29. Hudson
Because of finals, the restaurant had given me this week off, so I didn’t have to go to work again until Saturday. But that didn’t actually give me extra time to study, the way I’d planned.
Nope. Genesis decided I needed to go to her place instead.
“And bring the tux and watch back when you come,” she added when she called.
Eyebrows arching over that one, I pulled my phone away from my ear to make sure it didn’t look as if it was malfunctioning, then I brought it back to ask, “I’m sorry; did you say to bring them back?”
“Yeah,” she said matter-of-factly as if it were no big deal. “My brother finally noticed his watch was missing and has been all over my case about it, convinced I took it, so it’s only a matter of time before he realizes his suit is gone too. But the good thing is he just left town with his friends for a trip to Vegas, so now is the best opportunity to sneak them back to make it look as if he just lost them under his bed.”
I blurted out a hard, incredulous laugh. “You’re fucking kidding me,” I said, knowing I shouldn’t be surprised that she’d stolen the presents she’d given me or that she was now demanding them back, but I was, anyway.
“I know,” she cooed as if I’d just praised her. “Genius idea, huh? So you’ll bring them both, right? You didn’t—oh God—please tell me you didn’t hock them for money.”
Wow. She was such a piece of work.
“No. I didn’t hock them.” Jesus.
I opened my mouth to tell her exactly what was wrong with this entire conversation, but then I bit my tongue and shook my head. Wasn’t worth it, anyway. She wouldn’t understand if I did try to explain.
After drawing in a deep breath, I answered, “I’ll bring them, no problem.”
I was actually glad to give them back to her and be rid of them. I’d never wanted them in the first place, but learning they were stolen goods made me that much more eager to part ways.
“And hurry,” Gen was telling me. “We have a lot to discuss.”
After gritting my teeth, I shook my head, then managed to answer, “Be right there.”
Just a few more days, I told myself. Just a few more days, and then I’d be free of her. One way or another, I wasn’t staying with her much longer.
* * *
When I arrivedat Gen’s apartment and promptly returned the watch and suit—glad to have my trusty wrist cuffs back on each arm—the lot she’d wanted to discuss ended up only being another grilling about how well I did or didn’t know Faith.
I guess, seeing us together had really stirred her up.
“So you’re sure you’ve never seen her before?”
I took a moment to blow on her toes after applying a final clear coat of polish. I actually didn’t mind painting her nails. As long as she didn’t want to paint mine in return—which thankfully, she never had—this was one of the least offensive tasks she liked to demand of me. And I’d gotten pretty proficient at it, if I did say so myself. In fact, if I ever met a girl I actually liked, I might even enjoy performing such a service for her.
Satisfied with my work, I glanced up to where Genesis was propped like a princess against the headboard.
“I mean,” I started. “She looked familiar, maybe. But no. Never saw her before. Why? Who is she?”
“No one,” Gen snapped a little too harshly.
My eyebrows rose. “Yeah. Sounds like it.”
“Hey, don’t get sassy with me.” She nudged my shoulder with her foot as if to roll me off my side—which I’d been laying on—and onto my back. But I caught my balance and nipped at her feet playfully with my teeth.
She laughed and nudged my shoulder again, a little harder this time. Then she grew almost immediately serious. “And what did she say to you?”
Wow. She was not going to let this go. Widening my eyes, I shook my head and admitted, “I don’t know. Something about being late or…fuck. I don’t remember. She was in a hurry and kind of rude, that’s all I know.”
“But what about when she turned back?”
“Hmm?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“You guys bumped into each other,” Genesis explained. “I saw that. Then she said something. And then you said something back.”
“Did I?” I honestly didn’t remember exactly how those two seconds of interaction had gone down. “Huh. I probably said something like pardon me, I bet.”
Genesis bobbed her head along with me and rolled her hand, encouraging me to continue. “And then she turned back and responded.”
I blinked, not recalling that at all.
“Oh, come on,” Gen snapped. “Y’all talked for way longer than excuse me and I’m late. Now what the fuck did she say to you?”
“I…” My mouth gaped, and I shook my head before a memory sparked. “Ooh.” I snapped my fingers. “She said something about you taking her seat. Then she told me I should’ve kissed you longer or… I don’t know. That was the gist of it, anyway.”
Sudden glee sparkled in Gen’s eyes. “So she has seen us making out before class,” she murmured more to herself than me. “Thank God.” Sitting up with interest, she nodded at me encouragingly. “Did she seem jealous?”
“Jealous?” I repeated the word as if I’d never heard it before. Then, I slowly answered, “No. She seemed…pissed?” Posing it as a question as if hoping that was a good enough answer, I grimaced at Gen, and she huffed moodily before plopping back against her padded headboard.
“God, you are so worthless.”
“I truly am,” I agreed with a catty grin. “So what do you think?” Diverting her off-topic as best I could, I delicately cradled one of her feet in my hands and lifted her leg to show off my finished work. “Are they fit for a queen bee?”
“Hmm,” she murmured in a bored voice as she studied them. Then, picking up her phone, she began to scroll through it with one hand. “They’ll do.”
In Genesis’s world, that meant she liked them, which made me proud of my work. I was getting pretty good at this shit.
I set her foot back down on the mattress and sighed in satisfaction, glad she’d dropped the Faith issue.
Stretched out beside her, with my own feet tucked under one of her pillows at the headboard, I propped my elbow on the mattress, rested my chin in my hand, and watched her pause to type something.
One thing I hadn’t considered when I’d hatched my grand plan to sneak into her phone was just how much screen time Gen actually spent on the damn thing. She took it into the bathroom with her, texted, talked, or posted on it while she ate… Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she took selfies during sex.
It was going to be a trick to get it out of her hands and then get myself out of sight long enough to snoop through it.
But it would happen. I just had to be patient and bide my time and keep acting like a clueless moron so she didn’t suspect anything. Good things came to those who waited, right? Letting go of my chin, I rolled onto my back and bent up one knee, while I closed my eyes and decided a nap was in order—until Genesis remembered I was here and tasked me with my next honey-do.
A notification chimed from her phone, and in the next instant, she jerked upright with a horrified gasp. “Oh my God. Oh my God. My dad’s here.”
Okay, well, now shit had just gotten real.
“Holy fuck,” I cried, leaping off her bed just as her doorbell rang.
“Did you park down the street like I told you?” she hissed.
“Of course.” Not that it mattered; I’m sure her father had no idea what Chastity looked like. “Should I…?” I motioned toward the window, fully prepared to climb out of it and drop down the wall from the second story of her apartment complex. Barefoot.
But she waved me down. “Just stay in here.” Grabbing a cardigan that had been flung over the side of the corner chair, she shrugged it on over the spaghetti-strapped cami she was wearing. “He doesn’t check in for long, and he never comes back to my room. We’ll be fine as long as you stay here and keep your trap shut.”
I nodded, seeing reason with that. “Okay.” I mimed a zippering motion across my lips. “Sounds good.”
Smoothing her hair into order, she repeated, “Okay,” and then hurried out the door, shutting it behind her.
I followed that way and set my hand on the portal as I leaned close to listen. But I didn’t hear much, just muffled voices. The deeper tone could’ve very easily been Mr. Gusano’s.
Burying my hands in my hair, I cupped my head and faced the rest of the room. I tried to settle my heartbeat back into order, but nothing helped. Until my gaze fell to the phone that Genesis had dropped onto her bed and left behind.
Well damn. I knew karma would come through for me in one way or another.
With a hiss of pleasure, I pushed away from the door and hurried to the bed, plopping onto the mattress and snatching up the phone in one smooth move.
Mimicking the code I’d seen her use one too many times, I bobbed my head to nonexistent music as I gained immediate access. “Thank you, Daddy,” I murmured, dancing my shoulders with excitement while I logged into her text messages.
Pay dirt came almost too easily when I typed in a search for Faith’s name.
“Wow. Obsessed much, Gen darlin’?”
She really liked to talk shit about my favorite stalker.
I might have more work cut out for me than I’d originally thought.
Wincing, I glanced toward the door, then got to work, skimming through texts with Faith’s name in them for about three seconds before I couldn’t handle the badmouthing anymore.
So I gave up on that route and typed in the word plagiarize.
When that didn’t get me anywhere, I whispered, “Fuck,” and took a breath to calm myself before it occurred to me that she probably didn’t even know how to spell the word, so I typed in the letters, P, L, A, and G into the search bar.
Nothing.
Biting my lip, I replaced the G with a J.
“Yes!” I cheered with a teeth-gritted hiss when plajerise popped onto the screen, connected to half a dozen or more texts. “Damn, girl, you can’t spell worth shit.”
But I had what I wanted.
Genesis didn’t hold back even a little with her friends. She told them all, and I mean, all. She bragged about why she’d done it—apparently, some dude they’d partied with had been more attracted to Faith than her, so Gen had decided Faith needed to pay for such treachery. She bragged about how she’d done it. Hell, she’d even bragged about Faith’s devastated and then pissed-off reactions afterward.
She was just an evil, evil girl.
I shuddered, so very anxious to get away from her.
If this didn’t work, I might have to say, screw it, anyway, and piss Genesis off by telling her I was done being her lackey boyfriend. It’d get me fired, I’m sure, but I’d just have to work toward my better future in some other way…at some other restaurant.
I hoped it worked, though.
I loved studying under talented chefs like Mackeriel and LaVyrle. I’d already learned so many valuable lessons from them, and I was eager to learn more.
Ripping my own phone from my pocket, I started to take pictures of Genesis’s screen, not sure if I’d have time to erase the photos if I took screenshots directly from hers, much less an opportunity to send them to myself. Message after message, I took picture after picture. But damn, she had talked this issue to death, and to so many friends, too.
When I heard her voice on the other side of the wall, just outside the door, telling her father she’d be right back, I quickly swiped out of the app, then swiped up again to clear everything I’d been doing, and I dropped it on the bed beside me just as the handle turned and the door opened.
I lifted my face from my own phone as if I’d been playing on it the whole time, and I waved in silent greeting.
“He’s going to take me out to eat,” she whispered after she shut the door and started to shuck her clothes. “So I have to change real quick. But you’re going to have to stay in here until we’re gone. Just make sure to lock up after yourself.” As she tugged a dress from her closet, she sent me a severe glance. “And don’t take anything.”
I blinked dryly, wondering why she actually thought I’d want any of her crap.
But I whispered, “Okay. No problem.”
All the while, my phone burned in my palm with evidence that was probably going to get her expelled from college completely.
I couldn’t wait to finally get it to Faith.
Gen pulled her hair from the head hole of the dress after she slipped it on, then ran her fingers through the blond tresses before checking herself in the mirror. Satisfied, she snatched her purse from her vanity and started back toward the door.
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye,” I started, only to whisper, “Oh! Hey. Your phone.”
I picked it up from the mattress beside me and held it out helpfully.
Pausing to glance back, Genesis’s face actually softened when she looked at me. “God, you are so freaking adorable,” she told me as she hurried over to retrieve her phone. As she took it, she smoothed a hand over my hair. “It’s too bad we didn’t get to do anything tonight.”
“Next time,” I promised with a wink, all the while deciding that I was never going down on her again.
Her smile widened, and I exhaled in relief as she shut the door behind her.
I sat there calmly for the next few seconds, straining to listen through the walls for their departure. When I heard the front door shut, I started to smile.
But holy shit. That had actually worked.
Dropping my attention to my phone, I opened my pictures and scanned through them, checking to see how well they’d come out. They seemed legible enough, and I didn’t want to crop or change color or brightness and compromise the integrity of the photo, so I let them all be as-is and immediately logged into my messages to Faith.
After sending every picture to her, I added one last text.
Don’t say I never gave you anything.
She didn’t immediately answer, but I didn’t worry about it. I knew she had to work tonight. So I stood from the bed, put my shoes on, and then glanced around to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind. Satisfied, I started for the door, only to jar to a halt when I spotted a glint of gold dangling from a hook at the side of Gen’s vanity mirror.
Squinting, I walked closer, only for my jaw to drop open.
It had a pure gold chain with the cutest Haverick horseshoe hanging from it and seven tiny diamonds embedded where the nail holes would go.
“Well, hello, there,” I murmured, reaching for the gold horseshoe attached to the end of the chain. I pulled it close, cradling it in my palm, and counted the seven little diamonds, three on each side with one on the rounded end. Then, I flipped it over and blinked at the barely discernible phrase printed there.
Be your true self.
“Son of a bitch,” I breathed in excitement before plucking the necklace off its hook and slipping it into my pocket.
“Sorry, Gen,” I said aloud, but I was going to have to add one more lie to the pack I’d already told her and steal something after all.
Then, whistling to myself, I strolled from the room with my head held high.
I turned off all the lights and locked up after myself like the good little boyfriend I was. Then, I whistled all the way down to the first floor, out of the building, and up the three blocks to my car.
Faith finally responded to my text as I was starting Chastity’s engine.
OMG
Oh my God!
OH MY GOD! I can’t believe you really did it. You, like, realllllly did it!
If I wasn’t at work?—
The last one made me grin. I could already picture her running out of time to respond and just hitting send before rushing to a table to take an order.
Just as I started down the street, another rash of messages flooded in.
Thank you.
Are you still coming to my place tonight?
I owe you so much for this.
I blinked and shook my head at the middle message, ignoring the slight leap in my pulse at the idea of staying at her place again before I realized Thane had actually slipped in and sent me that text. Damn.
After sending a separate, yet quick and simple, Yep, to both of them, I shifted the car into gear and continued whistling as I drove to Thane’s.
I might have a ghost inside me who refused to leave and wanted to take control of my body, plus was slowly seeping the life force from me while also keeping me from hanging around one of my closest friends, but at the moment, things were good. I was about to become sans girlfriend—I could feel it in my bones—and I couldn’t be happier.