“Those stay,” I said.
Frustration slipped from her expression, and a smile lifted in her eyes instead. “Oh, he likes the naughty hearts,” she teased.
“Could be fun,” I mused before picking up another.
GOOD GIRL, it read.
Avril chuckled softly as she crumbled up one of the heart papers. “The god has spoken,” she said loudly to the decorating crew. “Leave the candies, the roses, and the confetti on the tables. Toss the rest.”
I held Avril’s—only slightly annoyed—gaze a moment, then slid a candy heart in her direction. She read it with knitted brows, nearly rolling her eyes, but unable to stifle her widening grin.
I winked at her before turning on my heel. “See you in an hour, Av,” I told her. A few steps later, I circled, walking backward and saying, “You should wear something more fitting on those curves. Show off that body we all know you’re hiding under there.”
“There will be enough of that to go around tonight,” she said. “Wait—you can’t leave yet,” she added urgently, having apparently realized I was heading out.
I frowned, but even as I started to reply, the back kitchen door swung open, and two of my co-workers came out with a small cake, sparklers erupting, and the number five drawn on in red atop the white icing.
Five years since the app’s launch.
Claps sounded, and I laughed as a few of my friends and colleagues appeared to congratulate me. I wavered through the throng, running my hand through my fluffy ginger hair and over my face. I stopped to give them hugs, not daring to take all the credit as we’d only made it to five years due to their hard work. I couldn’t have done it without this group. They were the core of the app’s magic, why it thrived and attracted so many. I maneuvered through until I reached Avril, and then she handed me a gift.
“You really didn’t have to,” I said, pulling on the red velvet ribbon wrapped around the box. I had no idea what she or the rest of this group would have gotten, but it had to be one of two things: something wholly inappropriate or a gag gift.
“What is it? Did you—“
Red, fuzzy handcuffs fell into my hand.
Of fucking course.
I lifted a coy brow to Avril’s satisfied smirk as whistles sounded from the rest of the crowd.
“Trying to tell me something, Av?” I asked.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say we hope you find someone to use them on tonight,” she replied, and some people clapped heartily while a few others grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me in a ragging manner. I couldn’t stifle a wide grin as I stuffed the handcuffs in my back pocket.
My phone buzzed again—over a thousand invitations claimed.
“Alright, back to it—“ I kissed Avril quickly on the cheek, then turned on my heel. “One hour until showtime.”
CHAPTER TWO - CHLOE
ONE HOUR UNTIL I could go home.
That was how long I’d told my friend, Lana, I would stay at this singles party she was so desperate to attend. A singles party on Valentine’s Day—typical. And, of course, it was being sponsored by the most popular dating app online right now, one that Lana was obsessed with and one that I hardly had time for. I hardly had time to see my friends on the weekends, much less devote time and energy to strangers with bad pickup lines.
“It’s not even a dating app,” I had said a few hours earlier as I looked through my closet.
“Sure it is,” Lana argued, standing in front of the mirror and checking out her ass in the fitted red dress she was wearing.
“Name one actual date you’ve ever been on using that app,” I challenged.
“I went out with…” Lana paused, and I laughed.
“Exactly.”
But Lana ignored me. “You can select what you’re looking for,” she argued. “Marriage, one-night hookup, casual, friends—“
“Someone to murder you,” I muttered under my breath.
