“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.
I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by Avery slicing the air with one hand while the other reached for her Chardonnay. She chugged every last drop.
When the waiter walked by, she jerked him by the shirt, nearly causing him to stumble into our table. “Two shots of Knob Creek.”
I opened my mouth again, but she made a little noise, shook her head, and clamped my lips together with her fingertips.
And she stayed that way.
For the next three minutes.
Until her shots arrived.
She downed both of them. Yeah, she was definitely not the teenager I’d left back in Marysville four years ago. After a deep breath, she locked eyes with me. “Please tell me my assumptions are wrong.”
I cleared my throat. “Maybe they are?”
“Tell me you don’t have a woman for every day of the week. Tell me you don’t sleep with them and change them around like you would your socks. Tell me that she didn’t just assume I was . . . FRIDAY!” Her voice rose an octave, grabbing the attention of those at the table next to us.
“You’re wrong.” I grinned.
She let out a rough exhale.
“I sleep with a different girl every day of the week—except Sunday. That’s God’s day, so I hang out with my sister, Erin.” I smiled again for the effect. “When she answers the phone, that is.”
Avery glared at me.
And then slapped the shit out of my right cheek.
“What the hell, Avery?” I held my cheek and swore again. “I think you cracked my back molar.”
She raised her hand once more.
“What? You want the other cheek too?” I turned to avoid another slap in the same spot.
Avery stole my drink and started chugging.
“Okay, no more alcohol for you.” I pried the glass from her fingers while she was still drinking out of it. Amber and black liquid sloshed over our table. “You’re literally a menace to society.”
“Nope, only to you.” She wiped her mouth. “So you have, what, maybe six girlfriends—and you cheat on them all?”
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly call it cheating if they all know about one another.”
“You’re like the male component of the sister wives scenario, aren’t you?”
“We aren’t married.” I laughed. “God, can you imagine?”
Her look said, No, I can’t. Because I would strangle you in your sleep or smother your face with a pillow until your poor, pathetic body went limp.
“Look, Avery, all you need to know is what girls I’m dating so that you don’t let in a clinger.”
“‘Clinger,’” she repeated, her teeth clenching so hard that her cheeks twitched. “So you don’t want me to let in the crazy ones who still want you?”
“Stop smiling,” I grumbled. “It’s creepy with your teeth clenched. And no, don’t let them in, or I’ll tell the CEO that you can’t even turn on your computer.”
I smugly sat back in my chair and crossed my arms.
She glared at me. “That’s . . . extortion.”
“Call it what you want. I’m your boss, and the girls are part of my schedule. Shannon never had any problem with it.”
“I KNEW it was an S name!” She slammed her fist onto the table.
My eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Nothing.” She waved me off. “So keep the skanks straight. Kind of sounds like a sick sort of board game.”
“In a way it is.” I licked my lips and leaned forward, ignoring the fact that she was insulting the women. “Keep names straight, locations, likes and dislikes, in and out of bed.”
Her mouth dropped open.
I took that as an opportunity to touch her chin and nudge her mouth closed. Her skin was soft, like velvet.
Just like I’d remembered.
My fingertips lingered longer than necessary.
And my thoughts went into dangerous territory.
Because I was losing my mind. That’s the only reason my finger trailed down the side of her jaw, back and forth, until her eyelids lowered like I was putting her in a trance.
“No!” She jerked back. “I refuse to fall victim to the Lucas Thorn effect.”
“I kind of like the sound of that.” I crossed my arms and grinned.
“I’m sure you do.” She snorted and hopped off the barstool. “Alright then, I’ll need pictures and names to go with them. And know that I’m only doing this so I don’t have to move back in with my parents and eat Mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese.”
We both shuddered. “Some of my darkest days involved that macaroni.”
“One night, I dreamed it was chasing me. I was so afraid.” She shivered and gave me a bleak look. “You’re worse than the macaroni, Thorn.”
I walked her up to the bar to pay for our bill, my hand naturally resting on the small of her back. The blouse she was wearing had ridden up on her stomach, exposing a patch of skin my fingers itched to feel. Every part of her was warm to the touch, and my fingertips dug into her back with a possessiveness I didn’t even know I felt until a guy near us started checking her out.
Memories immediately transported me back to the past.
Driven by alcohol and about one hour of sleep, I made a lame last-ditch effort to talk to her at a local grill. I had to explain why. Even if she didn’t listen, I still needed to confess.
“Avery!” A buff jock-type dude I didn’t recognize wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. His mouth was on hers before I could announce my presence, and then his hands pressed against her hips as her shirt rode up past his fingertips.
Jealousy surged through me.
Even though I had no right.
Not at all.
I fisted both hands and gritted my teeth, just as a girl to my right winked and then crooked her finger.
I walked over to her.
I meant to turn away the minute I realized she was drunk and wanted more than just a polite conversation.
She was kissing me before I knew what was happening.
I didn’t just like it.
I loved it.
The rush.
The feeling of kissing a stranger a few days after breaking off an engagement, a promise of lifetime commitment that never felt quite right.
It was exciting.
Wild.
And the best part?
There was no chance I would hurt anyone—or anyone would hurt me. It was in that moment that I realized I wasn’t the guy who committed—I was the guy . . . who cheated.
Sighing, I pushed the memory away.
My arm moved up and hovered around her shoulders, tugging her body into mine while I used my free hand to reach for my wallet.
“I’m not Friday,” she said under her breath. “No need to mark your territory.”
“I’m just . . . being protective.” I shrugged. “Trust me; I’m well aware that hitting on you could get me shot.”
“And if there was no chance
of bodily harm?” She paused, blinking innocently up at me. “What then?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Morbid curiosity?”
“Yes.” I shrugged. “I’d totally fire my Monday—she’s got nothing on you.”
Avery wiped away a fake tear. “Gosh, you’re such a winner.”
“Seven,” I whispered in her ear. “Seven women think so. Most men are lucky to get one. So think about that tonight.” My lips touched her ear. “When you’re alone in your apartment, in your cold bed—I have seven.”
“That you cheat on.”
“Not cheating if they all know,” I said for the second time, sliding a fifty-dollar bill over to the bartender and then leading her out of the bar.
Once we were outside, I had the valet hail a taxi for her.
“I can’t afford—”
“Business meeting, I’ll pay for it,” I interrupted.
“Why?” Avery put her hands on her hips, her green eyes wide. “Why do you do it?”
Nobody had ever asked me that. Maybe nobody had ever cared.
A taxi pulled up to the curb.
“Good night, Avery. I’ll see you Monday.”
“You aren’t going to answer?”
I opened the door for her and almost shoved her in. “Sex, Avery, I do it for really good sex.”
She blinked. “I don’t believe you.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” My tone was mean. I should have cared that I was being harsh with her. I didn’t. “Sometimes a guy just needs good sex.”
I shut the door in her face and didn’t look back.
Chapter Six
AVERY
I dreamed of the devil, also known as Lucas Thorn, all night long. In my dreams, he appeared beautiful, like an angel. He even wore white, and then he tied me to a chair and force-fed me my mom’s horrible macaroni.
Things got a little dicey when his body turned into a snake wearing a football uniform and a helmet, and then he handed me an apple and told me to take a bite.
Once I bit, his clothes disappeared.
Pretty sure I was having an actual flashback of the Garden of Eden.
To say I’d slept horribly would be putting it mildly, and the worst part was that I didn’t really have the extra money to spend on coffee.
I thought about Lucas’s stupid schedule during the entire walk to work. Right along with his aggravating midnight text that demanded I come in on a freaking Saturday morning.
I was about five blocks away when my phone rang.
It was Kayla.
Of course, it had to be Kayla. I chewed my bottom lip and stared at the phone. Whenever she called, a picture of us flashed across the screen. We were happy in that picture.
We were always happy unless someone mentioned weddings, dogs, football, cheerleading, or white gowns. Okay, so she was basically happy if you walked on eggshells around her and pretended like everything was totally fine and that life was superawesome and fun!
UGH!
I swiped to accept the call and answered with a bubbly “Hello!”
“I’m so glad you answered!” Kayla shouted way louder than necessary for my sensitive morning ears. “So, listen, I was thinking of visiting this weekend.”
“Um . . .” I quickly tried to think of an excuse. “I can’t, Kayla. I got a new job, and I may have to work.” Total lie, but the last thing I needed was her breathing down my neck while her ex-fiancé texted me instructions about how to keep the clingers away from his regular sister wives.
“Oh.” Her voice deflated. “Well, how about next weekend?”
I crossed the street, almost got hit by what I assumed was a poorly rated Uber driver, and managed to make it to the sidewalk in one piece. “Yeah, let’s maybe talk about it tomorrow? I’m on my way to work, and my boss is a complete jackass.” HAH! That part was true. “I don’t want to be late.”
“Aw, honey, I’m sorry. Is he at least young and hot?”
“No. Horrible looking. Ancient. Ugly—has two broken teeth and halitosis, which is really unfortunate when he breathes down my neck. I held my breath twice yesterday. He loves his coffee.” I grinned wider and wider as I kept imagining all the things I wished Lucas was but wasn’t.
“He sounds awful!” She made a gagging noise and laughed. “Well, look at it this way—once you put your time in, you’ll get noticed, and then you’ll be the boss.”
My shoulders slumped. Just the idea that I had to spend time with Lucas to get the position with the company had my stomach clenching with anxiety and my palms sweating. The phone was slipping out of my hands. Great. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“I’ll call later. Love you, Avery Bug.”
For some reason, my eyes welled up with tears, maybe because she was the only one who still called me that. Lucas used to, but that was before the incident.
The aftermath changed everything.
Not that I’d ever been able to live up to my sisters’ standards, even before that. Kayla was perfect. Brooke was dramatic and wild.
And then there was me.
“Love you,” I choked out, then hung up before she could ask if I was okay.
“Halitosis, huh?” a voice said behind me.
A male voice.
A raspy one.
A horrible one.
Slowly I turned, praying in those few seconds that I was wrong and that a superhot Channing Tatum look-alike had been watching me and wanted to take me out on a really nice date and buy me steak. My mouth watered.
I would make that steak my bitch.
See? Starvation! I needed this job!
“Thorn in my side.” I managed to say his last name without adding an expletive at the end of it. Such progress. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Cute.” He rolled his eyes and smirked. “Is that my new nickname?”
“If the pitchfork fits . . .” I batted my eyelashes.
“Take it back, or I won’t give you this.” He dangled a venti caffè mocha in front of my wide, shame-filled eyes. “It’s your favorite. I even had them add extra whipped cream.”
“You. Are. Satan,” I whispered hoarsely. “That coffee may as well be an apple. Take a sip, Avery, just one little taste—and boom!” I clapped my hands. “Clothes gone, I’m naked!”
Lucas’s frown deepened, his smirk disappeared.
“I think I’m hallucinating from lack of sleep.” I grabbed the coffee from his hands. “And I’m sorry I said you were the devil, and that you had halitosis, and cracked teeth—and for stabbing you with that knife.”
“When did you stab me?”
“Oh, sorry.” I shrugged. “Sometimes I confuse the really cheerful, happy daydreams with regular life.”
He took a wide step away from me. “Just out of morbid curiosity, did you stab me in the chest or the back?”
“The back.” I glared at him. “You know, that’s where you stab people who betray you, thus the term backstabber—”
He raised his hand. “I get it—don’t make me take back the coffee, Avery Bug.”
I choked on my next sip and nearly spit it out onto his nice white shirt.
He patted my back a few times, then rubbed it. “Are you okay?”
“Yup,” I wheezed. “Wrong tube.”
“Geez, you need the opposite of caffeine.”
“Why are you on the street? In front of Starbucks, and—oh, this is our building. I got turned around.” I frowned. “Huh, imagine that. I’m a total power walker.”
“I’m not high-fiving you”—he shook his head at my elevated hand—“for walking on two legs, even though for you I’m sure it’s a huge accomplishment.” He pointed to his briefcase. “I have something for you to review before our meeting with the rest of the execs.”
I hunched my shoulders and followed him into the building.
We were the only two people on the elevator.
Which was really unfortunate, but what would I have expected on a Saturday morning?
&nbs
p; The annoying classical elevator music just made everything that much more irritating, grating on my already-frazzled nerves.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked without looking directly at me.
I licked my lips. “My boyfriend.”
He froze. “Your boyfriend?”
It was a total lie, but I couldn’t just say I was talking to the ex-fiancée he’d cheated on, now, could I?
“Yup . . . C-Carl.” Oh good, a stutter—that was new. Thanks, Thorn, for adding that to my already awesome conversational prowess.
“C-Carl?” He smirked. “With two Cs”?
“Laugh it up, jackass.” I shrugged. “He’s a . . . professional, um, dancer.”
“So you’re dating a male stripper?”
Of course, that would be the exact moment when the elevator doors opened and two nice elderly ladies with cute purses and tight chignons stepped on.
The company employed a lot of teachers to help with the online tutoring, and I was sure, by the horrified looks on their faces, the two ladies taught first grade and were just itching to red card me.
Not like I hadn’t spent most of my elementary-school days having my yellow card replaced with a red one for speaking out of turn.
“Good morning,” I said in my most cheerful voice.
They ignored me.
Lucas covered a laugh with a cough behind his hand. I raised my foot and stomped down on his nice shoes.
He bit out a curse, causing the two ladies to stiffen.
“Language, Thorn,” I said in a serious tone just as the chime announced a stop and the doors slid open.
“Bite me, Avery.”
A gasp was heard, and then both old ladies scurried off the elevator, nearly colliding with one of the company mail clerks. The doors closed and we were alone again.
“All in all, a really solid start to my Saturday. Why are we here again? I thought interns only work Monday through Friday.”
“Impromptu meeting.”
“Gee, I hope that doesn’t throw off your Saturday plans.”
Lucas’s lips twisted into a seductive smile. “My Saturday is a very patient woman . . .”
I took two sips of coffee, then a third. The elevator doors opened again. “Who’s your Saturday?”