no help from you?” Cassie teased.
Meesha smiled and held up her hands, wiggling her fingers. “I do all my magic behind the scenes.”
“Spoken like a true social media diva,” Kyle said and Meesha took a bow.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Cassie said to Damon as he shrugged into his jacket. He nodded and held hers for her, then she pulled on her boots. “Going to the subway?”
“Yes.” He picked up his messenger bag.
“Me, too.”
“But what about my idea!” Kyle protested from behind them.
“I want to know,” Meesha said to him.
“I take that back,” Cassie muttered. “He’s like a kid, not like Tigger.”
“I heard that!”
“There’s a train in five minutes,” Damon said, tapping his watch.
“Mine’s in six,” Cassie said.
Kyle muttered a curse and flung on his coat before following them.
“But!” Meesha protested.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Cassie promised. “If it’s any good.”
They waved in unison to Christa on the desk and strode through the foyer together, Cassie’s heels clicking loudly.
“Empty retail space,” she said, shaking her finger at the space beside the shop carrying F5F merchandize. “I hate the sight of it. Every inch of this place should be making money.”
“Theo said he should have news on the permits for the condos this week,” Damon said.
“And not a moment too soon,” Cassie said. “This space, though, annoys me. It’s so visible to our members as they come and go. It looks like failure to me.”
“Street-level but not prime,” Damon said. “It’s tough to find the right business to rent it. It’s got to fit with the club’s vibe, be able to use a comparatively small space, and not need the visibility from the street.”
“I’ll think of something,” Cassie said, jamming her hands into her pockets then shivering as they drew near the glass doors. “It looks so cold out there.”
Kyle gave a theatrical sigh.
Cassie flicked a glance at Damon, then spun and stopped in front of Kyle. “Your idea is for that space,” she said, no question in her voice.
“And it’s so brilliant you will kiss my boot when you hear it.”
Cassie smiled and beckoned with both hands. “Come on, then. Hit me with your best shot.”
Inevitably, the pair of them launched into the chorus from the Pat Benatar song and Damon watched the minutes tick away. He could probably catch the next train. It didn’t really matter. His mom wasn’t going anywhere.
Meanwhile, Kyle was rocking around the lobby, playing his air guitar, singing the notes that the guitar should have been playing.
“Da dahhh!” He struck a final chord on his air guitar, jumping in place as he sang out the note, then slid on his knees to a halt before Cassie.
“And?” she prompted.
“A tattoo shop,” he confessed, his eyes dancing. “And not just any tattoo shop. Chynna’s tattoo shop. Her one, her only, with one complementary tattoo given to a customer at the F5F Club on the night of the full moon, because—” He held up a finger “—her tattoos make love come true.”
“No,” Cassie whispered.
“Yes!” Kyle said.
“Get out,” Damon said with a lot more skepticism than Cassie.
“It’s true, all true,” Kyle insisted. “When she does a tattoo on the full moon, she makes a little red heart in it with special ink, and that person’s romantic wish comes true. They find their one true love.”
“When?” Cassie asked.
“Soon.” Kyle made a vague wave.
“Did she do yours?” Damon asked, knowing that Kyle had a large chest piece that had convinced Lauren of his commitment to her.
“No way. There couldn’t have been any magic in that. Lauren would have tossed me out. It had to be sincere.”
Damon could understand that.
“Besides I got mine in San Francisco,” Kyle continued. “No, this is totally different, but I knew it would market brilliantly to our demographic.” He gave them a serious look. “Consider that Ty, Mr. Discriminating-Consumer, chose Chynna to do his one and only tattoo.”
“That’s only because Shannyn had hers done by Chynna,” Cassie noted.
“Still. You know he did the research. That man was not going to get ink from anybody but the best.”
“But this heart thing has to actually work,” Damon argued. “A marketing strategy based on it would backfire if the winner didn’t find true love.”
“Then we test it,” Kyle said. “Until you guys all believe.”
“Me, me, take me!” Cassie said and Damon laughed along with Kyle.
“That could take a while,” Damon felt compelled to note.
“You and Damon and Theo should each get one of her tattoos,” Kyle said. “Let’s have a systematic test of whether love really does run true.”
“I want the