I poked my straw into the dregs of my drink, twirling it around the ice cubes. When she’d first proposed this absurd “plan” to me a half hour before, I’d finally decided she must be insane. Of course, I was too chicken shit to say it. I shrugged.
She scowled. “Come on, April. We were all in marketing working together last year. You, me and her. Why did he pick her…do you ever wonder that? Over you or me? What does she have? It’s like…he was totally unattainable to all of us, and then one night at the employee party in Vegas, he started drinking and then dancing with Mia. The next thing everybody knows, they’re a couple. Did she put Rohypnol in his drink or something?”
I suppressed rolling my eyes. “We have no idea what happened. They could have been dating before that, Cari.” I licked my lips. “Anyway, it’s crying over spilt milk now. He put a ring on it. He’s engaged.”
Her eyes were burning with a strange sort of intensity. “He hasn’t put a ring on it yet. At least not the ring that counts. And even if he had… well…it wouldn’t be the first marriage I’d broken up.” She batted her eyes and swished her impossible amounts of blond hair. “My senior English seminar teacher, to be specific. His wife left him because of me.”
I raised a brow. His job probably left him because of her, too.
“So you have a superpower?”
She tilted her head haughtily. “Why certainly, if I do say so myself. And now my sights are set on Adam.”
“But you don’t seem to have gotten very far.”
She flicked her eyebrows up as if sharing a lurid secret. “I catch him checking me out sometimes.”
I sighed. I highly doubted that.
“Why not? I’ve got more tits and ass than she had even before she got sick.”
I pushed my cup of ice cubes in my face to hide the utter shock and disgust I felt at her words. She was a piece of work, and I wondered what had possessed me to join her and her cronies out here tonight.
Oh yes, it was because she had pestered me incessantly for two days straight and punctuated it with her pointed concern: “I hope no one finds out it was you in the video. I’m so nervous for you. You must be stressed out. Can I buy you a drink?”
There’d been a clear message there. Play nice with her or she could make trouble. I wondered how I could get out of this before she started increasing the pressure with more threats. As usual, I’d keep my mouth shut and play nice while trying to think my way out of the situation.
But there might not be an easy way. Besides avoidance. I could do that…I was an expert at it. My dad had been trying to get a hold of me for almost a month now. And my mom would be needing a PI soon in order to get a call through to me.
If they gave degrees in avoidance, I’d have a Ph.D. and everyone would be calling me Dr. Weiss.
“I’m going to get another drink.”
“Is this one going to have alcohol in it?” she asked.
I slipped off my stool and shrugged. I was still honoring my vow to never drink alcohol again. She called after me as I headed to the bar. “When you get back, we are going to discuss the plan.”
I resisted shaking my head, afraid that she would see. I pressed up against the bar and noticed the nearest bartender was talking to a pair of tall and very beautiful blondes. I gave the front of my dress a tug to show some cleavage and then leaned forward. Another bartender appeared in front of me in one minute flat. I smiled, shaking my empty glass. “Can I get another Shirley Temple?”
He frowned, apparently certain he’d misheard me.
“Yeah, you heard it right.”
His brow twitched and he smiled. “Coming right up, beautiful.”
I smiled. Even if he was milking me for a bigger tip, I didn’t care. Tonight especially, I really needed to hear it.
The bartender turned back to me, placing the drink down on the bar. I handed him my money and he rang me up. But to my surprise, he didn’t move on. “I’m Chris. How are you tonight?”
“April. Nice to meet you. Currently, I’m trying to avoid my psycho friend.”
He flicked a glance over my shoulder. “The blondie over there? She does have a bit of the crazy eyes going on.”
I smirked, pressing the drink to my lips. “It’s not the only thing crazy about her.”
He laughed and gave me the once-over. Okay, I’d already paid and tipped him, so I decided he wasn’t just trying to snag a bigger tip from me. I gave him my best flirty smile.
“That’s not the only crazy-ass thing about this night. My even crazier boss is over on the other side of the room trying to hit on women twice his age.”