Thankfully, Irma was up when Byron got back from the bathroom. “How you feeling?” she asked as soon as he walked into the bedroom.
“Surprisingly, not too bad.”
“Really? Because you were out of it last night.”
Byron smirked as he pulled a clean shirt out of his dresser. “That strain of weed Gus had last night was one I’d never had. Hadn’t smoked in almost a year either so.” He shrugged then pulled the shirt over his head. “I’m just glad it doesn’t feel like I’ll be hurting all day. I hate when that happens. You party too hard and ruin the entire next day.”
“You’re getting dressed.” It was more of a statement than a question.
Byron looked up at her. “Yeah, I gotta open up the shop. I’m already late.”
“But last night you said we’d finish today,” she sulked.
Peering at her, Byron tried in vain to remember what she was talking about. “Finish—?” He caught himself understanding what she was saying now. It was embarrassing but it made sense if he was that out of it. “We didn’t finish?”
“We never even got started.” She huffed playfully. “We’d just made it into your bedroom, started to undress and got in bed, but when your head hit that pillow you barely whispered the words; we’ll finish tomorrow, then passed out.”
Letting his head fall back as he buttoned his fly, Byron laughed feeling like a douche. “I’m sorry. I’d make it up to you now but I’m already late to open.” She was sulking again, so he explained further as he moved around the room quickly. “I probably have customers and employees waiting outside. I heard the phone downstairs ring and the door buzz earlier. Phone’s ringing again now. My brother doesn’t like when I open late.”
His cell phone rang distracting them both momentarily. Byron rushed to it knowing it had to be one of the guys. He just hoped it hadn’t gotten back to his brother that the shop was still closed. So, he was relieved to see Gus’s name on his screen.
Holding his hand up for Irma to give him a moment, he hit the answer button. “Dude, are you that hungover you’re not gonna open today?”
“Nah, I’m just running late. You here already?”
“Yeah, so’s the rest of the crew and some customers.”
“Cool,” Byron said rushing to the door that headed downstairs. “I’ll let you guys in and you guys can get things going while I finish getting ready.”
Irma heard him so he didn’t bother to explain where he was going. He didn’t even have shoes on yet, so he’d be back as soon as he let them in. Once he had the guys in, he rushed back upstairs to finish getting ready. Irma was already dressed and gathering her things together.
She gave him a coy look when he walked into the bedroom. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He smirked despite the heaviness he still couldn’t shake about Vannah.
It was the weirdest thing. It’s like even if his head could momentarily put it aside, something inside him was still feeling it. His heart? Nah, that’d be ridiculous. And he wasn’t about to spend another entire day dwelling on it either. But it gave him an idea.
“Tell you what.” He looked up as he put his shoes on. “Why don’t you come back tonight? We’ll continue where we left off—minus the booze.”
As expected, she smiled big and nodded immediately. “I can do that. I didn’t have any plans for tonight. Since I knew I’d be out late last night I didn’t think I’d feel up to it two nights in a row. But this is different. I can make you something. I’m an excellent cook, you know.”
That stopped Byron in his tracks and he almost let out a groan. He already knew no matter what she made him it wouldn’t even be close to Vannah’s cooking.
“What’s wrong?”
Glancing back at her after realizing he literally froze in place, he started up again. “I was uh, just trying to remember something.”
She smiled with a nod. “So, what should I make you?”
“Actually, I’ve been craving pizza. I’ll just order from Purgatory up the street. Haven’t had them in a while.”
Thankfully, she agreed without argument. The last thing he wanted was to spend the evening talking culinary shit. It was already exasperating as hell that he couldn’t get his mind off her.
Once Irma left, Byron went downstairs and got started on his day, determined to immerse himself in his work and keep his mind off of Vannah. He succeeded to for the most part. But he’d purposely asked Nine to schedule extra help that afternoon a few days ago, so he’d be free if Vannah was able to get the afternoon and evening off today.
When those guys came in for their shifts that would’ve relieved him had he made those plans, it was yet another reminder of what he was trying so hard not to think about. Even though he knew neither Beast, Nine, nor Orlando would’ve minded him staying on the clock when they were fully staffed for the afternoon, he called it a day.
Byron was in no mood to entertain Irma that early. They’d agreed on her stopping by any time after eight, so he still had plenty of time to sit around and dwell. He wasn’t having it, so he grabbed his gym bag and keys and headed out to 5th Street. If anything, he’d work off some of the pent-up tension that way, then get back and work it off some more with Irma.
Rolling the kink he’d been feeling in his neck ever since seeing Vannah at the restaurant yesterday, Byron walked into the gym with a purpose. As much as his head kept telling him to move the fuck on and stop dwelling on this shit, a part of him was holding out and it was making him crazy. So, she clearly hadn’t felt as besotted with him as he’d been with her. But the fact remained she still hadn’t responded to his last text. If this really was her thing to be dating multiple people at once then wouldn’t her MO have been to respond with at least an, okay, maybe another day? They’d been glued to their phones going back and forth all day every day for the past week. Now he makes one comment about spending time with another female, and she disappears? Something wasn’t adding up. Not that he was hoping she’d reach out. He still didn’t trust himself not to snap, and he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of confirming just how much more she’d already begun to mean to him than he did to her.
Nine did a double take when he saw him and started toward him. “Hey man, you talked to your brother today?”
“No, not today.” Byron glanced down at his phone just in case he’d missed a call or text from him. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Nothing I just tried calling him earlier to ask about the part for that Cadillac. He said he knew a guy last week, but it’s been one thing after another and I’m having a hell of a time trying to land just the right piece. I had to come down to talk to Abel about a job I’m working on for him so I was hoping I might run into Beast.”
They stood there in the middle of the gym discussing the car Nine was talking about. They’d been at it for a few minutes when he heard it. That unmistakable giggle, then an all-out laugh. It’d only been a day since he’d been witness to the nauseating sight of her kissing another guy, and already his reaction to hearing the laughter had changed. It didn’t do what it normally did to him. Instead, he went instantly taut with utter irritation. Turning around to the direction it was coming from, his eyes zeroed in on her as she latched both arms around the guy she was walking with and continued to laugh.