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Charles gives me an apologetic look. “She just needs some time to get used to it. She’ll come around.”
I give him a large genuine smile. Something tells me I might actually enjoy this job.
“I’ve got all the time in the world.”
CHAPTER 2
BLAIRE
I immediately hit the gym the second I’m done with work. I need something to release my anger and the boxing bag isscreamingmy name.
By the time I’m done with my workout, I’m drenched in sweat. The hour I spent punching the life out of that hanging bag should have left me exhausted, but instead I feel refreshed. The whole time, I pictured the bag to be Jimmy, his face the center of it. With every punch I threw, I pretended like I was aiming for that pathetic, sleazy smile of his. I even threw in a kick to his imaginary groin.
How could my father treat me like this? Like I’m some child who needs babysitting or chaperoning? I’ve heard the whispers from my father about the threats he’s been receiving; I know he’s in some sort of trouble. But still, attaching some man to me at all hours of the day? And it’s somehowJimmy Maxwell? How fucked up can this world be?
I chug some water as I push open the door to the gym. The cool autumn New York air greets my skin with a refreshing breeze as a contrast to my hot, sweaty body. As I start to walk to my apartment, my mind drifts off to dinner options. I have stuff at home for a grilled chicken salad, or I could stop by the Chinese place just down the—
My phone begins to ring, breaking up my dinner thoughts. I pause on the sidewalk as I fish it out of my bag.
“Hello?” I say into the receiver.
“Hey, girl!” my best friend Juliette squeals. “Where are you? Harper and I are at Murphy’s, if you want to join us for drinks. She’s having another one of her mope sessions, and I need you here to get me through it and cheer her up.”
The sound of Harper’s name makes my stomach churn. She’s the last person I want to see right now, given that her older brother is now going to be by my side twenty-four seven starting who knows when and I can’t tell her why I hate him.
“I can’t, Jules. I just left the gym, and I’m sweating like a pig.”
“So? Get your ass over here now. You can shower when you get home. Just for an hour? Please?”
I pause once more on the sidewalk to ponder over my options. I was really looking forward to Chinese once I thought of it, but I haven’t seen my girls in over two weeks. I can push aside my anger at my best friend’s brother for an hour or so.
“Okay, fine.Onehour,” I say when my mind is made up.
Juliette squeals again. “I’ll have a cosmo waiting on you when you get here.”
I hang up the phone and start walking back in the direction I came from. When I get to Murphy’s, sure enough, there’s a cosmo waiting for me at our table.
Juliette stands to greet me with a hug as I approach the table. To avoid rubbing my sweat on her, I lean into her for one of those awkward butt-out hugs.
“Sorry. I don’t think you want my sweat on you,” I say, sliding into my seat.
Juliette swats the air at my comment. “Please. I already have Harper’s tears on me. What’s a little bit of sweat going to hurt?”
“WhereisHarper?” I ask, noting her lack of presence at the table.
Juliette rolls her eyes. “In the bathroom fixing her makeup.”
“What happened this time?”
“Some guy she met off Bumble. I keep telling her Plenty of Fish is where the real ones are at.”
“So, another bad date?”
Juliette shakes her head. “Anotherstood update.”
The problem with our friend Harper is her lack of social cues when it comes to dating. Harper Sinclaire Maxwell, voted Most Beautiful for our senior superlative, has never had a clue on how to date successfully. She’s too naive and too…much. Always smothering the guys right away, talking marriage and babies and white picket fences. She makes herself too vulnerable, believing the cut and paste lies they tell every woman to get her into bed. I know part of her problem is she’s too trusting but she needs to guard her heart and stop trusting every penis that tells her she’s amazing. We’ve tried to tell her this gently before, but it didn’t work. It just resulted in tears like it always does.
But out of the four of us—Juliette, me, Harper, and Aspen—she has the purest heart.
