“Oh, bite me.”
Still, even as the next round of appointments and walk-ins came through, that message was slowly burning a hole in Starla’s sanity—whatever remaining shreds were left of it. What an asshole. Calling her “pretty.” Wondering where she’d been. Away from your psycho ass, she wanted to say. She gritted her teeth through a touch-up, listening to her client chatter away and offering input when it seemed warranted, though she was functioning on social autopilot. Luckily, she did some of her best work when she was brooding.
That dick. Shoving her out of the car. Cracking her phone. Talking crazy how-close-we-are-to-death shit. Ugh. And though she’d had the thought when his first message came through, she hadn’t taken the time to block his number or silence it, so they kept coming. She could hear her phone chirping away inside her purse, her teeth gritting tighter with every ding. They would be dust before the night was over. If Brian were here, he’d bark at her to turn the phone off. He wasn’t crazy about them being excessively distracted, at least not when someone was in their chair. Once her client had left and Starla had cleaned her station, she snatched open her purse and yanked the gadget out. You’re history, buddy.
But the content of the messages caught her eye.
WTF, u ignoring me?
I no ur at work.
I got something for ya no u want it
Annnnd there was a picture of his dick. Lovely. Too bad the crazy fucker knew how to use it so well.
Been to long bb, cum get it
I lick tht * all nite, no how u luv it
“Fucking hell!”
Ghost laughed at her, but Jan looked troubled. Starla shot her a glare. “Oh, you need not be concerned.”
“What am I missing?” Ghost asked. “Come on. Let me in on it.”
“Shit, no.”
His dark brows pulled together. “Oh yeah, you had your date with Stanton last night, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t a date.”
“Leave her alone, Ghost,” Janelle said.
“Can I just say? You can do what you want, Star, but it’s gonna create an extremely awkward atmosphere if you start seeing that guy.”
“You didn’t tell Macy, did you?” Starla asked, a little more shrilly than she’d meant to.
“No. I don’t even like to bring him up. Just keep him away from here, that’s all I ask.”
“Why should I have to? Macy’s here all the time.”
“That’s why you should have to.”
“So if Jared and I do start dating, your girlfriend can visit you at work, but my boyfriend can’t? Just because of your girlfriend? Fuck that. You know that’s bullshit.”
“That pretty much is bullshit,” Janelle pointed out.
“Mostly it’s because I, personally, can’t stand your boyfriend,” Ghost said.
“What if I couldn’t stand your girlfriend?”
“Can you not?”
“I happen to like her. My point is, you wouldn’t give a shit if I liked her or not. You’d still bring her here. Am I wrong?”
“You’re not wrong,” Janelle said brightly.
“All right, point fucking taken,” Ghost practically growled. “But I would hope I could appeal to what better judgment you might have left, if any. I would hope, for the sake of our friendship and all the years we’ve worked together, that you wouldn’t bring that guy around me, and you definitely wouldn’t create a situation where he and Macy might come face-to-face. We have to see him sometimes at her rodeo shit, but we shouldn’t have to deal with him at my fucking job.”
“Because you’re jealous,” Starla said. “You’re fucking jealous because he had her first. You delicate flower. I never thought I’d see it.”
“I am pretty delicate. What about you? No hint of jealousy toward Macy because you’re thinking of banging her ex, if you haven’t already?”
Starla did her best to school the ever-loving fuck out of her features, but Ghost probably wasn’t fooled. Macy had been heavy on Starla’s mind last night and today. It wasn’t jealousy, per se, but—oh shit, it probably was. If she were going to consult a compatibility checklist, Macy had every quality in a woman that Jared could possibly want. It was somewhat of a cruel reverse miracle that those two hadn’t made it work. From their common interests and values to their mutual dark beauty, they just fit. Belonged. And Starla couldn’t be more opposite from that girl.
But that really wasn’t fair to Ghost, who was so crazy in love with Macy he sometimes couldn’t see reason. From what Starla had seen, Macy’s feelings were mutual. Chemistry was a fucked-up thing. That matchup gave her a little bit of hope. Not much, but it was something.
“I’m not jealous of Macy,” she said. “She’s all right. But what I do isn’t any of her business, and I hope both you and she can please keep that in mind?”