“I’ve been waiting for an hour already.”
“Waiting for what? Waiting for me? Why?”
She follows me into the elevator, slumping against the wall. “I lost my keys.”
“Sucks to suck.”
She levels me with an unimpressed look, sticking her tongue out at me. I stick mine right back. “They’re having a new set made for me, but they won’t be ready until tonight, so I need somewhere to go.”
“Where are you going to go?” I ask as I exit the elevator. Looking over my shoulder, I find her waiting behind me, hands clasped under her chin, eyes as bright as her hopeful smile. “Oh come on. Me?”
“Please,” she begs as I unlock my door. “Garrett’s the only other person I know here. I didn’t think you’d appreciate me and him alone in his apartment, even though I wouldn’t try anything.”
“Garrett can do whatever he wants.” It’s not a lie, I guess, but it feels like one, simply because I don’t like it.
Emily rolls her eyes. “Oh please.”
“We aren’t dating.”
“Okay, Jennie. You’re not dating and you wouldn’t care if he and I were alone for a couple hours in his apartment because you’re totally not jealous because you’re just fucking so it’s no big deal.”
Pinning my arms across my chest, I arch a brow. “Is this any way to get yourself invited into my apartment?”
She folds her hands together again, pouting.
“You know I don’t have any wine.”
“Yes, Jennie, I know.” There go her eyes again. I think she might roll them as much as I do. “I don’t care. We don’t need liquor to have fun.”
The corner of my mouth quirks when I realize I said nearly the exact words to Krissy just days ago.
“Please?” She grips my shoulders, giving them a shake. “Please, please, please.”
I groan, and she cheers, whooping a fist through the air as she pushes by me and makes herself at home in my apartment.
Literally right at home. She kicks off her shoes, tosses her purse and coat to the couch, and starts snooping through all my shit. It only takes her five minutes to make it to the last stop in my apartment, which is my bedroom, and I haven’t been able to stop her from going through a single thing. She’s highly entitled and nosy, and kinda reminds me of Carter.
Emily does a slow spin, humming her approval. Her eyes land on the small stand beside my bed, the drawer half-open, and I all but throw myself on it, nearly putting it through the wall and tackling Emily to the floor. My giggle is high-pitched and anxious as fuck. “Yeah, so, maybe don’t open that.”
“Why not?”
“Because. It’s private.”
Realization dawns, her smirk slow, irritating, and arrogant. “You have a sex toy in there, don’t you?”
Heat rockets up my chest, into my face, right to the tips of my ears as my shrill giggle pierces the air. “No. What? No. Ha. That’s…ridiculous.” I hang my head. “It’s more like a collection.”
“Well, well, well,” she murmurs. “Jennie’s a dirty little girl.”
“I’m not at all surprised Garrett sees your toys as allies, not enemies. We love a man who knows how and when to incorporate some battery-powered boyfriends to increase his lady’s pleasure. Garrett can be such a sweetheart, and he’s head over heels for you, so.”
“He is not,” I mumble, using my teeth to tug my scarf higher. Emily goaded me into a late lunch, so now we’re walking through downtown Vancouver, braving the fierce weather conditions.
Okay, it’s light flurries, but still.
“So you’re telling me the man—who can get virtually any woman he wants, by the way—has willingly gone without sex for the last two-plus months to fool around exclusively with you, and he has no feelings for you?”
“Correct.”
“You can’t seriously believe that.”
“Well, maybe not, but he hasn’t come right out and said it. I don’t want to assume anything.”
“But you guys broke the rules last night. You slept over.”
“So?”
“Jennie.” She grips my arms, shaking me. “Guys don’t break rules! That means he likes you!”
Heat rushes into my cheeks despite the cold wind that slaps at them. “I’ve been thinking of making a move,” I admit as she ushers me inside a warm café. “He asked me on a date, sort of. At first I thought he was just being nice because it’s Valentine’s Day, so he felt like he should do something special, but he seemed nervous about it…” My mind wanders to the way Garrett blushed and fumbled over his words. “He was so cute.”
“That sounds positive to me. I think you should go for it.”
“Yeah?” I pull off my mitts as my body starts to thaw. “I guess I’m nervous. This is all new to me, and he’s Carter’s friend, so I’m worried about messing things up.” My eyes drift over the small café, all the happy people warming up with something hot. Everything smells so good, and as my gaze coasts over a lean man with a Toronto Maple Leaf baseball cap on, over to the menu, I’m considering ordering one of everything.
My head swivels fast enough to give me whiplash.
“Oh my God,” I mutter from behind the hand I clap over my face, turning my back on the man in the blue and white hat. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“What?” Emily glances over my shoulder. “Ex?”
“How do I manage to avoid him for six years and somehow run into him twice in the last week?”
“No offense, Jen, but he looks like a dipshit.”
“He is a dipshit. But I still don’t want to see him. Mind if we go somewhere else?”
She’s already marching toward the exit.
It’d be nice to get out of here unseen, but I haven’t ever been that lucky. So I’m not surprised when a hand wraps around my elbow, whirling me around as I step outside.
In what world does he think it’s acceptable to ever lay a hand on me again, and all while grinning?
“Twice in one week? C’mon, Jennie. This has gotta be a sign.”
“Get your hand off me, Kevin,” I bite through gritted teeth. “Right the fuck now.”
“Aw, c’mon. Don’t be like that.”
Emily steps between us. “My friend asked you to take your hand off her, Kevin. Do you have a hearing problem or a comprehension problem?”
“Whoa.” He pulls his hand back, raising both in surrender. “Calm down.” His eyes glide over me, and I hate the way they heat when they do. Most of all, though? I hate how they light with intrigue, humor, like this is all some fun joke to him. “You’ve gotta get over it, Jennie. It’s been years.” He lifts a shoulder, like having someone make and leak a sex tape of you without your consent is no big deal. “You looked hot.”
A bitter, disbelieving chuckle leaves Emily’s lips and she places her hand on my shoulder, angling me away from Kevin. Her mouth dips to my ear. “On a scale of one to ten—”
“Twenty.”