Luckily, both men turned out to be too busy to harass her any further. Liam was gearing up for a huge party at his club – The Garden was turning ten years old, four of which had been spent under his direct management and ownership. They were going all out for it. While they'd been in Carmel, she'd reluctantly agreed to go to the party, but only under the condition that Wulf be there, too. It had seemed like a funny joke at the time, because Liam hated it when Wulf was in the club.
Now it wasn't funny at all. Wulfric, in a sex club, and around her, and her around Liam, knowing she'd just had sex with Wulf, but not with Liam – Liam, whom she'd had sex with in the club once before.
Think about how many times you just thought the word sex, and re-prioritize your life, you sex fiend.
The party was on Saturday, and she'd long since scheduled that Sunday off, even before her little sabbatical. She wondered if she should cancel. Tell Liam she was simply too busy catching up at work. But then he sent her a really sweet text, telling her how much he appreciated the chance to start over again, and she knew she had to suck it up. He was really putting in an effort to be a good friend and a better man. She could at least hold it together for a couple hours at his party.
Thursday was more of the same at work, but also with classes mixed in with her regular duties. The bakery was one that interned bakers from a local college – it was how Katya had found her current position. So once a week, she took them all to learn special techniques or to different seminars or expos.
She was so caught up in it all, she hadn't noticed that she'd missed several phone calls throughout the day. On the train ride home, she finally pulled out her cell and was surprised to see that Wulf had called her three times. While she stared at the screen, he actually called again. She took a deep breath and brought the phone to her ear.
“Tocci.”
He barked out her name like a drill sergeant. Like he was about to give an order.
“Stone,” she said back in a comically deep voice.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded.
“At this little place called work,” she laughed at him.
“Oh, so they decided to take you back.”
“No thanks to you.”
“Hey, you threw that first piece of cake.”
“And the last, technically.”
He snorted and she felt proud of herself. She'd had many a pep-talk with herself, prepping for the next time she would see him. If he could treat mind blowing sex like it wasn't a big deal and just walk away from her, then she could do the exact same thing. Or at least, she could act like she could.
“Watch it. I was calling to remind you – you still owe me dinner,” he stated. She chewed on her bottom lip and clutched the rail in front of her as the train rocked.
“I don't owe you anything,” she reminded him.
“After the gift I gave you the other night, you owe me a lot.”
She felt her face burn red, but she refused to let her nerves come through in her voice.
“That's adorable that you think that,” she replied. “Because from my point of view, seems like you left me wanting a lot the other night.”
A man standing nearby glanced down at her and she rolled her eyes.
“That's adorable – you probably couldn't walk for the rest of the evening,” Wulf chuckled.
“You think too highly of yourself.”
“Because I know I'm that good.”
“If this whole conversation is going to be this annoying, I'm going to hang up,” she warned him.
“Dinner, seven o'clock sharp. I'm thinking seafood,” he told her. Her mind raced around for an excuse.
“I really can't cook for you tonight,” she insisted.
“Why?”
“Because ...”
“It's okay, take your time. I've got all evening to wait for you to make up a convincing excuse.”
Hear that sound? That's your sanity he's bending and snapping in half.
“Okay, fine – you want to know why I can't?” she snapped. “Because I'm going out with Liam. I didn't want to hurt your feelings, that's why I wasn't going to tell you, but since you apparently don't give two shits about mine, there it is. I can't cook you dinner because I'm going to be too busy screwing Liam into next Saturday!”
Now every person standing around her looked at her. She sent a glare around to the crowd, then shoved her way to a door as soon as the train stopped.
“Oh. I see. So apparently I wasn't that good,” he spoke in a carefully modulated voice.
“I told you – your ego is going to be the death of you,” she told him as she stomped down the street.
“Most likely. When you realize how unsatisfied you are by a boy like Liam, call me.”
He didn't say goodbye, just hung up on her. She growled and shoved her phone into her pocket.
Okay, it wasn't her finest moment. She had absolutely no intention of sleeping with Liam any time soon, and using him to make Wulf jealous wasn't okay on any sort of level. Guilt rolled over her and with a heavy sigh, she pulled her phone back out. Stabbed at a contact and held it to her ear.
“I was just thinking about you,” Liam's warm voice filled her ear. She grimaced.
“Awww, that's sweet. I was just talking about you,” she replied.
“Hopefully it was all flattering. Lots of money, big penis, that kind of stuff.”
She laughed out loud.
“I was talking to Wulf.”
“Oh god.”
“Yeah. He was being kind of a jerk, so I did something bad,” she told him.
“Like what?”
“Well, he was demanding I cook him dinner, so I told him I couldn't because I was too busy having dinner with you tonight,” she was semi-honest.
“Naughty girl, angel cake,” he laughed.
“I'm really sorry, I just blurted it out. He makes me so angry sometimes, I just ...”
“It's okay – I would've paid to have seen his face. You can use me any time to piss Wulf off. Now, what are you going to make me for dinner?” he asked, and she could practically hear how hard he was grinning.
“Uuuggg, I bake all day, and then you people expect me to cook,” she grumbled.
“Shut up, you love it. Come bring me food.”
“Okay, okay. Tacos?”
“Always. See you in a few.”
“Bye.”
She stopped at home for a bit, changing her clothes and setting up some sketches on her drafting table. She tried not to blush when she remembered what had happened on it the night before – how it had gotten that far, so fast? So fast. One minute they'd been fighting, the next they'd been ripping off each other's clothing.
She shook away the memories and headed out. She stopped in and grabbed a bag of tacos from his favorite spot, then was off to Liam's club.
She hadn't been back since their big fight. Just walking down the alley to it, she felt like she was going to break out in hives or something. Too many bad memories. Or fake memories. She wasn't sure which feeling was worse. Ever since that first evening together, everything had been planned. Premeditated. She took a deep breath with ever step she took, bracing herself.
She made small talk with Jan the bouncer. She'd seen her hero a couple time since he'd saved her from her two personal demons. He'd come home with Tori a few times for a late night meal. He was scary to look at, but he was actually a big teddy bear in real life. She gave him a hug before she headed inside.