“Mmhm.”
“It was a little girl.”
“Is that you turning over a new leaf in your dating life?” she asked, bringing the cigarette to her lips and taking a long drag. “Because I really don’t want to know about your kink life—”
“No!” I exclaimed loudly. “Not what I’m talking about!”
“Hey! I’m not here to kink shame you, Glitz n’ Glam. I might have a few questions—”
“I met a little girland her momat Eduardo’s, I put their order on my tab, and the little girl thought hitting me in the face with pixie dust was the right way to thank me!”
“Right,” Nyla drawled slowly, nodding, “pixie dust.”
“You’re going to be calling me Pixie Dust for months, aren’t you?” I demanded. I could see the writing on the wall so clearly. There was no way in hell she was letting it go.
“You bet that sparkly beard of yours.” She tapped out her cigarette and dropped it in the ashtray she kept by the front window. “You know I don’t forget a damn thing, Pixie Dust.”
I groaned as I followed her inside. She veered left toward the garage, while I went right, heading straight for my office.Which meant I had to walk right past Roxy’s desk.
“Oh!” she gasped when she saw me. “You look—”
“Not a fucking word—”
“Pixie Dust,” Nyla called out, pausing in the doorway to the garage. “Pixie Dust came all over his face.”
“I hate you,” I said right back without an ounce of malice in my voice. I didn’t. She knew that.
“Is…” Roxy faltered. Her voice dropped as she asked, “Is Pixie Dust a stripper? Is glitter a… male stripper thing?”
“I didn’t do anything with a stripper!” I damn near shouted as I stormed into my office. “I met a little girl and her mom at Eduardo’s, I put their order on my tab, and the little girl thought hitting me in the face with pixie dust was the right way to thank me! I am a nice person!”
“Are you saying people who hire strippers aren’t nice people?” Roxy demanded, following me into my office. “I’ll have you know, I had a stripper at my last birthday party with my girls—”
“No!” I said loudly over her. “No, you did not! You’re basically my little sister. You’re young and innocent, and you don’t know what a stripper is! For all you know, it could be a kind of fucking dolphin!”
“Why a dolphin?”
“I don’t know!” I dropped into my chair with a heavy sigh. “I’m off my game.”
“That glitter really got to you, didn’t it?” she asked.
“It’s in my coffee, Roxy, and I don’t think it’s edible.”
“Do you want me to put in a pot of coffee for you?”
“Yeah.” I was whining. I knew it. “No. No, don’t do that. I can make my own coffee.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” I signed into my computer and started my morning routine. I gestured to the chair across from me, inviting her to sit since she knew the daily schedule better than I did. “I dropped Duke off at the groomer’s this morning. Is there any chance you can pick him up while I’m out?”
Duke was my three-year-old Belgian Malinois. He was a psycho, but he was the best dog I could ask for. To be honest, getting a dog had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. In hindsight, I should’ve thought about it harder—or at least done my research. The early days had been a little chaotic, but he went with me pretty much everywhere now.
“You know I don’t mind,” she replied with a grin. I knew she didn’t because she liked flirting with one of the groomers—some idiot named Aisling. Okay, he wasn’t actually an idiot. He was a good guy. I just didn’t like him becausesheliked him. She was better than a guy who worked part-time at the groomers and sold hemp on the side to make up the difference.
“Tell me what’s going on with my business today.”
“Devon and Zach both are over at the school today to wrap up a few last-minute things for them, and you have an appointment with Lindsey Henderson,” Roxy said.
