Tossing the photo in her messenger bag, along with the few other personal possessions she kept at work, Ria tried to shake off the feeling her night was about to get much worse.
Her mom was going to love this.
Exiting the building under the watchful eye of security guards—as if she was even capable of making a scene—she pulled her phone from her pocket and hit the first button on her speed dial.As the phone rang, she began the six-block journey back to the high-rise complex that had been her home for years.A home she now had to pack up, because the city no longer felt welcoming.She’d tried to make it and failed, like her mom always said she would.
At least her suffering would bring somebody joy though.Because like it or not, Ria was heading back to Seacliff.
Chapter Two
Lissa
“Fuck!”
The sweat running down Lissa’s back had long since turned the light blue of her jeans into a dark swampy mess around the waistband, and now all her hard work was for nothing.She was tempted to toss the cracked hunk of glass across the workshop, but not even her temper could override her ironclad adherence to safety protocols.
Moving slowly so as not to create a bigger mess for herself, she rose up from the small stool that loved to give her a numb ass and took her failed project over to the reclaim pile.Dumping what should have been a beautiful glass ornament onto the heap of brightly colored shards, she sighed.Christmas was in six days, and she still had thirty more ornaments to make.
Mr.Ginatti, their marketing rep, hadn’t been very forthcoming about what his exciting PR stunt entailed, saying only that she needed at least fifty ornaments ready to go by Christmas Eve.An endeavor that was proving challenging when she couldn’t get her mind off the party happening in the lobby.
A party where her girlfriend would no doubt be getting tipsier by the minute—something she should be there to monitor.
Lissa ran a hand through her chin-length pink hair in frustration as the sound of laughter tugged at her to abandon the shop and join the celebration.She normally adored the Christmas season and all the food, lights, and festive cheer that came along with it, but this year she just couldn’t bring herself to embrace the fun.How could she sing bad karaoke when her entire livelihood was resting in the hands of some big marketing corporation in the city?Belting out “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” wasn’t magically going to erase her worries.
So instead of joining Lexi in the lobby, with the rest of the coalition artists who rented space in the studio, she picked up her blowpipe and trudged back over to the yoke.
“Lissa, baby, what are you still doing back here?”a syrupy sweet voice called out behind her.
So much for getting any more work done.
Returning the pipe to its holder, she turned to face Lexi, grimacing when she noticed the slight sway to her girlfriend’s movements.“I thought you weren’t going to be drinking much tonight?”she demanded, probably harsher than was necessary, but her patience had started to run out somewhere around the tenth straight hour in front of a hot furnace.
They had only been together a few months, but Lissa was starting to think she couldn’t offer Lexi the amount of support the girl needed.The vivacious potter had captured Lissa’s attention when she started renting space from Smooth Expressions, but the drinking quickly became a point of contention between them.Lissa loved fun as much as the next person, but when too much fun had caused her girlfriend to knock over a rack of ornate glass sculptures last week, it was time to re-evaluate the relationship.
“Oh, don’t be such a stick in the mud.It’s Christmas,” Lexi whined, gesturing wildly with her half-empty champagne glass.A glass Lissa had blown last week and set aside to be sold in the shop.Smooth Expressions couldn’t exactly afford for any pieces to end up shattered on the floor when Lexi inevitably started dancing on a table and forgot she was drinking from a thirty-dollar piece of art.
“Lex, this isn’t cool.Hand over the glass.”Lissa reached for the drink, but Lexi skipped away before Lissa could snag the endangered flute.
“If you want it so bad, come and get it.”Lexi took a slow seductive drink then licked her lips.
The action reminded Lissa of all the wicked things she knew that mouth was capable of, and in the past it might have been enough for her to hang up the blowpipe and pull out a different long thick object.
Yes, please do that, her vagina argued, feeling neglected as of late.
You still have a lot of work to do, her brain pointed out in response.Blow now, fuck later.
On a better day, she might have let her nether regions make the decision, but tonight she was simply too tired to play Lexi’s games.“I’m not doing this, Lex.I need that glass.”
Lexi pouted and held the flute over her head.“You never want me to have any fun.I like drinking, Liss.I like how it makes me feel.”
Lissa rubbed at her forehead.Of course her girlfriend had no clue what she was holding.Lexi had never even shown the smallest inkling of interest in Lissa’s work.Seeing her glass waved around so casually solidified the decision Lissa had been struggling with for a few days.She’d hoped to stave off this conversation until after the holidays, but it was looking less and less like she was going to make it.
“Lexi, can’t you go get a different drink?”Lissa asked.“I won’t even stop you if you’re so dead set on messing up your life.Just hand me that glass.”
“This glass?”Lexi dangled it out in front of her.“This is what you want so badly?”
“Yes, now hand it over.”
“Fine.”Lexi held out the glass, but right as Lissa reached for it, she opened her hand.
