Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,53

gold right there, and what we do best.” Nate’s grin as he spoke was infectious.

“Right? I mean, I have to hand it to you, Raine, you’re like a cat, but instead of nine lives, you have like forty-nine. I’ve never met anyone who lands on their feet as much as you do. You must have been born under a special star or whatever. I mean, fuck up after fuck up, but nothing ever seems to stick, and you always come up smelling of roses. You’ve had more second chances than most people have had hot dinners, and they just still keep coming.” Dillon slapped me on the back, beaming from ear-to-ear.

“Yeah, well, as ‘lucky’ as I am, there’s no bouncing back from the biggest mistake I ever made, and the stench of guilt never leaves me. There’s no magic wand. No do over. No forty-nine lives, but you’d know if there were, I’d give up every single motherfucking one, and thousands more besides to undo it.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry man, and obviously I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I don’t know what you meant. I just know what I heard.”

“Come on, Raine. He said he was sorry. It was a throwaway comment, not meant to hurt you. Can we enjoy this moment, a little while longer? It’s been an epic week—we’ve all been burning the candle at both ends, and in the middle, and that’s probably starting to catch up with us a little. You did good today, man, and we appreciate you. You told us to trust you, we did, and you came up with the goods. We all did our part, as ever, but I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking you’re the MVP on this one. That was some exceptional work.” Beck cuffed me on the shoulder as he grinned. If he ruffled my hair, I was going to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it.

“I can’t take all the credit. It was Nero’s idea originally, and she came up with and drew all those illustrations, which I’m fairly sure were the icing on the cake that sealed the deal for us.”

“Who the fuck is Nero? Isn’t her name Noa?”

“Probably. I don’t care.”

“You were prepared to go head-to-head with us over her, really setting the cat among the goddamned pigeons. You’ve screwed her, again, jeopardizing what we all have, and you can’t even remember her fucking name?”

“I mean, I can if I try, but why bother? It’s not like she’s the first chick I’ve fucked and not known her name, and she probably won’t be the last.”

“Jesus. You’re the worst.”

“Just because you’re all loved up now, doesn’t mean you can go around throwing stones in your serial-dater glass-fucking-house, Beck.”

“What? I’m not in a glass house. You can accuse me of whatever you like, but back in the day when I was playing the field, or whatever, I at least had the decency to find out a woman’s name before I boned her. I can’t necessarily say the same for remembering it after we’d done the deed, but it’s not my fault my memory ain’t for shit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your memory, you just didn’t care enough to retain the information.”

“I can’t argue with you there, man, but that’s all immaterial now, anyway. There’s only one woman’s name I need to know for the rest of my life.”

“Lord, pass me the puke bucket. Jesus Christ, that’s gross!” I made faux gagging noises, totally aware of the fact that I was behaving like a twelve-year-old boy.

Beck shrugged and smiled broadly. Jesus, he had it bad. He was so under the spell he didn’t even care if we pretty much called him a pussy to his face over it. If loved rotted people’s brains so badly, I was even more glad that it would never be me with the goofy grin and plans to produce crotch goblins. Never. Be. Me.

“Anyway, back to the matter at hand. As much as I put the spit and polish—as Dillon would say—on it, she did the heavy lifting in terms of coming up with the core idea that the client loves. You need to admit that was a good call on my part.” A landed silence descended on the car.

Though I’d technically won the argument to get her on staff, it was definitely a paper victory. The reality was, the guys weren’t happy with the decision, and probably never would be. Not that I was surprised. I’d practically had to