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“I didn’t even get her phone number,” I told them as I pulled on my shirt now that the layer of sweat on my body had dried. “What am I meant to do? Show up at her apartment like some kind of fucking stalker?”
We headed for the stadium’s exit, security waiting for us so they could lock it up again when we were gone. “Why not?” Sean offered. “Some chicks find that shit romantic, don’t they?”
Reed shoved him in the shoulder and shook his head. “And some will straight up call the cops on your ass,” he teased, shaking his head. “Then tomorrow’s storyline will read,Engagement Off, Restraining Order On.”
Jesus Christ.
I’m not sure why I bother asking these bastards about women.
Reed had his walls up so far a girl would have a better chance reaching the top of Mount Everest.
Sean didn’t even trust his own dating app.
And Bronson fucked anything that flashed him a smile.
Not that I was perfect. I’d done my playboy phase, but with the idea of starting to settle down with my business in Boston, getting a house and all that shit here, the idea of having Cassidy on my arm at balls, charity events, and building openings instantly had me readjusting myself.
Beauty.
Charisma.
Intelligence.
“Keep your phones on tomorrow,” I ordered as Simon pulled open the door to my car, my friends looking at me with raised brows. “Because I might just need that bail money.”
CASSIDY
“You sure you’re gonna be okay?” Aspen’s dramatic eye roll had me folding my arms across my chest. “That’s a lot of attitude for someone who needed me to save her forty-eight hours ago.”
Aspen was one of the strongest women I knew. Not afraid to voice her feelings or stand up for herself. Which is why when she called me with her voice shaking, I didn’t have to think twice about hauling ass to get to her, and had Drake not heard the fear in my voice and demanded he come too, it would’ve possibly been the not-thinking part that could have gotten me in a whole lot of trouble.
“I’ll be fine, okay,” Aspen insisted, pushing me toward our apartment door. “Go to work. I’m going to order food and watch reruns ofFriendsto try and make me feel better about my choices in men.”
“Okay, okay!” I managed to grab my backpack with my lunch and my phone as she pushed me into the hall, forcing a smile—one I could see right through. “Call me if you need me.”
The fake smile dropped instantly. Aspen talked a big game, but I could see how disappointed she was that Danny turned out to be a douchebag. I’d seen that bright flash of hope in her eyes when she’d left the bar with him, sure that maybe she’d finally found a good one after a long history of dating pure assholes.
Apparently, some habits never change.
Maybe that was why we had become such good friends. Neither of us really knew what a good one looked like because of how bad we’d had them.
She nodded. “I will.”
I felt bad leaving her, knowing we could do with sharing the details of our nights—yesterday we’d decided to just have a day of binging and not speaking about the night before. But I was already late and was going to have to almost run to make it to the shop to open in time. And I couldn’t afford to miss out on any pay. With the landlord increasing our rent, Aspen and I were already wondering if we were going to be thrown out on our ass in a few months or if he was going to take some kind of pity on us and change his mind.
It took me thirteen minutes to get to the store. I could’ve made it quicker, but when my foot came a little too close to a large pile of dog poo in the middle of the sidewalk, I had to stop and brace myself against a building for a moment to stop from emptying my stomach into the gutter.
“Everything is all ready for you, flowers cut and in water out back, vases washed,” Sandy announced, listing off all the things she’d done this morning while trying not to laugh at my dramatic poo story I’d re-enacted the moment I stepped into Leaf It To Me. “I have some appointments to make today, but I’ll be back this afternoon to help clean and close up.”
“Sounds great!” I walked her out to the rear door, where we share a small back alley with a couple of the surrounding stores. The bell at the front door rang before she was even out of sight, and the morning rush began.
That time of the day was always a little frantic, trying to make sure everyone gets what they need for their anniversary, birthday, or the dreadful in-the-doghouse flowers many guys search for on a Monday morning after going out with their buddies on the weekend and coming home late.
It was two hours of nonstop people filling the tiny shop before I managed to place my ass on the stool behind the counter and take the weight off my feet.
Glancing down, I couldn’t help but smile at my fake engagement ring that I’d had yet to move back to its original spot. I tugged it off and moved it back to my pointer finger, feeling instant disappointment tightening in my stomach, so I quickly moved it back and held it up in front of me.
There was a young girl in me screaming right now. She wanted to call her sister and tell her about how she’d just got engaged to the hottest guy she’d ever met. She wanted to gush about how he treated her like she was special and made her feel beautiful and on top of everything, with him, she felt safe.
