Please Think Of Me (Please Me #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

B

I notice Iris and Bear whispering into each other’s ears across the high-top bar table.

Her high-pitched giggle makes me smile, because I know it’s probably something dirty by the way her freckled cheeks turn red.

And although it’s likely meant for her ears only, I’m dying to know.

There are no boundaries between my best friend and me; we tell each other everything.

So even if I’m not getting in on the secret now, I know she’ll tell me later.

“Bear just said he wants to steal me away to the bathroom.” Or she’ll tell me right now.

Bear blushes. After almost a year of them being together, he should know by now that the things he tells her, especially sex-related things, aren’t just between him and Iris.

I smirk at his coyness and choose to embarrass him further. “Then do it.”

“I was just kidding.”

“Bear, have you never had public sex before?” I probe, knowing the answer already.

He looks down at Iris and shakes his head with a sly smile on his face.

Iris quickly comes to his defense. “Bear was just trying to get his fix before bed. He has to get up early for work tomorrow, so he’s actually heading back to the apartment soon.”

I go to make a smart ass comment to my friend about being an old married woman—no, she’s not actually married, though she often acts like it—but she cuts me off.

“Don’t worry, I’m staying right here with you and Fia.”

“Good. Just because Bear’s a responsible adult doesn’t mean you need to waste your first spring break as a teacher going to bed early.”

Fia and I also have to be up early tomorrow for work, but ‘early’ is a loose term in our office.

We work for Minnesota’s most well-respected art dealer, Daniel Perez.

Our job mostly consists of traveling with him to different parts of the world to pick out pieces for our wealthy, high-profile clients around the Twin Cities and various other parts of the country.

I saw on Daniel’s story that he’s also out tonight, enjoying a few mid-week cocktails.

He won’t be in until at least 10:00, which means Fia and I, as his assistants, don’t have to be at the office until 9:55. One of the many perks of our job.

“It feels so weird being on break, but not as a student this time. I sometimes forget that other adults don’t get two weeks off in the winter, a week off for spring break, and two and a half months off in the summer.”

“You deserve it after dealing with those crotch goblins every day. God, I’d want to drown myself in the Mississippi after one day of that shit.” I seriously don’t know how she does it. Especially kindergarteners. They can’t even tie their own shoes for fuck's sake.

“I actually miss my little goblins.”

I look over at Fia, who’s standing so close to me that our sides are pressed up against each other. “She’s joking, right?”

“Don’t look at me, she’s your best friend.”

I target Bear next. “She’s joking, right?”

“I think she’s pretty serious.” He looks down at her as if she holds the world and he’s just lucky enough to be on it. Disgusting, but cute. “She loves those kids, and they sure love the shit out of her right back.”

Iris leans into Bear’s side, his arm already wrapped around her waist, like it has been all night. Her hand pats his chest. “You’d better get going. We girls have a lot of hearts to break tonight.”

That’s my girl! This newfound confidence looks good on Iris, and I’m totally here for it.

I hate that it took a man to bring it out of her, but he’s a good one, so I’ll accept it.

Unlike her past boyfriends, Bear actually encourages Iris to do her own thing and isn’t possessive over her.

I love this version of my bestie. It’s quite the breath of fresh air.

“Alright. You ladies behave. Call me if you need anything.”

He kisses Iris and says goodbye before grabbing his coat off his stool and leaving.

I pat his shoulder as he walks by to make sure he hears me. “We won’t.”

He snorts out a laugh and shakes his head at me, exiting without a retort. He knows better than to argue with me. He may be Iris’s boyfriend, but I’ve trained him well.

“Now that the testosterone has left the building, the fun can begin!”

Iris rolls her eyes at me, knowing full well that I’m not joking.

I grab my empty drink off the table and rattle the remaining ice against the glass. “Who needs another round?”

“Me!” Fia dramatically rattles her glass, mocking me.

Oh, she’s gonna get it tonight if she keeps up with that attitude. I narrow my eyes at her to convey my fake annoyance, and her only response is a smirk.

I met Fia when traveling for work over a year ago.

We immediately hit it off, and I convinced Daniel to offer her a job.

Of course, that was after she ate me out in the back room at an art show.

We're both broken, sinister, and have a huge aversion to commitment.

It's a match made in hell. Of course, we're not dating.

We're just roommates who occasionally get each other off when we need to scratch that itch.

I think even my friends would agree that she’s a lovely addition to the group when she joins us.

Iris throws back the last bit of her drink and, where I would have slammed it, she gently sets it back down on the table.

Ahh, the sweet to my salty, the light to my darkness, the yin to my yang.

Too bad she's painfully straight and madly in love.

Though we did kiss once, years ago, when we were in high school.

It was a drunken mistake that I never let her forget.

"You ladies want the same thing?" They both nod. "Okay, you're going to have to tell me what that was because you know I can't remember shit." I silently curse my ADHD for the lovely side-effect of forgetfulness.

That earns me a laugh from both of them before they recite their drink orders, and I try my best to commit them to memory.

The ADHD doesn't cooperate on a normal day, but it gets especially bad when I've been drinking.

Oddly enough, the only substance, other than my Adderall, that helps me focus and remember things is THC.

It's been my drug of choice long before it became legal here in Minnesota, but the legalization definitely helps.

I go over to the bar, which is only a few feet away, and lean onto the counter and wait for the bartender to see me. When her gaze crosses by me, I wave my hand to get her attention.

"What can I get you?"

Shit. I was so distracted by how cute she is that I'm starting to forget the girls' orders. "Ummm, I'll take a vodka Red Bull, a rum and Coke, and a vodka tonic with a lime." Close enough. If they complain that I got it wrong, they can come get their own damn drinks next time.

The cute bartender starts pouring my drinks. She sets them down on the sticky bar top, one of them splashing over the edge a little, adding to the mess. "You want to open a tab?"

"No, you can close it." I hand her my card, and she disappears around the corner to the register. I learned my lesson about opening tabs plenty of times. I never remember to close them, and if it's a place that holds your card, I always have to return the next morning—hungover—to retrieve it.

When she returns, she's holding three shot glasses in her hands.

She places them in front of me, alongside my card and a receipt to sign.

"What are—" Before I get a chance to remind her I didn't order these, she's getting waved down by another customer a few yards down the bar.

I double-check the receipt to make sure I didn't get charged for them, and don’t see anything. Sweet, free shots!

I glance around the bar to see if anyone is looking at me, wondering why I'm about to walk away with their shots.

I catch the eye of a guy on the other side of the circular bar, over by the register.

He's holding a pink shot that matches the three sitting in front of me.

He looks sheepish as he raises his glass to me and throws it back.

Aww, how adorable that he thought buying us some shots was going to get him into one of our pants.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but he's not mine nor Fia's type.

He's too clean, too polished. We like our boys a little rough around the edges, with some... character. No frat boy energy.

I raise one of the glasses to him before I drink it. I wince at how sweet it is. What the hell did he order us? This shit tastes like Christmas in a cup. Whatever, they're free. I turn away from the bar and head back to my table, balancing the remaining five drinks in my hands.

"What are those?" Iris's eyes are as big as saucers.

"Something you'll love." I look to Fia. "You probably won't. It's really fucking sweet."

"Then why did you order them for us?" Fia hesitantly takes her rum and Coke in one hand and the sparkly pink liquid in the other.

"I didn't. Some guy at the bar sent them over to me. Must have seen the three of us standing here and mustered up enough courage to shoot his shot."

"Which one?" For someone who has a boyfriend, Iris seems very eager to find out who her secret admirer is. She stands on her tiptoes and scans the bar.

I search the sea of faces around the bar for his basic white mug. Honestly, if I did see him, I'm not sure I'd be able to pick him out. "I don't see him there anymore."

"That's weird. Why would he buy us drinks and leave?"

"I don't know. Guys do all sorts of weird things that I don't care to waste my time trying to figure out. Not worth my energy."

Fia takes the shot and puckers her face. I'm sure I looked quite similar. "Yuck."

"I liked it!"

I glance over at Iris, who's basically bouncing off the walls. "Of course you did." Maybe she didn't order a vodka Red Bull... And if that is what she told me to get, I'm not sure she needs it.

"You guys wanna go dance?"

"Sure. But I need a palate cleanser after that sugar bomb. I'm buying." Fia grabs her purse off the chair.