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“It was amazing…okay? He took me to the ballet, to the perfect restaurant, he ordered all the right food, he was a perfect gentleman. And then…”
Tori rubbed her hands together, eagerly waiting for my next sentence. “And then…?” She prompted at my silence.
I sank into a chair at the dining room table. “I made a royal mess of things.”
Tori came to join me at the table. She sat down opposite of me, opened the top off the chocolates, and popped one of the truffles in her mouth. “Fuck! These are amazing!” She gushed, her mouth still full. “Sorry, sorry. Continue, please!”
I gave her the abbreviated version of what had happened and she continued to gawk at me as if I’d sprouted horns or a tail. “That’s gotta be a mad case of blue balls…damn, Ev.”
“I know. I feel awful about it, but I just wasn’t ready…”
Before Tori could launch anymore questions at me, my phone started ringing. I grabbed it out of my gym bag. “Crap!” I exclaimed, seeing Ryker’s name on the screen. I clicked onto the call. “I’m so sorry I forgot to text…I’m home safe.”
“Glad to hear it,” he drawled. What are you doing tomorrow night?”
His question nearly made me fall out of my chair. “What?”
“I want to see you tomorrow, Everlie.”
My body went hot. Tori was watching me intently, her eyebrow arched so high a wrinkle creased her forehead. “Um…okay? If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” he replied, his smile audible in his voice. “I’ll pick you up from your apartment at six. Text me the address.”
“Um, okay.”
“Goodnight Everlie.”
Click.
I sat there, phone in hand, in shock for a good solid minute, before Tori snapped her fingers in my face. “Earth to Ev! What just happened?”
“He wants to see me tomorrow…”
Tori burst out laughing.
Chapter Ten
Everlie
“I still can’t believe he’s taking you out again, even after you refused to put out,” Tori muttered over breakfast the next morning. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. It was my day off, and I wasn’t going to let her negativity—that smacked of jealousy—throw me off. “Where are you going tonight? A private jet to Italy?”
“Tori,” I warned, eying her over the magazine I was studying while my cereal got soggy.
She held my gaze for a moment, and then finally dropped it. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just bitchy ‘cause I’m not getting any…”
“I’m sorry that Bennett left like he did. I tried to get Ryker to tell me more, but all he’d say was that he was gone.” It was the only thing I could really offer to her. It was actually surprising that she was so hung up on it, normally two or three days was all she wanted, before she got bored and went off in pursuit of a new fling.
Tori sighed. “I can’t believe that I let myself get caught up in it…in him…I know better,” she ranted, more to herself than to me. I put the magazine aside and listened, stirring my whole wheat puffs in a slow circle. “I had this crazy, stupid idea that he was gonna show up somewhere. Like, be in the audience at my show, and I could dance for him, it would be fucking hot as hell, and we’d go fuck in my dressing room or something…” she trailed off, staring past me, lost in her fantasy world.
“Sounds like a real fairy tale…” I said under my breath. The funny thing was…for Tori, that was her idea of a fairy tale. The fact that she was pining for a guy was big news.
“Whatever, I’ll go out tonight and find someone new,” she resolved, flicking her gaze back to me after a few more moments of thoughts. She shrugged her shoulders, as though letting it roll off her back, and then squared them in my direction. “Maybe it’s time to switch back to dating women, just swear off men. For good this time.”
I laughed. “You remember how that went last time?”
“Well, I can only keep myself occupied for so long with my goodie box.” She winked at me and my cheeks warmed. Tori hadn’t been shy about her self-indulgent times, and very early on in our friendship had given me a tour of the small chest in her closet she kept stocked with sex toys in every shape, size and color. It had been an eye opening experience for me, and if I was honest, a little intimidating. Tori laughed as I squirmed in my seat. “Don’t worry—I know you only have eyes for Ryker.”
I was about to object, to insist that it wasn’t serious, but couldn’t find the words to explain what exactly was going on between us. If I’d been confused before our date the night before, then I was double-confused afterward.
