After my real meeting, I had a few hours to kill and managed to get ahead of schedule for the following week. By the time five o’clock that evening rolled around, I was ready to shut down and leave earlier than normal.
Avery was still at her desk, staring at the computer in awe like she’d never seen one before.
Thank God I’d been smart enough to call Nadia and release the pent-up tension that had still somehow crept back into my shoulders.
She had been a welcome distraction.
Someone who knew exactly what I needed the minute I closed the blinds.
And for some reason, with a completely available and gorgeous woman sucking me off in my office—I’d felt guilty.
Guilty because Avery was a few feet away.
Guilty because I blamed her for so many things.
I freaking hated guilt.
Hated it.
Which meant, by extension, that I hated her.
That’s what four years of fucked up got you.
Hate.
“Am I interrupting?” I pointed to the computer. “Or are you just seeing if you can turn it on with your thoughts?”
“Very funny,” she grumbled. “It froze.”
“You were looking at porn, weren’t you?” It was easier for me to be around her since Nadia had taken the edge off, and I knew teasing her would get under her skin. She was way too comfortable taking digs at me while still being one of the sexiest females I’d ever met.
And that thought right there?
Didn’t sit well with me.
She looked horrified. “N-no, I just—”
And mission accomplished. “Relax, I was joking.”
Avery’s wide eyes told me she didn’t give a flying rat’s ass if I was joking or not—the crack wasn’t funny.
“Alright then.” I leaned over her body, trying not to laugh as her chair squeaked with the effort it took for her to push away from me. I tapped a few keys, forcing the applications to quit, and then rebooted the computer. “Done.”
“So, Lucas Thorn.” She said my name breathlessly, but it was all for show. She was making fun of the way Nadia had said it. “You’re a computer genius too?”
“Stop batting your eyelashes,” I scolded. “It’s creepy as hell, and no, I’m not a computer genius—I just know not to have twenty different tabs open at once while I’m trying to listen to Pandora.”
She thoughtfully tapped her chin with her fingertips. “I knew I shouldn’t have created that One Direction station.”
“Please tell me that was your attempt at a joke.”
She started to hum the tune to “What Makes You Beautiful.”
I covered her mouth with my hand. “Please. Just. No.”
She shoved my hand away. The gesture between us was so familiar, I didn’t know whether to laugh, or remind her how often we used to tease one another, or just walk away and flip her off for making me remember in the first place.
“So”—she grabbed her purse—“should we go over your mysterious ‘other schedule’?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Think you could hate me any more?”
“I’m sure I can find more hate, absolutely.” She grinned as though the idea made her downright cheerful.
“Then we probably need alcohol. Good thing you’re twenty-two.”
“Yes, my life has just begun. Did you know I can ride a bike and everything? Daddy took the training wheels off last week, but the streamers stayed.” She gave an exaggerated wink. “Girls gotta have streamers.”
Sighing, I braced her shoulders. “If I stop reminding you of your age, will you stop being so damn defensive?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Sorry, my defense mechanism is like a giant wall. The Great Wall of China, for example. It separates me from you, and the only way it’s getting broken down is with a nuclear bomb.”
“Well, that’s encouraging,” I grumbled. “Let’s go.”
Happy hour was in full swing by the time we made it down to the bar. When I finally located a table I was hit with an irrational desire to pull her chair as close to mine as possible. “So . . .” Avery sipped her Chardonnay and leaned her arms on the table. She wore bracelets that wrapped along both arms a few dozen times, which suited her. She had always been edgier than her sisters, more outspoken. She just looked like the kind of girl who was up for anything, which was a far cry from the bookworm I remembered from her high school days. The girl who, back then, refused to touch a drop of alcohol and liked staying in on the weekends.
Go figure.
I sipped my Jack and Coke and tried to think of the best way to explain my dating schedule. It wasn’t necessary that she know every painful detail, but I did need her to understand that when the girls came to my office, unless I’d invited them, they weren’t welcome.
Some of the ones that I’d broken up with hadn’t accepted that our time had come to an end, meaning I’d had a few stalkers. The last thing I wanted was to have any of them in my office, or anywhere for that matter.
I didn’t do well with that type of confrontation, and who would? Every one of them cried and then, in a last-ditch effort, confessed love.
The last one said she was pregnant.
That was my breaking point—especially when I found out she was lying.
“So here’s the deal with my other”—I coughed into my hand—“schedule.”
Avery pulled her strawberry-blonde hair back into a low, messy bun and sighed. “Is it top secret or something?”
“Sort of.” Hell, how did I even start this conversation? Awkward didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Lucas Thorn!” A familiar voice said my name.
Oh hell.
I turned to the left. Jess was standing with a man at her side, but at least she looked happy.
“Told ya you’d have a Friday replacement by lunch.” She winked at me and then turned her attention to Avery.
“Oh, no, she’s—”
“Hi!” Avery and her damn manners! “I’m Avery, and you are?”
“Jess!” Oh God. She seemed so thrilled to meet the girl she thought was her replacement. “Can I just say, I’m so glad he found someone so quick. I know that it left him in a bad spot with the rest of the girls and, well, he’s a man with a plan, you know? A creature of habit.”
“Um, yes.” Avery glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
My mind was blank.
I had nothing.
“Anyway, just remember you only get him for one day, and then everyone else gets a shot. It’s really not so bad, it just takes some getting used to—you know, like sharing a boyfriend. Basically that’s what you’re doing, and it works. I know it sounds crazy, but just give it a chance.”
Why the hell was she giving Avery pointers?
Jess’s eyes welled with tears as she glanced over at me. “I’ll always miss your touch.”
Fuck me.
The guy next to her stiffened.
“Oh, sorry, guys. This is my brother, Peter.”
Great, nothing like getting buried on a Friday. The look he gave me said to drop dead and wait for a semi to run me over.
“Anyway.” She wiped her cheeks. “Those months with Lucas Thorn were some of the best of my life. I’m sure you’ll think so too! Good luck!” She patted Avery’s hand and walked off.