that bet,” Bella said.
Drew leaned closer to her and whispered. “Are you sure? That’s a lot of money.”
“Shut up, Drew.” Bella held her hand out to Sophie. “You’re on.”
Sophie took her hand and shook. “Prepare to lose.”
I met Nora’s eyes and we nodded to each other. We needed to get Sophie out of here.
“Well, that escalated quickly.” Nora hooked her arm through one of Sophie’s and I did the same on the other side. “Come on, Soph. Let’s go.”
Sophie craned her neck to shout at the Bedazzled Bitches as we led her away. “You guys better save all that bitchy energy and quit flinging it at us, because you’re going to need it.”
Nora and I led her across the street, straight to Brody’s.
“Wait, we have to run first,” Sophie said.
I opened the door and Nora hauled her inside. “We’ll make up for it later.”
We found a table, deposited Sophie into a chair, and sat down on either side of her.
She blinked, glancing around like she wasn’t sure where she was. “Oh my god, what did I do?”
“I should probably be mad at you for that, but I’m too busy basking in your badassery,” Nora said. “Betting money was a bad idea, but damn, Soph. I didn’t know you had that in you.”
“They just made me so mad. I don’t care if they make fun of me. I’m never going to be a size two and I’m fine with that. But they called Everly dumb, and you slutty, and the way they talk to Hazel makes me want to punch them in their stupid faces.”
I smiled at her. “Oddly, that’s a very nice thing for you to say.”
“All four of those shabby bitches could use a punch to the face,” Nora said. “But now what are we going to do?”
“There’s only one thing we can do,” I said.
“What?”
I adjusted my glasses. “Win.”
24
Corban
“Scientists are the peeping toms at the keyhole of eternity.” ~ Arthur Koestler
The alarm went off, and I sprang out of bed. I had a lot to do today, including a meeting with Elliott to go over my grant proposal. That was why I hurried through my morning routine to get into work. It had nothing to do with a certain prickly coworker in the office next door. I’d been gone most of last week, and although the conference had been great, I had a lot of catching up to do.
Whatever virus had hit me had run its course in about a day. By the second morning, I’d been more or less back to normal—well enough to finish out the conference with Hazel. We’d hung out between sessions and eaten our meals together. Nothing that could be considered a date, but I’d liked spending time with her.
Getting naked with her a few more times, however, had been the best part.
That hadn’t been planned, but we’d clearly been on the same sexual wavelength. And it had been fucking fantastic.
Now that we were home, I needed to get my head back in the game. No more hot hotel sex. Hazel and I had both insisted—more than once—that we were only sleeping together because we were away.
Was that true? I really didn’t know. Given the opportunity, I knew damn well I’d sleep with her again. Whether I’d get that opportunity remained to be seen.
I showered, dressed, and grabbed a quick breakfast before heading into work. Hazel was in her office cradling a mug of tea in her hands when I walked by. I paused, and my first instinct was to walk in there and kiss her. But I pushed the urge aside. Regardless of how insanely hot the sex had been, we weren’t together. Before last week, we’d barely even liked each other. So the little smile she gave me felt like a win. I’d take it.
Doing my questionnaire with her had been another big win. I believed in what I’d created—believed in the data behind it. I’d put countless hours into analyzing the information that had led to those questions. I was proud of it and I’d liked sharing it with her.
Not that it had made us fall in love. But I hadn’t expected that. I already knew it didn’t work on me. And I wasn’t going to let the discontent humming in the back of my brain ruin the fact that we were getting along now. That had to count for something.
I just hoped I wouldn’t say something stupid to screw it up.
The morning got busy. Hazel disappeared—probably to the lab.