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"I honestly have no idea," she answered. "It hasn’t come up much. She asked a bunch of questions last month when we had girls' night over at Chrissy's, but I thought she was just curious about me and Bas finally getting together. I wasn't expecting her to show up here. Should I go talk to her?"
I thought about it and shook my head. "No, she already seems pretty spooked. Nervous-like, and didn’t you say she was acting weird at your engagement party? I think if she wanted you to know her plans, she'd have told you."
Nyla nodded, her expression pensive. “You’re probably right. Our last interaction was pretty odd, and if she’s showing up here instead of coming to me…” She trailed off and smiled. “This is probably for the best,” she concluded with a grin. “I’m a little surprised she can afford the fee, though. Make sure you give her the discount.”
I frowned. “She's not a member.”
“She’s a friend. And she doesn’t really have the money. If she’s here, she must really need the help.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” I promised. I’d have personally paid the fee in a hot minute if I thought I could do it anonymously and get away with it.
"So, interview pending, of course, do we have any idea who we would match her with?" Archer asked.
"I'm out. I've got my hands full with Erin." Erin was our first official client, a much younger med student who we'd paired with Theo.
"I'm also out," Bas said. "I think given my relationship with Nyla and the two of them being good friends, that would be too awkward."
"I agree," Nyla piped up beside him.
"Okay, so that leaves Lennon, Archer and myself," I mused aloud, swallowing thickly. Earlier I’d thought a Rent-A-Daddy client would be just the ticket, but that was before the client in question was Jasmine. Since Jasmine was the one I was trying to forget about, that complicated things.
"Dibs," Lennon called out, pouring himself another shot. We'd all started drinking fairly early in the evening, and Lennon usually drank the rest of us under the table. He held it better than the rest of us, too.
"Dude. It's a chick in need of a Daddy, not the last slice of cake. You can't just call dibs,” Archer scoffed, nudging him hard in the ribs.
My blood boiled. It wasn’t just any chick—it was Jasmine, and they were discussing her like she was the last slice of pizza. Still, I had to be cool and not let on what my real feelings were. And I definitely had to not end up as Jasmine’s Daddy, no matter how much I might want to. "I agree," I said, rolling my eyes. "Lennon, no dibs, and you're too damn drunk to be anyone's Daddy tonight."
"So it's down to you and me," Archer mused, rubbing his chin. "Rock, paper, scissors?"
"Definitely not," I murmured, even though I knew he was joking. Something like that should not be left to chance. I looked to Nyla for help, hedging my bets that she would pick Archer over me for her friend. "You know her best. I think you should decide."
Nyla nodded and thoughtfully tapped her chin, looking from Archer to me and back again. My heart actually skipped a beat, and I found myself holding my breath. I was sure she was going to pick Archer, and even though I thought it was for the best, I was dying a little inside.
"Well, since I haven't seen her paperwork and can only guess at her reasons and needs…I'm gonna go with Bain."
"Ouch. I'm wounded," Archer said. I could tell he was joking.
"Me?" I gulped. "Are you sure?" I asked, trying to keep my expression flat, and surely failing. If I looked in the mirror, I’d probably see a mix between deer caught in headlights and the cat that ate the canary.
Nyla stared me down and nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm sure, for a lot of reasons."
"Do you care to share what those reasons are?" I wasn't at all mad about it, but I was surprised. Nyla's favorite thing to do seemed to be to flick me shit, so I wasn't expecting her to choose me for her good friend. I’d been banking on the opposite.
However, when I gave her a chance to change her mind, Nyla doubled down. "Yeah. If Jazz came to the club looking for a Rent-A-Daddy, something is either really wrong, or she's overwhelmed. If something was really wrong, I'd have heard about it, so that means she's overwhelmed. She has three young kids, a dead husband, and a work from home job that can be stressful and hard to balance. None of that is going to change anytime soon, so she needs someone who can help her adopt a different point of view. Archer's too analytical, whereas you’re happy-go-lucky. She also needs someone to spoil her a bit, remind her to take care of herself, and maybe even show her some of the finer things in life. That's you, Bain. Hands down. You're the Daddy she needs. I know it. I feel it in my bones." Nyla ended her impassioned speech and our other friends nodded their emphatic agreement.
"Oh and one more thing," Nyla added.
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"If I remember correctly, you guys had a thing back in junior year."
I scowled and left, shutting the door behind me. Why did Nyla have to have the memory of an elephant?
Jasmine
Bain. Of course it had to be Bain tonight managing the front end. Running into him the other day had been bad enough, but this was just plain mortifying. When I'd told him why I was there his expression had remained blank, to his credit, but he hadn't been able to hide the glimmer of amusement in his eyes. He'd always had very expressive eyes.
He hadn't said a word, just handed me an application that was six pages long and left the room, walking through a door in the back labeled “private”. I knew from conversations with Nyla that it was probably where their owner’s lounge was located. Great. The whole crew was probably back there, Nyla included, and they were undoubtedly having a good laugh at my expense. Except for Nyla. She'd be worried. She'd want to run out here and check on me, and ask me a million questions about why I was there, but Bas would stop her. I didn't know the rest of them well enough to know what they would say or how they'd react.
