’t need to wait on Keiran; he’d served his purpose.

When she got back, the table was deserted. What the fuck? She looked around for her sister and Remi. Maxine was absent too. Cherisse set the drinks down. She spied Julia dancing with Scott and tried to signal to them, but they were both too busy boogying to notice her waving.

Keiran finally showed up with the rest of the drinks. “Huh, we’ve been ditched.”

Eric was suspiciously missing as well. Cherisse could bet she knew where her sister was. Seriously, those two couldn’t even be separated for one night?