“Now you’re sexually harassing me.”
She couldn’t resist laughing at that. And for the first time today, she felt a little better as the surprising sound left her, like it purged some of the bitterness from her soul. Her purse was back on her shoulder thanks to Jared, and she had absolutely no reason ever to speak to Max again. If she could only get her cell phone replaced soon, everything would be as close to normal as it could get.
And what about her offer to Jared? It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, out of her mouth practically before she realized it—a common enough problem for her, but still. She’d told him he wouldn’t regret it, but she felt that maybe for the first time in a long while, she wouldn’t regret one of her split-second decisions either.
“I was only looking out for you, you know,” Janelle said quietly. “If that’s such a problem, then I won’t bother anymore.”
“No, just… I’m sorry, okay? It was shitty of me to get mad. Can we go get drinks after work or something? On me, since I have my wallet back.” She attempted a feeble smile.
“I’m never one to turn down a free drink.” Janelle winked at her.
“Why her?” Ghost asked. “I’m the one you’ve subjected to verbal abuse and sexual harassment.”
“As if you could tear yourself from Macy for one night,” Tay muttered, getting a chuckle from the rest of them and a middle finger from Ghost.
“He’s not wrong, bitchface,” Starla pointed out, and he swung the gesture in her direction.
Twenty minutes later, three of them had clients under their needles, and the good-natured banter they were rather renowned for was in full swing. Janelle—the only one free—went to get pizza. Starla kept waiting for her relief over her returned property to crash and burn, but it never did. She had one of her favorite clients in her chair, and that girl’s problems usually made Starla’s look miniscule by comparison. She wasn’t shy about spilling them either. By the time Starla had finished working on Bianca’s shoulder piece, the aroma of hot supreme pizza wafted in from the break room, and she had scarcely eaten all day. She devoured three slices with gusto. The night was looking up. Ghost even got off her case about Jared.
She refused to entertain the notion that Jared was the reason she felt better.
His eyes were so, so blue. Damn blue.
“Maybe you can turn over a new leaf,” Janelle suggested as she and Starla sipped Malibu and pineapple juice at the bar down the street from Dermamania. It had been a slow night after their clients left, and they’d shut down a little earlier than usual. Starla had just finished filling her friend in on the events of the evening and the night before. Until now, she had never exactly admitted to Jan who’d picked her up last night. “I mean, give the good guy a shot for a change. We’ve both had our share of the bad ones.”
“I’m not really even thinking about that,” Starla said, sweeping her gaze around to the guys drinking by the pool tables. More than one of them were her exes. “I think I need to lay off men altogether. Obviously I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Who does?”
“And this one is divorced. With kids. I ask you, what the hell would I do with kids? The thought, like, terrifies me.”
Janelle laughed, playing with the back fringe of her black-and-blue pixie cut. “I wonder what happened. Why is he divorced?”
“No idea.”
“These are things you can find out Sunday.”
“It’s not really any of my business.”
“Oh, come on. Can you imagine how crazy this is going to drive Ghost? It’ll be worth it for that alone.”
“Ghost said Jared is an insanely jealous asshole. If I remember right, he’s the reason Ghost and Macy had that major fight when they first got together. I’ve had my share of insane. And jealous. And assholes.”
“I don’t think an asshole would have done what he did for you. Do you?”
“No,” Starla admitted.
“So we’ve ruled that out. The ‘insane’ and ‘jealous’ parts we’ll verify in time. Because you’ll end up sleeping with him. You can’t help yourself.”
What the hell? “Excuse me?”
“You said he has blue eyes? You’ll shag him rotten. You’re a sucker.”
Starla held up a hand, futile though it was to quell Janelle’s giggles. “If anything, that should be my warning. It’s a harbinger of doom. It’s my curse. The damn Brian Ross curse.” She let her head fall to the table with a thud. “Why can’t I get him out of my mind? It’s worse now than ever.”
“Because you haven’t met the man of your dreams yet,” Janelle said thoughtfully.
Starla lifted her head and took another drink. It wasn’t enough to dull the ache in her chest. “I have. I just can’t have him.”
“I don’t believe that. I believe there’s a guy out there somewhere who will wipe all thought of him from your head, except as a friend.”