I’ll get my life back.
Just . . .perfect.
I knock for a moment, because letting myself in with the key feels weird for some reason. And I wait for someone to let me in. The event starts in about an hour, and I want it to do well. Genuinely. Sawyer didn’t mean to get caught up in this, and I don’t want him to fail.
I want good things for him.
I don’t deserve any of them.
He deserves to be happy. Thriving. I don’t know who he’ll end up with, but it better be someone a million times better than me. It’s what he deserves.
Finally, Jamie opens the door. Eyes glowering. I’ve noticed it’s hard to tell whether he’s angry or if this is just his face. I haven’t figured it out yet. It only seems to turn soft when the curly-haired one with freckles is near him.
He stares at me.
“What?” I ask.
“What, what?”
“Your face.”
His scowl deepens. “Yourface.”
“Whatever. I need to work.” I push past him, and I’m instantly impressed with the decorations. There are balloons everywhere, strapped to chairs in shades of pink, red, and white.The dessert bar is filled with various truffles. The red boxes he bought are at one end ready for people to fill. I wonder how much work he did alone. Especially after taking days off with me.
My back still hurts and itches. I’ve kept an eye on the wounds, and it’s not the first time I’ve dealt with something like this. I keep them clean, though, in the showers at the gym. I just need to be careful of infection. The last thing I can afford is a hospital bill.
The itching sometimes drives me crazy.
Real unfortunate when I’m alone.
I walk in, feeling so anxious. Which is stupid. It’s not like Sawyer’s been telling them all about us. Right? I see all his friends wearing matching pink aprons without their shirts on. Even the pretty Black woman is only wearing a thin tube top covering her chest underneath the apron. Brianna, right?
“Oh, Aiden.” She walks up to me. “Here you go, sweetie. Shirt’s optional.” She winks.
Her face is painted like the morning I found her in bed—red dusts her lids while glittery pink shimmer outlines her cheeks. Her hair is down in loose goddess locs, threaded with pink and red coils and little charms with hearts between the dark brown of her hair. She does look stunning.
“Thank you.” I take the apron, keeping my shirt on and slipping it over my T-shirt.
“Noah!” I hear someone yell, then watch the blond White man storm out of the back. “Brianna.”
She grins maniacally at me. “I’m in trouble,” she giggles before turning to him. “Yes, love?”
“What the fuck is this!?” He holds out his apron... or smock.
“What, baby?” She blinks innocently. “What’s wrong?”
“You were my friend first!” She only laughs harder. “You guys are so mean to me.”
“Hey.” She shrugs. “Noah gave me the order and made it accordingly.”
Mark shakes his head. “Shame on you for letting that hell demon turn you against me.”
She giggles, throwing her arms around him. “You know I love you.”
He holds out the full-sized smock that looks like one of the things Katya wears while she paints.
“Real one’s in the back. We just had to laugh. Why don’t you give it to Jamie, he can use it while he paints.”
