Mandy nodded. “Seven, I think.”
“Could you possibly give us their names?” Trask wheedled.
Mandy tapped away at the keyboard for several minutes, stopping every so often to make a note on the sticky pad next to her.
Tearing off the note, she handed it to Vic. “Will that be all?”
Vic’s eyes widened slightly at her cool, unfriendly tone and Lamar swallowed a sigh.
“No,” he said quietly. “I’d also like to thank you for not pressing trespass charges against me. It was unprofessional of me to show up on your doorstep and behave as I did.”
“You think?” Mandy snapped, her eyes flashing. “And you actually have Ren to thank, not me.” She glared at Lamar. “Even after you broke his heart, he still wants to be sure that you’re okay.”
At a loss for words, Lamar just stared at her. “I’m sorry? How did I..what?” He shook his head. “Can I speak with Aeren?”
Mandy’s nose wrinkled in disgust. She stood, addressing her words to Vic. “It’s time for you to go.”
~*~
A faint tap on the door made Aeren sigh.
“Come on in.”
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Aeren tried to return Mandy’s smile, but his face wouldn’t cooperate. Turning back to the window he’d been looking out, he sighed as the SUV brake lights pulled out of the parking lot.
“He asked to talk to you again,” Mandy said softly.
Aeren shrugged. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Drawing in a deep breath, Aeren turned to face his best friend. “Nothing, really.” He shrugged and bit down on his bottom lip. “We had sex and I thought it meant more than it did,” he mumbled, staring at the floor. “I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not,” Mandy disagreed immediately, reaching out to wrap him in a hug. “Did you tell him how you felt?”
Aeren shrugged. “Kind of, I guess. I told him he was special.”
“And?”
“And after we slept together, he said something about being glad I wasn’t around all the time.” Aeren shrugged at Mandy’s outraged gasp. “It’s not really his fault,” he tried to explain. “He told me before we did that it was only for the night and I wanted to do it anyway.” He forced a small smile. “Like I said, I’m an idiot.”
“You’re absolutely not,” she disputed firmly, tugging him over to sit on the bed. Picking up the sketch pad from the table next to it, she flipped the cover open. “You need a distraction. Tell me what you’ve been drawing lately.”
