Watching Avery cry, or more like twist up her face and try not to cry, broke my heart. I wanted to fix it. Last night, she didn’t need someone to tell her she had a sweet smile and great charisma for the camera. She needed a man she was attracted to, to tell her she was fuckable. More than fuckable. She needed me to see her naked and want her. Approve of her. Praise her. So I did.
But today, I’m wondering if I did more harm than good. No matter what happens, I refuse to be the second man to break this girl’s heart. If I’m not ready for something legitimate and real…if she’s only here for a few months…we should probably just be friends.
“What plans?” Lennox asks.
“I’m hanging out with the girl next door again.” Hopefully.
“Ah, Dex’s fish babysitter?”
“Yup. Her name is Avery. Cool girl. She’s easygoing, funny, and smart. Hey, speaking of which—what do you think about our website?”
“It sucks,” Lennox responds without hesitation.
I roll my eyes. “Excuse me. I built our website.”
“Yeah,” Lennox says, flashing me a snarky smile. “I said what I said.”
“Lennox…if I could fire you…” I take a long, drawn-out sip of my coffee, enjoying the taste of oat milk. It’s probably the only good thing that came out of my relationship with Nora. She turned me on to oat milk. I like it better than regular milk now. “What do you know about search engine optimization and click traffic…all that stuff?”
“I know enough to know we should be doing it,” Lennox says, hunching her shoulders. “I don’t know enough to actually be useful.”
“Yeah, me neither.” I nod. “That’s what Avery does. She’s a brand strategist—whatever that means. I was thinking about asking for her help.”
Lennox drains the rest of her mug. “Do we have ‘help’ money in the business account?”
Not really. I guess I could take Dad up on his offer. “How much could a consultant cost?”
“I don’t know. Let’s find out,” Lennox says, placing her cup in the kitchen sink. She grabs her laptop from her large purse and sets it on the dining table. I pull up a chair right next to her.
“Her name is Avery Scott. Brand strate—”
“Got it,” Lennox says, typing away. “She’s the first result on the search page.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah, well, that’s kind of what her job is, I guess…”
“Fuckin’ shit, Finn. You can’t afford this.” Lennox clicks and scrolls through Avery’s website. Her firm is called Arrow Brand Consulting. Everything about her site is clean. It’s fresh, interesting, but extremely professional. It looks elite. This is exactly the kind of presence I need for Finn Harvey photography.
“How much is it?”
Lennox angles the laptop screen toward me. She opened up the services page. I read the top line where Arrow Consulting explains that a lot of brand strategists will hide their consultation fees in an attempt to bait new clients. Arrow chooses to be transparent, and while they are willing to create custom packages, their minimum fee for a basic audit and review is…
“Sixteen thousand dollars?” I balk. “For the basic services?”
Lennox meets my wide-eyed stare. “Dude, we are in the wrong business.” She cackles. “And your new girlfriend must be rolling in the dough. Look at her client list. There are Fortune 500 companies on there. I bet they are paying way more than sixteen grand.”
“Fuck me,” I mutter under my breath. I find Avery’s headshot on her company’s website. It’s a flattering photo. I’m sure I could take a better one, but this is decent, except it’s in black and white. While it looks professional, I’m missing those seafoam green eyes.
“You think she’d cut you a deal for some help?”
“Isn’t that rude to ask?” My eyes are still fixed on her picture. It’s uncomfortable when friends ask for big favors. When people find out I’m a photographer, they want hours of free labor. I’m happy to oblige, but I’ve got bills to pay too.
“Doesn’t hurt to see if you guys could exchange services. Offer her a free boudoir shoot. I can do her hair and makeup. All together that’s worth about a sixth of her fee.” Lennox laughs in short huffs. “Sixteen grand for one job? Damn, your friend is a baller.”
That she is.
I would’ve never expected Avery to be a boss lady. She’s so down to earth and humble. It’s refreshing. There’s nothing that screams six figures about her raggedy T-shirts and faded pajama bottoms. I like that. I like her witty sass. I like how chill she is. I like—
Oh, hell.
I think I really like her.
Fuck.
10
Avery
“Aves, I’m so sorry. I’m still stuck out here with your car,” Palmer whines into the phone. “I didn’t expect to actually get the part.”
I roll my eyes. “Palmer,” I groan.
“What?”
Popping in my right AirPod, I swap our call from audio to FaceTime. I wait until her face is on the screen. “Um, my best friend just landed her big break. I don’t care about my car. I’m not doing anything out here, and I can have anything I need delivered.” Including the four different swimsuits from Target I ordered for rapid delivery this morning. I realize Finn has already seen most of me naked, but I’m still determined to find the most flattering suit Target has available in store. I needed options.
“I’m not even sure if the pilot will get picked up…” she says with a defeated half-smile. Geez, the entertainment industry is kicking her ass.
I prop the phone up against the pitcher of orange juice I have in the middle of the dining table. Holding up one finger, I ask, “Can we just dream big for a moment? Manifest.”
She blows out a breath. “Fine.”
“You’re the star of this pilot—”
“One of the stars. It’s an ensemble cast—”
“Palmer, work with me, here.”
“Fine. I’m the star of this pilot.”
“Good. And what happens when the pilot gets picked up?”
She slumps her shoulders and her slinky tank top falls off her shoulder. I can see her nipples clear as day through her thin top. Palmer has the kind of small, perky breasts that don’t need to be contained at all times with sturdy bras with underwire. “I don’t know…”
“Yes, you do. It’s okay.” I give her a reassuring nod.
“Okay, my career picks up.”
“And?” I tuck my knee to my chest and rest my chin on top of it, giving her a lunatic smile.
“I get a steady paycheck.”
I nod enthusiastically. “And?”
“And I can pay back my debt, get a better agent, get more jobs, maybe a movie deal, maybe walk the red carpet one day.”
“There you go!” I clap my hands together. “Honey, you can do this. You are beautiful and talented. I want this for you as much as you do. This will happen. This pilot will get picked up. You’re going to do big things, best friend.”