to a fight. Then the future Darth Vader told his mentor he was underestimating his power.
All things I’d never ever tell Catalina I used for inspiration, because for some reason she refused to understand how amazing the Star Wars franchise was. We’d fought over it once in college and for our friendship’s sake, had vowed to never speak of it again.
I pushed myself out of my chair, similar to how Catalina had done earlier when she’d been giving a demonstration, bracing my palms against the table. “Look dude, I’m sure in the office, you’re Mr. Big Shot. But here…” I reached out and yanked on the end of his tie, not sure what’d come over me but going with it. “You’re just another tool in a suit. And I don’t accept drinks from tools, tie or no tie. I can buy my own, just like I can afford my own car, my own French fries, and my own place.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Catalina and Ellie mouthing “French fries?” at each other. They so weren’t helping, but they’d given me a much-needed boost, and where was I again? That double whiskey had left my brain on the sloggy side.
“I’m guessing that it’d be easier to buy all those things if you had your debit card,” Archer said, and I blinked at him. Was that some kind of odd trash talk I’d never heard of? If so, I didn’t get it.
He held up two fingers, brandishing a debit card.
My debit card.
Everything inside of me shriveled up and died, and the heat of a thousand embarrassed suns burned my cheeks.
“You left this. The bartender must’ve fried his brain with too many steroids because he didn’t think it’d be worth walking it over to you. Fortunately for you, this tool in a suit didn’t want you to find yourself somewhere you’d need your card and not have it. Or to go through the pain of canceling it and getting a new one. But don’t worry. I’ll never ever bother you again.”
He Frisbeed the slim plastic rectangle onto the table, turned on his heel, and strode away. He had a great ass, too, one that filled out his suit pants nicely, and a groan slipped as I flopped into my seat. I felt like the meanest bitch ever, and not in a good, I’m-totes-crushing-it way.
Catalina grimaced in my direction. “That was my bad, Pen. In good news, you’ll likely never see him again.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing him again,” Ellie said, and judging from the way she jerked and rubbed at her shin, she’d gotten the pointy tip of Cat’s stiletto. “My bad. But we can’t rewind time, and we’re no longer apologizing to men, so let’s turn that frown upside down and look at the bright side.”
“There’s a bright side to being humiliated by one of the finest men who’s ever kinda sorta hit on me?”
Ellie vehemently nodded. “Yeppers. Did you pay attention to the way he flung the card in your direction and stormed out like that?” I had, of course, as it would’ve been impossible to miss, but I excelled at reading Ellie, and she was only halfway through her point. Sure enough, she gestured toward the doorway that Archer York had charged through like a man on a mission—the mission of getting away from me. “Now that’s the perfect example of big dick energy.
4
Penelope
As much as I believed in breaking stereotypes, Monday morning apparently didn’t feel the same way. I’d dropped my favorite eyeshadow, watching in slow motion as it shattered on the floor, and there weren’t any available parking spots near the office downtown, so I’d had to park several blocks away and then huff it in my tight pencil skirt and four-inch heels in order to arrive at time.
In further proof my good girl shell wasn’t easy to shed, I’d picked at the pieces all weekend, obsessing over how stuck up I must’ve come across at the bar on Friday night.
The way Archer had flung the credit card on the table replayed on a loop, along with the way he’d casually strolled away as if it was no skin off his very fine backside. I’d even tried to convince myself I was obsessing about his grand exit for research purposes.
As Ellie pointed out, it was a prime example of the vibe I was going for. However, the regret that bubbled up said something else, and I needed to get better at suppressing it ASAP in