My phone wolf whistles. A new match. Yippee.
I chew my lip as I stare at my device like it’s suddenly grown eight hairy legs and a set of fangs. If I kissed my brother’s best friend then who knows what else I was capable of last night.
Like signing up to a dating app for instance. Even in the state I was in, I must have known kissing Vale was a mistake. Maybe drunk me thought it would be a good idea to focus her sexy frustrations on meeting someone who isn’t my brother’s best friend and an eternal bachelor.
Perhaps it might not be a bad idea to play around with the app. Not in any serious way, but I could review it. I could date. Possibly even have a fling while I’m in California. Get Vale out of my head before I make a bigger fool of myself in front of him than I already did.
This time when I pick up the device I open the app to see who I could possibly have matched with after I went to so much effort to make myself unappealing.
There are five matches I immediately remove. Two more beside the first guy I deleted make reference to their nuts. It was sort of funny the first time. Not so much on the third telling. Some of these tech guys have probably forgotten this is real world dating too.
One guy has his status as married in his profile. Instant delete, right there. The other two are only interested in sex.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m interested in doing the deed, but let’s get a drink first. Get to know each other. And since I don’t do first dates you can probably imagine the number of times I’ve had sex. But from what I can tell of this app, those guys aren’t going to get as far as they would on, say, Tinder.
Which leaves me with one last option. At least for the moment. Cap’N Crunch. Like the cereal. In fact, his profile picture is a giant bowl of Crunch Berries.
The only reason I don’t delete him along with the others is that huge bowl of sugary breakfast goodness. Because Crunch Berries are my favorite start to the weekday work day.
The coffee is ready so I doctor a cup with my French vanilla creamer and take it back to my bedroom. I need a paint scraper for my makeup and a shower before I go down the street to Frank’s Deli for the best egg and cheese sandwich in the city.
I click on Cap’N Crunch’s profile while I turn on the water in the shower. He’s early thirties. From Los Angeles. A gamer and developer. He likes having a beer with friends and playing football.
Sounds like a normal guy so far.
Dislikes DNA.
That’s different. Some might even say interesting. It seems counterintuitive to dislike DNA considering it’s the building blocks for all life.
Quote; Let’s not be Romeo and Juliet. I have a lot to do tomorrow.
Me too, dude. It seems like this guy is as interested in being on this app as I am. Another sucked in reviewer, perhaps? Either way, his quote resonates with me. I click on the chat button. Several different questions aimed at getting to know the other person pop up and I’m supposed to choose one.
I pick the one that asks how he likes his coffee and send it as I swig my own. Once I’ve had breakfast I’ll check in with Coda to let her know I’m reviewing the app and find out if there’s any information on how it works.
But first, I shimmy out of my panties and peel off my bra. Time to get clean.
Chapter Seven
Vale
Cap’N Crunch: Would you rather lose the ability to read or the lose the ability to speak?
Violet Queen: Hmm, that’s a tough one.
Cap’N Crunch: Go with your gut.
Violet Queen: I’d probably give up speaking. I’m sure I could find other ways to communicate.
Cap’N Crunch: Me too. I need to read for work, but I can communicate by text no problem. In fact some people talk too much if you ask me.
“What’s up with you?” Arrow joins me behind the bar.
“Huh?” I tuck my phone in my back pocket and try to focus on what Arrow asked. It’s just he and I this afternoon. The rest of our team won’t be in until tonight. Hud’s out of town, praise the big man upstairs.
If he was here I would probably be dead where I stand because I cannot stop thinking about Lily.
I know I should stop.
I know there’s no point in recalling the events of that evening seven short nights ago. Or how just like that Lily Kelly blew up the box I’d managed to keep her in for years, and became a problem I don’t know how to deal with. Of course she didn’t mean it. Hell, she doesn’t remember it. Even if she did, I can’t do anything about it. And if I could do something about it, I still wouldn’t do anything that would change our status quo.
But I can’t stop imagining what it would have been like to deepen that kiss. I haven’t been able to give up the fantasy of sliding my tongue into her mouth and getting more than that hint of a taste she gave me. And every time I recall the way she wrapped her lips around my finger and tongued the mustard from the tip I get embarrassingly hard.
Like now. In front of my colleague while we stock the bar for tonight. My dick is tenting my pants like I’m a virgin in a porno. Christ, I can imagine the sound effects if this thing went off right now. Pew. Pew. Pew. Splat.
Which is why I’m trying to distract myself from thinking about my best friend’s little sister by chatting on the app to Violet Queen. Or whoever she is in real life. So far I know she loves Sailor Moon and Crunch Berries almost as much as I do, has a problem with nuts, and lives in California. Oh, and a few other random facts from this would you rather game we’ve been playing the last couple of days.
I clear my throat as I attempt to discreetly rearrange my now almost supressed junk before turning around. “Nothing. Not a damn thing.”
He raises one dark, bushy eyebrow and sets down several slabs of imported beer in front of the fridges.
“Everything’s good.” I have no clue why I said that. Except it seems like he doesn’t believe me.
He nods as he crouches next to the fridges and starts packing the bottles into them. “If you say so.”
Christ. If I was having this conversation with Hud, I’d already know what the man is thinking. Arrow on the other hand isn’t easy to read. We might as well be playing poker. “That’s what I said.”
“Okay,” he says.
“I’ll be out back,” I mutter as I walk out of the bar. Thinking about things that will put Lily far from my mind. Violet Queen. California. The wedding from hell. My brother. Jessa.
And that’s enough to rid me of any hint of a boner.
The last time I saw them has been haunting me since the wedding invitation arrived. To say we left things badly is an understatement.
I shove open the small metal door that leads to the loading bay in the alley that runs alongside the bar. Clasp my hands behind my head and bow in the middle as the memories of that weekend trickle like rancid oil through my mind.
Jessa’s tears as she climbed into the passenger seat of Ryder’s Jeep and left the party with him. Her words, clear as a bell, telling me we were done.
Ryder’s fist breaking my nose by the pool the next morning. The sickening crunch. My pounding head.
My father watching us without a single word.
Mom screaming at us to stop before the salt water swallowed me.
My phone beeps, and I light up the screen like it can push the darkness in me away.