Page 8 of Catch a Tiger

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?” He crosses his arms over his chest again.

“Because this is the most fun I’ve had since we were drunk and stole that road sign.” She grins at the memory. That seems like forever ago.

He sighs through his nose. “There’s no helping you now. You’ve completely lost it.”

“Maybe,” she says, shrugging. “Maybe not.”

“You’re going to see this play out, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. It was totally an accusation.

She laughs a little. “Nothing will become of it. Relax.”

Looking her square in the eye, he puts on his serious face. “Give it a week. If nothing becomes of it, delete the status and set the man free.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Fine.”

“Are you going to listen to me this time? Or are you going to ignore my advice?”

She looks at anywhere but him. “That has yet to be determined.”

Chapter 4

Maria

At the end of their shift, Maria and Darius head to the break room in the back of the coffee shop. It consists of nothing but two oak tables with mismatched metal chairs and a small kitchenette with only a microwave and a tiny fridge.

On the far wall is their open-faced lockers.

She heads to her locker while rolling the stiff muscles in her neck. She’s tense and she knows it. The whole thing with Mark has her a nervous wreck. If she were smart, she would listen to Darius and delete the thing. Hell, even delete her social media so she doesn’t do something so stupid again.

She unties her apron and hangs it in her locker while Darius does the same thing next to her. He grabs his wallet, stuffs it into his back pocket, and turns to face her. Leaning against the locker, he says, “So what are we going to do when we get home?”

“Beats me,” she responds, shrugging. She snatches her purse from the hook and shoves it over her shoulder.

She honestly has no idea what to do tonight. All she knows is that a whole bottle of wine can’t wash away the feeling of foolishness that she has coursing through her veins right now. But she won’t tell Darius that because he’ll just chuckle at her and say “I told you so.”

Together, they walk out of the break room. The rush of after-work caffeine addicts has arrived and the place is flooded once more with people who need their coffee fix.

“That one show is on,” Darius suggests, raising his voice to be heard above the noise. “Do you want to order takeout and watch it?”

She frowns up at him. There are a lot of shows that they watch together, so she takes a stab in the dark and asks, “The one with the crazy housewives?”

“Yeah.” He says it like she should have known immediately.

She ignores his attitude. “Sure. They left the last episode on a cliffhanger. I’d like to know if she’s actually going to vandalize that guy’s car or if she’ll chicken out.”

They stop just short of exiting the hallway that leads to the break room when Darius snorts. “Always up for the dramatics.”

“Well, my life is pretty boring,” she excuses. “I have to live my life somehow. Why not through someone else’s drama?”

Darius chuckles and looks above her head at the crowd waiting for their coffees. Then his eyes go wide. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Did he forget something in the break room? Did he forget that he has a date tonight and can’t hang out?

“Your social media boyfriend,” he says, still looking over her head.

She gently pokes his peck. “Oh, would you lay off that already?”