Chapter 6
RAKE
“Vince, she’s a no-show. I told you this would happen.”
Waste of my damn time.
Vince presses his lips together. He’s been doing that a lot. Yeah, I know I’m getting on his last nerve but for cripes’ sake, he’s getting on mine.
“I confirmed with Petal this morning. She’s just late, Rake,” he says, craning his neck toward the Starbucks’ door.
“Look, she doesn’t want to go out with me anymore than I want to go out with her. I don’t know why you can’t just let us off the hook. Hell, tell the team she and I went out already, quietly and privately. Our secret. No one will know but us.”
He sips his tea with milk. So gross. “It doesn’t work that way, Vince. Oh, hey! Here she is.” He jumps to his feet and extends a hand to our date.
I say ‘our date’ because he set it up and insisted on coming. He doesn’t trust me enough to follow through.
“Petal, so nice to see you again,” he says, all obsequious and shit. He pulls out a chair for her and pushes it back in once she’s seated. For good measure, he throws up an eyebrow while glaring at me to let me know that next time, I’d better be the one getting up off my ass to help the lady sit.
The thing is, Petal looks like the last thing in the world she wants is someone to help her into her chair. She starts to tap her foot as soon as she’s seated, clearly more annoyed over this whole thing than even I am.
I appreciate the solidarity.
She drops her backpack on the floor and puts her arms on the table, leaning forward. “What can I do for you gentlemen? This meeting was clearly urgent.”
She looks from one of us to the other, waiting for a good answer, like a pissed off schoolteacher. Jesus. She’s hard core.
I like that.
Vince laughs, a little nervously. He has as much at stake here as I do, I suppose. If he can’t prove to the Aftershocks powers-that-be that he made a good faith effort to straighten out my ‘dismal reputation,’ as he calls it, not only do I get booted from the team, but he also loses his job.
Theoretically.
It makes sense, why he’s spending so much time on me. He wouldn’t put in the effort if he didn’t have something at stake too.
“Thanks for coming, Petal. Can we get you something? Coffee? Tea?” he asks.
She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a Diet Coke. “No thanks. Brought my own.”
Vince sniffs, not happy at having his gentlemanly offer shut down. “Okay. So, Petal, you remember Rake Hanson from the auction, don’t you?”
She finally gives me more than a passing glance, and crooks up the corner of her mouth in recognition. “Yup.”
Ouch.
“Wonderful!” Vince says, trying to inject excitement into things.
I feel for the man. Kind of. None of the three of us wants to be here.
“The reason I pulled us together for coffee today,” he says, looking between the two of us, “is that we needed a preliminary meeting, so to speak.”
Petal grimaces and I have to try not to laugh. This is actually becoming entertaining.
“Why?” she snaps. “I’ve been on dates before. I assume Rake has too.”
I snort. I can’t help it.
“We’re getting to that, Petal. Your date will kick off with photographers. The pickup will be covered by the press. There is a lot at stake here for Rake—”
“And you,” I interrupt.
He throws me a major stink eye, like anyone really believes he’s doing this out of the goodness of his own heart.
He moves closer to us and instinctively we draw in too, like he’s got a secret to share. “Petal, Rake’s participation in the auction and follow-on date are good publicity for the team… and him. We want to make sure it all goes as smoothly as possibly.”
She shrugs. “Okay. Sounds easy enough. But what is this pickup thing you mentioned?”
She looks at me with a question mark on her face. I’m digging her no-bullshit approach so much I smile and nod.
Vince chuckles patiently. “The pickup. When Rake picks you up for your date. Look, I know you both are aware of how to behave on dates. I wanted this meeting so nothing takes either of you by surprise. You see, the team needs this. Rake needs this.”
Petal sits back in her chair, arms crossed, and looks at me. “Is this because of all those fights you’ve been getting into?”
“Um, well, yeah.”
Vince looks like he wants to crawl out of his skin. “I see somebody’s done her homework.”
“Of course I have. Do you think I’m stupid enough to go on a date with someone I know absolutely nothing about?
Do you have any clue how modern dating works?
” she asks, zeroing in on Vince, who obviously doesn’t.
“There’s this thing called the Internet.
Everyone uses it to get info about everybody else. ”
She turns to me. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t Google me.”
I nod. “Sure, I Googled you.”
I’m no fool. Of course I did.
Vince smacks his hands on the table. “Great. This is so great. No secrets here, I love it,” he says, clearly miserable.
Petal glances at her watch and while she does, I pull my vibrating phone out of my pocket. Vince shoots me a dirty look, but I don’t care. I’m trying to set up a booty call for tonight, and I need to confirm the time.
Is that kind of rude to do while I’m sitting here with another woman? Sure. But to be honest, if she knew what I was doing, I don’t think she’d give a shit.
And she sure as hell isn’t going to be volunteering for a booty call. She can’t stand my ass.
Which is kind of a shame. Most women I meet throw themselves at my feet. What a breath of fresh air to meet someone who could give a damn about my fame or money.
And did I mention, she’s hot?
At the fundraiser, I was so incensed at wasting my time there I could hardly see straight.
I remember meeting her briefly and taking note that she had brown hair and seemed to have a nice body.
But as soon as the awkward introductions were over, I hit the road, not even waiting for Vince to share a ride home.
And now that I’m looking at her, like really looking at her, she’s cute as hell with her hair piled into a mess on top of her head, her rolled-up jeans, red Converse, and hoodie zipped up to her neck.
This woman does not give a shit about me.
And I am so here for that.