9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Avery
The next morning is rough for me. Though it seems to be rougher on my best friend. I wake up groggy with a dull pounding at the base of my skull. But Cass looks like she got hit by a truck when she finally makes her way to the kitchen sometime before noon.
“Kill me now,” she mutters, reaching for the glass of water I hand her.
I do my best not to laugh as I drop some ibuprofen into her palm .
“That’s why I stopped taking the free drinks,” I say. “As your lawyer, I’m going to have to suggest you follow my advice next time.”
She swallows the pills and bends down to rest her head on the table. “No next time. Never again.”
This time I do laugh. “I’ve heard that before.”
Her voice is muffled by the fact that she’s got her face buried in her folded arms, but I can make out what she’s saying.
“I mean it this time.”
I take pity on her and give her hair a gentle stroke. “You want me to make you some toast?”
Cass tilts her head just enough so one eye peeks out. “Yes, please.”
Her voice is pitiful and pleading. I manage to stifle my laugh, but I can’t quite keep the amused smile off my face. Standing, I pop some bread into the toaster and grab the butter from the fridge. Turning to lean back against the counter while I wait for her toast, I eye her back.
“Just how much fun did you have last night?” I ask her.
“Not as much as I could have,” comes her muffled response.
I grin. “I saw you dancing up on that gorgeous blonde. I’m guessing things with Damon didn’t work out?”
“I tried to land both of them,” she says, turning to look at me with a devilish grin. “But he wasn’t into sharing, I guess. He left. ”
I shake my head. It’s not the first time I’ve seen Cass try to score a threesome. And I know she’s been successful more than once. I envy the way she embraces life and goes after what she wants. Even if I don’t think I could ever follow in her footsteps.
“What about the blonde?” I ask as the toast pops up.
She sighs. “She was something.”
There’s a wistful tone in her words that has me pausing, butter knife in hand. I narrow my eyes at her.
“Something, huh? What’s that mean?”
She shrugs. “Nothing. Just that she was gorgeous and fun. And a hell of a kisser.”
I shake my head. “Of course, you come here to help me forget my misery and you’re the one who ends up hooking up.”
“We didn’t hook up,” she says. “We just made out a little. I take being your best friend seriously. I wasn’t going to leave you alone in your time of need.”
“I don’t know,” I say, going back to spreading butter on the toast. “She was hot. I’d have forgiven you if you left me for that.”
Cass just shakes her head. “It was just a few dances and some hot kisses. Besides, I’m going back to New York tomorrow and I’ve made a vow to stop having casual sex with strangers. I think hooking up with a random stranger in a club four hours from home counts as casual sex.”
I set the plate of toast down in front of her .
“You’re right, I guess,” I concede. “But one of these days you’re going to find someone you don’t want casual with.”
She rolls her eyes as she bites into a piece of buttered toast. “Eventually. Maybe,” she says around a mouthful of food. “But in the meantime, I’m having fun.”
I reach for a piece of toast. “At least one of us is.”
“What happened with you last night?” Cass asks. “You disappeared for a while.”
I shrug, my mind replaying those few minutes with Corbin. “I found a table in the corner to chill. I think the drinks hit me too hard, too fast. That’s why I switched to water kind of early.”
She nods, focused on her toast rather than on me. I tell myself that’s a good thing. I’m not sure I want to rehash everything that happened last night. Not that anything had happened. Not really. So, why am I feeling flushed right now?
“What are you going to do about your apprenticeship?” Cass asks, pulling me back to the present.
I make a face. “Try the next shop on my list, I guess.”
She nods. “So, who’s next? Do you need to make an appointment?”
I think about my options. It’s clear that the way I went about things with Corbin wasn’t a great idea. At least Matt at Custom Skin doesn’t have a reputation for working exclusively alone. Which means maybe I can just call and ask if he’s looking for an apprentice .
“Custom Skin,” I say. “The owner is Matt Young. He’s good.”
She eyes me for a moment. “Why do I sense a ‘but’ in there?”
I shake my head. “There isn’t. He’s good. Right up there with ‘he who shall not be named’.”
“Right up there? But not quite as good?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I think I just had my sights set on one thing and it’s going to take me a minute to shift to a new direction. But it’s fine. He’s good. He’s got a solid reputation. And, unlike you-know-who, he actually takes on apprentices.”
Cass nods. “Good. Then it’s decided. You’ll meet this Matt guy, dazzle him with your amazing portfolio and your sparkling personality, and he’ll hire you on the spot.”
I let her words and her reassuring tone wash over me, trying my hardest to believe them. Cass is right, though. There’s no reason to believe that Matt will be as unreasonable as Corbin had been. Once he sees my portfolio, he’ll see that I have the talent. I just need someone to teach me how to translate that talent into tattooing. All at once, something hits me, and I feel a pit open in my stomach.
“Shit.”
“What?” She turns her concerned gaze on me. “What’s wrong?”
I drop my head into my hands and let out a groan. I can’t believe I did this. Why had it taken me until now to remember? I’d been so caught up in what I was going to do next that I completely forgot the most important piece of the puzzle.
“Seriously, A,” Cass says. “What’s going on?”
I raise my head enough to look at her. “The portfolio. Guess where I left it?”
Her eyes go wide. “Elemental Ink?”
I nod. “Yep.”
“Shit.”
“Yep.”
“I guess we’re making a trip to Elemental Ink today,” she says. “What time do they open?”
“You want to go with me?”
She rolls her eyes.
“Seriously, A? Did you think I was going to let you go alone?”
“I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
“Clearly,” she says with a sigh. “I call the shower first because I’m going to need a lot longer to get my shit together today.”
I just smile. “I love you.”
She waves me away with a dismissive hand as she stands. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve told you already. You’re not my type.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Too short?”
She turns and starts walking toward the hallway. “Too straight!” she calls out.
I shake my head, still smiling. “If anyone could turn me, it’d be you. ”
She doesn’t even pause her steps. “I wouldn’t want to ruin this beautiful friendship by making you fall in love with me.”
“Too late!” I call, laughing as she closes the bathroom door, shutting me out.
The truth is, Cass and I have never been anything more than platonic besties. Despite all our joking, she wasn’t wrong when she’d called me too straight. I don’t have a ton of experience with sex, and what little I do have has strictly been with men. I can appreciate a beautiful woman, but I’ve never been sexually attracted to one.
Even when my best friend came out to me as bisexual, it never occurred to me to think about something sexual with her. Which is too bad, honestly. It would be convenient to want someone I already love and respect. Unfortunately for me, I’m attracted to men. A fact that Cass and I have lamented several times over the past five years. Cass, because it would have softened the blow when, or if, she ever came out to her family. For me, because I’d stop getting invested in losers who only disappoint me. But you can’t choose your sexuality any more than you can choose who you fall in love with. So, I’m doomed to a life of disappointment.
Unbidden, the memory of Corbin’s words from last night flashes through my mind.
If I wanted you, I’d have you. And you’d thank me afterward.
A shiver runs through me at the images those words produce. I’ve had plenty of guys talk a big game when it comes to sex. Some of them, I even let try to prove it. Very few had even come close to making good on their bragging. Something tells me Corbin isn’t like those other guys. He hadn’t said it to brag. He’d said it almost as a threat. A challenge. As if he were daring me to try. And god help me, I’d wanted to. Not that it matters. I don’t want anything to do with him. I just want to get my portfolio back and move on with my life. I’ve got more important things to worry about than a sexy man with a dirty mouth.