“Was he sorry and wanting to work it out?” Amy frowned. She didn’t know Trent as the douche he really was. She only knew the cordial, yet aloof man, I’d taken to the company holiday party.
I choked out a laugh as I twisted the cap off of my bottle of water.
“Sorry that he was losing a two-bedroom apartment in walking distance of the subway station? Yes, very sorry. Hurting me? He couldn’t have cared less. While he was out, I stuffed all his belongings in garbage bags and had my cousin change the locks.”
Her jaw dropped. “I’m in awe. Good for you, Cat.”
“Don’t be in awe. Things should have ended long before he—” I skipped over the blow job on my couch. My hands were raw from scrubbing that damn thing every day, and it still seemed tainted.
“I left the bags in the lobby with the building’s security guard, who ended up calling the cops to have him removed from the premises. I was able to watch the whole thing on my intercom camera feed.” Still, I wished I’d asked the landlord for a copy of the tape. That was great TV.
“Anyway, Joe owns a restaurant in Ocean Cove. We met the night I arrived, and, long story short, we’ve been together ever since. I stayed with him an extra few days after my friends went home.”
Amy grinned. “Judging by the hazy look in your eyes, I guess things are still hot and heavy.”
“Well, we said we’d give long-distance a try, but I have no clue when we’ll be able to see each other.”
“Why can’t you go see him this weekend and work from there? All the other managers do it.”
“That’s why the other managers are hated,” I said before taking a long swig of water.
“Some, yes, but that’s not why. Plus, I know you’d work from a gas station if you had to and still get more done than all of us. You could make it a long weekend whenever you wanted.”
I nodded. That did sound amazing. It was hard to reconcile the fun-loving Caterina from the shore and the nailed-to-her-office-chair Cat. I used to think I was working toward a goal; now, it just seemed as if I was missing out on all the important things.
“Anyway, show me a picture.” She propped her elbow on the table and held out her hand.
I unlocked my phone and swiped past the picture of the selfie Joe took of the both of us in bed before I handed it to Amy. We were covered by the sheets, but that one was only for my eyes.
Amy gasped as she scrolled though the pictures. “You spent two weeks withhimand still came back? He’shot, Cat. You guys look amazing together.”
A smile touched my lips. We were amazing together when we were actually together.
I snapped out of my trance when Amy dropped my phone on the table.
“What? Oh, the one of us in bed?” I cringed and took back my phone.
“No.” She giggled and covered her eyes. “The video.”
“The video?” I snatched back my phone and glanced at the still of the video on my screen. It was Joe, in a towel, mid-lap dance encore. When did he do this?
“You didn’t know it was there?” She gaped at me as I shook my head in disbelief.
“Absolutely not.”
She was still laughing when I punched out a text.
Caterina:I’m going to kill you.
Joe:??
Caterina:Don’t play dumb, Magic Mike. When did you do that?
Joe:You just found it now?
Caterina:No, my friend did. She wanted to scroll through my vacation pictures and stumbled upon my naked boyfriend dancing with a towel. So, thanks. Now I can’t look her in the eye for the rest of the day.
Joe:Your BOYFRIEND misses the shit out of you, right now. You must be seven shades of red.
