21. Ember
EMBER
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” My sister sounds both worried and irritated, and I don’t blame her. If she’d been living in a building that got condemned and didn’t tell me about it, I’d be giving her an earful.
“It’s not that big of a deal, Hazel, but please don’t tell Mom. I don’t want her to worry.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Who did you say you moved in with?”
“My coworkers.” I called my sister from a corner table at a coffee shop, where I’m sipping on a cappuccino and trying to sound nonchalant.
“Wait. Didn’t you say you work with three men?”
“Yeah. They share a house and they were kind enough to let me stay with them while I save for a new deposit.”
“You’re living with three men?”
I’m regretting letting her in on this, but with us being only a year apart in age, I usually tell her everything. “It’s not like that.” It’s really not, though it’s definitely more complicated than I intend to let on.
“What do they look like?” She’s not going to let this drop, and again, I can’t blame her. If she were sharing a house with three men, I’d be making a trip home to make sure they were decent guys with good intentions.
“It’s not as if I have pictures of them, but they’re on the Beasts Ink website.”
She asks their names and goes quiet for a moment as she looks them up. “Holy shit, Em.” A few more seconds of quiet. “Holy shit . These guys sure are beasts.”
“Yeah, they’re big guys.”
“No, I mean … well, yeah, they’re big, but also grrr— those men are hot!”
“Hazel!” I don’t need to hear my sister growling like a tiger in heat.
“What? I’m not a kid anymore. Are they single?”
“You can’t date these guys, Hazel.” Living apart from her now, I forget how exasperating my sister can be.
“No, but you can. Are you seeing one of them?”
I must hesitate a split second too long, because Hazel’s onto me like she’s about to win a game of Clue.
“Which one is it, Ember? The beefy redhead? The one with the dark, disheveled hair? Oh my god, how could you possibly choose?”
“I’m not seeing any of them, Hazel. I’m their boss, remember?”
She’s silent for a moment, and I think she’s finally going to drop it, but no. “Oh, so you have a past with one of them.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it, trying to figure out how my sister knows what she knows. “What are you, some kind of witch?”
Laughing, she says, “I just know you too well. What happened? Please tell me. Life has been boring here lately, so give me all the tea.”
I suppose there’s no reason not to. She and I live hours apart, and I know I can trust her not to spill my secrets. Turning toward the wall, I lower my voice, even though there aren’t many other people in the shop and no one knows me. “I’m not involved with any of the men, but recently I had a …slip up.”
“Ooh, this is going to be really tasty tea. Go on.”
And I do. I tell her exactly what happened, minus all the X-rated details, though those play like a movie in my head as I talk. Memories of my encounter with Griffin are never far from my mind, no matter how hard I’ve tried to forget about it.
“It was only one time?” Hazel asks.
“It can’t happen again. I’m his boss, and I could get fired if the owners of the company ever found out what I did. But Hazel, it gets worse.”
“Are you pregnant?”
I frown at my phone again, though I suppose that’s a logical question. “No, we were careful, but it’s so complicated, because the other two men we work with found out what we did, and they were really upset.”
“Why?”
I can barely voice an answer, because it just doesn’t seem real. Hazel has to prompt me before I whisper, “They both like me, too.”
“All three of them like you?” I nod, even though she can’t see me. “The three giant tattoo artists you’re now living with are all into you?”
“Yeah.”
“You like all of them, too, don’t you?”
I don’t even bother pretending. “What am I going to do, Hazel?”
I don’t expect any advice, but it’s good to get this off my chest to someone. I haven’t told Lexy or Ava about what happened between me and Griffin, because I don’t want to put them in the position of having to keep secrets for me, even though I trust that they would.
“I don’t know, Em. You could write a book about what it feels like to be the luckiest woman in the world.”
“Very funny.” I take a sip of my coffee, which has now gone cold. “I can’t get involved with them, as tempting as they may be.”
“I know, sis, and I don’t envy you. Well, actually I do, but I can see how complicated it is. Maybe you could find a different job?”
“I’m managing a shop before I’ve even graduated. I can’t let an opportunity like this go.”
“Yeah.” From the tone of my sister’s voice, I can picture her biting her lip, like she always does when she’s thinking. “Maybe you should date other guys? Get those three out of your head, since they’re off limits.”
“Yeah, maybe that would help.”
The problem is that I have no desire to see other men.