Page 43 of Playing for Keeps

“What?”

“For the next thirty minutes, she told me all about her boob job. The size, the surgery, the recovery and the problems. How she picked up a man at the bar the next weekend but she was too sore to do anything so she took him home and let him take care of her while she laid there on her back. Then—”

“Oh God, yes!” Kelly said, her excitement over my story growing, the girl jumping in her spot.

“Then, Cheryl starts telling me about her daughter. Now remember, I’ve been on the phone thirty minutes already. The clock is ticking to get these slides done. I politely remind her to send me the file, and she just outright ignores me as she goes on. Seventeen-year-old daughter—”

“Oh God.”

“And her boyfriend.”

“Wait, what?”

“You heard her!” Kelly mumbled from behind her hand.

“Cheryl’s lovely boyfriend knocked up her seventeen-year-old daughter. The guy left her so he could be a good father for the baby. But after the baby showed up, the guy flaked on her and came crawling back to Cheryl.”

“She didn’t!”

“She did!” Kelly whooped.

Jordan pushed the last shot glass my way, then threw her hands up in the air. “Drink up, girly. You more than earned it.”

“She’s not done,” Kelly said, pointing her finger at me. “Tell them what happened.”

I threw back my shot, then took a pull from my beer, needing it more to dim the memories than anything else. “I finally get the file from her. Glance over my shoulder and find Rhys standing there.”

“No!”

“Yes. He’s been listening to the entire conversation, from the boob job to the daughter, every last word. He’s dealt with Cheryl before and figured he’d stick around to see how I handled it.”

“What’d he do?”

“He didn’t get a chance to do anything. I’d barely gotten the last number typed into the slide before Jim Parker showed up.”

A shiver raced through me at the memory. How upset Jim had seemed. How Rhys had smoothed things over, letting him know it was Cheryl holding things up again.

How he’d perched on the edge of my desk as he flipped through a printout of my slides, the greasy feeling I’d had whenever the man’s eyes slid my way.

“Speaking of Rhys and Parker,” Melissa mumbled under her breath.

My chest clenched at her words and I spun, only to find it was Aaron and not Jim. He was with Rhys and Brad and Troy, two other guys from work.

“Ah, hell no. Really, O’Connor?”

Kelly scowled. “No way, Parker. I’ve had my costume picked out since last year. So you can just turn around and go home to change.”

“Um, isn’t Joker and Harley Quinn supposed to be in love?” Kristen asked, and both Kelly and Aaron made a show of gagging at the thought. “You two are supposed to hate Batman.”

“Well, that’s not a problem,” Aaron said, punching Batman-Rhys in the arm. He squeezed in beside me, using me like a human shield, arms wrapped around me from behind.

But that didn’t stop Rhys. My boss moved in close, his big body encroaching on my personal space. With a sneer on his lips, Rhys murmured, “What a pussy, hiding behind a little girl.”

“Back off, Craigson,” Aaron warned, his grip tightening around me.

Rhys took a small step back, but not before dragging his eyes down my body, slow, like he was enjoying what he saw.

I cast a glance toward Kelly, and my friend’s brow was pinched as she watched the guy she’d been crushing on for over a year. I wanted to slap Rhys, to make him pay attention to my friend, but before I could, he turned to the table and settled in between the two of us, striking up a conversation with her and making me forgive him.