Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,34

I’ll let you have that one. Movie starts at eleven thirty.

Me: See you then.

Reed: Not if I see you first.

He better not have anything else planned. I rest my phone on the seat cushion next to me.

“Are we going?” Jade asks.

I nod.

“YAY!” She jumps around the room.

“Time for bed. Say goodnight to Grandma,” I say, rising from the couch.

My mom looks at me over Jade’s shoulder, and her expression reminds me of when I graduated high school. The pride there pierces my heart because I know it’s undeserved. Even if I agreed to see Reed on the weekend, I can’t do what she wants me to do. I can’t open my still-withered heart to Reed.

Chapter Ten

“How’s the steak?” Chelsea throws herself down into the seat in front of me.

“Stop it with the steak analogy. I’m trying to imagine him more like liver.” I finish typing an email to the company doing our favors for the gala and give her my attention.

“Maybe just gouge your eyes out so you don’t have to see him anymore?”

“I’ll have to try that. Thanks for the suggestion.” I dismiss her by looking back at my computer screen.

“Jeez, I was about to tell you about a date I went on last night.”

Now she has my attention.

“Mid-week?” She nods, and I wonder what kind of guy was worth her time during the week. Chelsea is fanatical about her schedule during the week. Every day after work, she goes to work out, heads home, makes dinner and then binge watches Netflix while she probably color codes her panty drawer.

“Yeah, but sadly I totally missed the signs.” She digs into her bag and retrieves her phone, pulling up a picture and shoving the phone in my face. “Check out his profile.”

“Whoa. Talk about steak dinner. He’s aged to perfection.”

“Yeah and he’s a model.”

“Jeez, Chels, a model?” I enlarge the picture. “His abs look like they were drawn on.” I take in the fine specimen for another second. “Don’t you find it weird that he’s not wearing a shirt?”

She grabs the phone from my clasp. “He was supposed to be on a beach.”

“Still, why would you choose that picture?”

“Vic, the lack of shirt isn’t the problem.”

I wait for her to fill me in.

“It’s the fact that when I showed up at the restaurant, this was him.” She shoves the phone back in my face where a picture of an average looking guy is on the screen, not nearly as well groomed as the previous man. I’m thankful that he’s chosen to wear a shirt to cover up his beer gut.

I purse my lips to try to stop my smile that’s tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Oh, man.”

“Yeah. He told me he thought I knew the picture was a joke because the guy is some famous model.”

“Who?”

“I Google image searched the picture and it’s a model for a sunscreen company. It’s not like we’re talking Gandy or Tyson here. How was I supposed to know?” She stares at the photo again.

“How did you handle it?” I cringe, wondering how harsh Chelsea got.

“At first, I just left, but once I got outside, I composed myself and decided that after I went to all the trouble of getting ready and taking a cab there, this guy is going to pay for me to eat at Alinea.”

“Alinea says something positive about him, don’t you think?” You’re not getting out of there for less than a few hundred dollars a plate.

She nods. “I guess. He might not have washboard abs, but he can swim in a pool of hundreds.”

“So?”

“So, nothing.” She shrugs. “He was a nice guy. Polite, listened to me ramble on about my cousin’s upcoming wedding. I even broke the cardinal rule and talked about my ex. Which was probably good because he didn’t even try to kiss me after.” She looks as confused as she sounds. “It was a weird night but I’m thinking that’s what I need.”

“To catfish someone?” I chuckle.

“No! I need to date only nice guys. Exclusively nice guys who aren’t all about themselves and how much pussy they can get.”

“You’re going to narrow it down to one flavor?”

“Yes, vanilla. But there are still variations within vanilla. You can have homemade vanilla, natural vanilla, French vanilla, vanilla bean...”

I smile while she tucks her phone back into her purse. “Don’t. You know me. I’ll probably go on two vanilla dates before I crave that chocolate covered ganache bad boy again.” She stands up. “Come on. Hannah said the