Humming, she wiggles her brows. “Guess you’ll find out next time you grab a spare one.” She leaves quickly after that, teeth catching on her lip to suppress her growing smile.
And I stare after her, wondering where this firecracker of a woman has been all our lives.
10: Flo
“Idon’t think I’ve ever met anyone who enjoys matcha more than you.” Poppy scrunches her nose up at my drink as we sit in Mug & Mingle, with Mae giggling beside me.
“I’m surprised your skin isn’t green,” she titters.
“I could so use this in one of my psychology reports.” Poppy holds her hands out in front of her, as if reading from a newspaper. “The sudden fad that is matcha. Why are people suddenly so obsessed with this sludgy green goo?”
“It’s kind of like anal. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” I say, slurping from my straw again, fighting my smile.
Poppy spits out her drink, having to use a napkin to dab at her chin, and an elderly couple beside us shoot an offended look our way before they move seats.
“Speaking of knocking. And anal.” Mae’s now composed herself, leaning closer to me on the table, resting her chin in her hands. She flutters her eyelashes innocently. “Evan.”
“Look, there’s no way that’s happening with him. He seriously can’t wait to get rid of me. And as much as he ogles me like he’s never seen a pair of tits before in his life, he would never go there.”
WouldIeven go there?
Of course I fucking would. I’m not blind.
“That’s what I said before Nathan and I were together, but all I needed to do was get him into bed for him to change his mind. Actually, you were the one who encouraged it.”
“Yeah, and he never eye-fucks his nannies. Actually, he barely even looks at them before firing them. Maybe he’s finally decided he needs a bit of fun.” Poppy grins.
Evan is actively looking for my replacement and has way too much going on in his life to relax and have fun, though. I swear, the man is a working ball of stress. “Okay, sure, some no-strings-attached fucking will do him some good, but I know for a fact that it won’t be with me.”
I enjoy holding my own, but I also don’t mind being told what to do. Being told I’m doing it just right. Just how they like it. I guess you could say I have a bit of a praise kink, and I’d definitely enjoy Evan’s husky voice telling me what I do to him. However, it’s all reserved for my imagination because my time with Evan and Leo is limited.
“I’ve never seen Evan with a woman. Like, ever,” Poppy says, seeming distracted on her phone, her fingers moving at a mile a minute. She smiles, clears her throat, and locksit before placing it on the table. I notice how she blushes, and I incline my head to the side out of curiosity.
“He may be a grumpy asshole, but I bet deep down, he just wants love.”
“Trust me, that man wants to be as far away from love as possible. He’s happy with just Leo.”
Love.It’s something I’ve never experienced. Of course, when I was younger and in meaningless relationships, I thought I was in love. But it’s obvious that it was attachment now that I look back at it.
I like to tell myself I still have time. That at my age, I don’t need to find someone and settle down desperately, but then I look at my sister, who’s happily married with a beautiful little girl, and my worries about what I’ll do in the future creep in.
I love that my sister’s smitten. I’m happy for her, but I always wonder if that kind of love will find me, or if I’ll be the cool auntie who grows up unmarried and childless, claiming she loves the life she lives, when in reality, I’m actually lonely.
I’ve dated, but no man has ever kept my attention. Not in the sense that I have a wandering eye, but that they get lazy. Once they have what they want, they take you for granted and expect you to be there through it all.
Life is way too short to be treated shitty.
“Do you know much about Leo’s mother?”
Mae bites her lip, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. “Not really. Nathan and I have only ever spoken about it once.I know she’s not in the picture anymore, but it’s for the best.”
I’ll hold my hands up and admit that, yes, since being here, I’ve done some digging. Yet, there’s no evidence to show that anyone claiming to be Leo’s mother is being truthful. I couldn’t find any photos of Evan alone with a woman either, unless it was some money-grabbing online news show making something out of nothing, or a mile-long forum filled with comments about how some people believe Evan and Bennett’s bromance is more than they let on, and they believe the guys hired a surrogate. But it’s mostly just trolling—a way for people to get a good laugh, because apparently it’s funny to them.
My brows furrow. “Did they live off-grid or something? How come they weren’t spotted together at least once?”
“Evan’s private about his life, as I’m sure you’re aware. As far as I know, he was only with Leo’s mother for a couple of months before she got pregnant, and when she did, she basically avoided him for the entire nine months.”
“Then she left,” Poppy finishes. “Crappy behaviour. That’s got to scar anyone.”
