She looks like Raven Marx, right?” I rolled my eyes at that. Brad talked about the porn star as if they knew each other. It was weird. But despite his compulsion, he was for the most part a good guy. He pulled out his phone, searching through some buttons before handing it over to me. A selfie of a waif thin girl with tits bigger and rounder than beach balls came up on some social media site.
“Yep, pretty, er, hot.” Yeah, not hot at all.
“Shit, man… Hot, but looser than a fucking—”
“Okay.” I laughed, guiding his shoulder toward the elevators. “I don’t need all the details, man.” This was really not the conversation I wanted to be having right now. Not with Shelby only a few steps away.
Brad held up his hands, laughing. “Since when?” His smiled dropped momentarily as he looked around, finally taking in just how far I’d gone for this day. “Ohhh,” he said quietly. “You really like this one.”
I snorted, busying myself with scratching Buddy behind the ear. “Don’t be an idiot. I just met her.”
He nodded, sucking the inside of his cheek. “Okay, okay. That’s good, man. It’s good to finally see you walking with the living again.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please. I’ve been partying with you all fucking summer.”
“Yeah.” He backed toward the door. “Physically you’ve been present, but when it comes to chicks? You haven’t seemed to really care since Katie—”
“I don’t want to talk about her.” Acid burned in my stomach. I hate that all my friends knew how dumb I’d been. They’d witnessed it from the beginning, how, despite their warnings, I moved forward, completely blind to her. “Besides. I’ve been with girls. A lot of them.” I wasn’t trying to brag—just reminding him that I hadn’t joined the priesthood.
“No, you’ve fucked a lot of girls. You haven’t ‘been’ with them.”
My expression fell quickly at that, and I sighed, scuffing my shoe across the floor. “Since when did you become a fucking poet, man?”
“So I worry about my friend. So what?” Brad shook his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Anyway, when do I get to meet this new mystery girl?” His grin split wider.
I snorted at that, tossing him a macaroon. One hand slipped from his pocket, just in time to catch it, and he stuffed it into his mouth all at once. “You? Oh, hell no,” I said, laughing. “If I have my way, she’ll stay as far away from your ass as I can keep her.”
The elevator slid open just then, and Brad’s grin stretched as he shot me a wink. “I can see why,” he said quietly.
I groaned. Standing there in a fitted button-down shirt and jeans was Shelby. She was dressed simply. No, not simple…classic. And beautiful. She wore her hair down. The dark blond strands fell straight beyond her shoulders, and the ends of her wispy bangs swept, as always, to the left and caught on the tips of her long eyelashes.
She blinked, looking between Brad and me, her eyes landing on mine. My heart thundered inside my chest, and I was certain Brad sensed it. He snickered from beside me, and stepped onto the elevator. “You must be Tate’s community service?” He leaned into the elevator doors, holding them open. “I’m Brad.” One hand darted out, lifting Shelby’s into a lingering shake before she even offered it.
“Shelby,” she answered cautiously.
Brad pulled back, flashing her a wide smile. “It’s really nice to meet you,” he added more quietly, and there was a genuine tone in his voice that made me remember why I kept that asshole around. “Have fun you two.” He winked at me as the elevator slid shut.
She spun to me, cheeks red. “What exactly did you tell him we’d be doing?”
I sighed, holding the door open for her. “Nothing. I just said I had plans.”
There was a noise that rumbled at the back of her throat like some sort of gargling. “Sure.” She lifted a worn-looking messenger bag from one shoulder, setting it on my counter.
“It’s true.”
She picked up the beret, which I had left sitting on the counter, and held it up, her mouth tipping into a haughty smirk. The kind of smirk that I wanted to kiss away.
“And what’s this?”
“I had a little plan.” I leaned in, gently taking the beret from her grasp and placing it on my head. “To introduce you to the French lifestyle.”
“Is that guy code for you wanting to try a ménage?”
I choked on