I pulled up the chat app on my phone and scrolled down to Mav’s name.
Sammy1995: What would you do if a guy at work went out of his way to help you clean up,
massaged your shoulders when you were stressed out, and insisted you take a break while he
cleaned up at the end of the night?
Maverick0808: Drop to my knees and beg that Daddy to take me home and love me forever.
Sammy1995: I’m being serious.
Maverick0808: Same. Do you know how rare men like him are?
Yes, I did know but, dammit, Mav wasn’t supposed to encourage me to make stupid choices. If
things went south with Theron, it’d be impossible to see him in the playroom with another boy. And if
he was there on his own, chances were he was looking for someone, and that meant Iwould
eventually see him taking care of someone else.
Bile churned in my stomach at the thought. He wasn’t supposed to pamper some other brat; he was
supposed to take care of me. But he didn’t exactly know that, now did he? No, he didn’t, because I
was a frigid bitch to him most of the night. Yes, I knew he’d been watching me because I’d been
watching him as well. And I’d gone out of my way to sneak past him, rather than get another taste of
what I knew I wouldn’t be able to have. Once he knew about me, he’d run the other way.
Maverick0808: Are you going to see him again?
Sammy1995: Probably. IDK. If he comes in, I will.
Maverick0808: Do you want to him to come into the bar?
Sammy1995: Yes.
Sammy1995: No.
Sammy1995: Ugh. I don’t even know.
Maverick0808: What are you scared of?
I gaped at the screen, typing and deleting a series of shitty responses. Maverick was theonly
person who knew everything. We’d been friends long enough that I’d trusted him when Anthony
bailed. He knew how long it took for me to believe I wasn’t a deceptive little shit and a fucking
disgrace. And on bad days, he was the one I still turned to when I couldn’t silence that voice.
Maverick0808: That was shitty of me. Let me put it this way… Do you really think he’d be like
that? Don’t give me your knee-jerk reaction, really think about it. Would he say any of those fucked
up things to you?
