Another beep and a photo of me wearing the purple dress I just bought. This guy is seriously creeping me out. He’s everywhere. I take a deep breath and with one last look in the mirror, I walk out.
Lucinda is standing in the hallway talking on her phone, whispering, as if she doesn’t want anybody to hear the conversation. She looks rattled when she sees me and ends the conversation.
“Sorry, it was my dad. He’s a bit -” she pauses, probably looking for the right word, and then goes with “- intense.” I can relate to that. My whole damn family is intense.
We walk back to the table and I drink another shot of tequila.
“Can you order us some food,” I ask Logan. “I’m starving?” Maybe I’ll feel better after I eat something.
“Why do we feed her again?” Enrique teases.
“Cause she gets cranky when we don’t,” Jackson raps.
“And then she screams at us,” Ilkay continues.
“Good point. Burgers it is.”
Axel arrives with three men and walks over to our table.
I recognize my dog trainer – Alejandro – the guy who saw my unflattering fall as I got acquainted with sweet Mother Earth this morning on my way to class. It was absolutely classic. The other guys are Noah, an engineering student, and Jesse, who is in some of my IT classes.
“Hey, girl,” Alejandro shifts in next to me. “How’s your knee?” I blush, experiencing the embarrassment all over again.
“Just a little scrape.”
I notice a seriously icy stare-off happening between Alejandro and Damion. The one glare is pure solid ice while the other is the pits of hell.
Ug, their petty Alpha ego match has nothing to do with me. I drink another tequila. At this rate, I will need a lift home.
And not even the alcohol can make me forget his words in the bathroom.
There’s only one problem – I play for keeps and he is not into keeping.
Date = 6 November
Place = San Francisco (Paws and Claws)
POV – Melaena
Damion took me home.
The thought is trying to sink into my hangover tequila brain. At this very moment, it’s all working against me … the shame, the headache, the nausea, the lack of sleep, my annoying friend … and it all combines to leave me cranky and yearning for my bed.
I’m contemplating turning around and running back to bed and never getting out of it again.
And the sunglasses are not helping. The sun is so bright and the sky so blue, a pleasant wind blowing through my hair – I feel like punching the heartwarming day in the face, grabbing it by its ear, and beating the shit out of it until its heart is a little less warm.
“You look like shit.” Of course, Kiara will disapprove of my current state. You would not catch her dead in public looking like this – jeans, a hoodie, and unbrushed hair bundled in a crow nest on my head, held in place with a clip. And no makeup.
Too bad. She forced me out of bed this morning – way too chirpy for my liking.
“Was it really that bad?” I whimper, wanting to sink into some hole if I think about everything I said. How can I be so brain-dead, telling him how sexy he is to his face? Ug, death, please come take me now.
“Yep, you were crushing a little … but he was so sweet … closing his eyes while helping me to get you dressed. It was unexpected but so bitterly cute I almost melted,” Kiara says in a sugary voice. And for her to go on like this … he must have made an impact.
“Ug, you’re the worst friend ever, making him help you strip me down.” That’s probably the most embarrassing part of all.
“Hey,” she snaps and a very accusing finger gets pointed my way, “You were the one begging him to stay. And you know I have weak arms.” Yeah, right. A weak ankle maybe but there’s nothing wrong with her arms. I’ve seen her easily lift her own weight, and that’s more than me.
Sweet. That man is anything but sweet.
BUT he hadn’t taken advantage of me last night, which meant that despite his cheeky-ass mouth and cocky everything, he was a good guy.
I groan and put my hands on the sides of my temples, squeezing them. Damn, I think my head’s gonna explode.
“Get over it. And if I might add – it’s self-inflicted!” she scolds unsympathetically. I snort, but she’s right. Nobody forced me to down that many shots. I did that all by myself.
“Cheer up, it’s not a death sentence.”
“No, it’s much much worse. You don’t have an annoying stalker and an even more annoying brother’s friend annoying you. And you didn’t say goofy stuff to that same annoying ass because he’s so annoyingly sexy and now he’s going to be even more annoying.” I squint my eyes trying to count how many times I’ve said the word ‘annoying’, but it still doesn’t seem enough.
“You sure you got enough ‘annoyings’ in there?” Crap. A low, undeniably teasing but oh-so-captivating voice says behind me, one that could melt the panties off any sane woman in a heartbeat.
Good thing I’m not that sane today. But it’s bad that he heard my whole rambling diacope.
“Good morning, you annoying hot sexy hunk,” Kiara greets using my words of last night. Her voice is full of bundled-up laughter. So are her eyes. And I wonder how many years in jail one gets for killing their adoptive cousin and if you will get a reduced sentence if you had a really good reason.
“What the hell do you want now? I’m already being punished enough, I don’t need to deal with the likes of you too!” I look at him, eyes blazing – not that he can see them through my glasses. And no, I don’t notice how annoyingly handsome he looks in his jeans and blue shirt.
“Well, ain’t we just a scoop full of grumpy in a bowl of bitchy this morning? And here I come bearing gifts.” I swallow down the lump in my crop and notice the parcel in his hand. Cafe Rosalena. My mouth starts to drool. I frickin love that place.
“I forgive your insult but just because you brought food.” Okay, I was a teeny bit overreacting and a little rude. He stretches out his arm and I grab the parcel from his hand. It smells deliriously, deliciously like breakfast in a roll.
“I was not insulting you, I was describing you, angel.” He steps closer and pulls out a bottle of water. Kiara grabs the bag and runs to a nearby bench.
“Drink this first. The tequila left you dehydrated.” He takes something from his pocket. “And two of these might help.” It’s painkillers. I take the bottle and two pills and nearly down the contents. Not because of what he said, but because I’m thirsty and my head hurts.
“Breakfast burritos!” Kiara shouts. “You’re my frickin hero.” Bitch. She opens up a burrito and takes a big bite. “Mm. Now this is some pretty good stuff.”