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  I chuckled. “You’re talking about me, Cupcake?” Her eyes widened as she looked over at me. “I’m flattered.”

  “Well, that’s my cue to leave,” Jaime said sarcastically.

  “No,” Ashtyn protested. “Stay for another drink.”

  Jaime slid off her stool. “Your man is tired, and I need to get home to my babies. Chase is probably up to his ears in shit.”

  “Your man.” I liked the sound of that.

  “Okay, we’ll wait with you until your Uber gets here.”

  “No, you guys stay.”

  “It’s fine. We’ll wait with you.”

  Jaime pulled her phone out, and I assumed she was requesting a ride. “They’ll be here in two minutes.”

  Ashtyn and I stood. “You need to pay your tab?” I asked.

  Ashtyn shook her head. “No. We didn’t leave it open.”

  The girls walked in front of me, and after they hugged and Jaime got into her ride, Ashtyn and I started to walk toward our condos.

  “I watched the game,” she confessed.

  I grinned. “Yeah?”

  “I even saw you on the postgame show, but I couldn’t hear anything. We were already at the bar.”

  “I’m sure sports talk isn’t your thing.”

  “Well, I can make it my thing. I want to go to a game.”

  I perked up. “I can make that happen.”

  “You can?”

  “I have connections.” I chuckled. They were also known as buying tickets. I usually got a discount, though. Sometimes I’d score a few free ones, but it wasn’t like I could ever use them.

  “But you wouldn’t be able to go, huh?”

  I shook my head, and just as I was about to say that she was right, I felt eyes on me. I looked to my left and saw Bridgette standing at the entrance to my building, staring at us. “Fuck,” I hissed. Bridgette’s gaze met mine and then she was walking across the street toward us. I didn’t even know if she looked for cars before she stepped out. She just made a beeline.

  “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me.”

  “What?” Ashtyn asked.

  “Bridgette.”

  Ashtyn turned just as Bridgette started to yell, “So you are fucking her?”

  “Excuse me?” Ashtyn hissed.

  I stepped forward, blocking Bridgette. “Go home, Bridgette.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do!”

  “Let’s just go.” Ashtyn tugged on my arm.

  “Shut the fuck up, bitch!” Bridgette hissed.

  So many thoughts were running through my head, but before I could do anything, Ashtyn moved to stand next to me. “It’s kind of hilarious watching you try to fit your entire vocabulary into one sentence. Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you’re stupid rather than open it and remove all doubt.”

  Bridgette was speechless.

  I was shocked.

  In a nutshell, Ashtyn had called Bridgette stupid, but yet, she did it with the class Ashtyn was known for. And that was why my mother admired this woman. That was why I did too.

  I grabbed Ashtyn’s hand and walked into her building while Bridgette stood on the sidewalk dumbstruck.

  Last night was … different.

  After I told Bridgette off, we walked into my building and up to my place. I‘d expected Rhys to be all over me. That was our thing. When we had a run in with our exes, we had sex with each other. But he didn’t even try. Instead, we snuggled in my bed and fell asleep. And I was okay with that.

  Now for the second morning in a row, I woke to the smell of coffee. “I’m going to get used to this.” I grinned and rolled over to face Rhys.

  He reached for my mug to hand it to me. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

  I stared at him, my hand reaching up to take the coffee from him. “I thought—”

  “I’m kidding, Cupcake. I know what this is, but I’m not going to just leave. We are friends, right?”

  I smiled and took the cup. “Of course, but …” I hesitated. Did I really want to ask what was on the tip of my tongue? Bring her up again. Or even tell him that I was starting to feel as though I might want to date again, and if Philip called, I’d go out with him.

  “But what?”

  I smiled tightly still not sure, but I went with it. “But are you going to get back with Bridgette?”

  “Fuck no!”

  “Last night was the second time we’ve seen her while we were together. I’m not sure she’ll ever give up.”

  “She’s fucking crazy.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  Rhys scrunched his eyebrows. “Meaning she might hurt you?”

  “Well, she seemed pretty angry last night, and now she knows I only live right across the street.”

  Rhys draped his free arm around me. “She’s twenty-three, and she just threw away the best guy she will ever be with.”

  I snorted. “Cocky much?”

  “You keep coming back.” He winked.

  This was true. Rhys was a great guy. So great that if he asked me out on a real date, I’d go with him. I was curious if we could work, but he told me he didn’t want a serious relationship right now, so maybe I should just date and have fun? Marriage and kids could wait. Women were starting to have their first child in their early forties now. I could do that. So if Philip called, I was going to go out to dinner with him.

  There was nothing wrong with dinner.

  Ashtyn,

  The rose is red. The violet is blue.

  Sugar is sweet. And so are you.

  -SA

  I wanted to get an update from the developer of the floating island because the last I’d heard, they still hadn’t announced a completion date. Just as I was sending the email, my desk phone rang.

  “Ashtyn Valor,” I greeted.

  The man cleared his throat. “Hey … it’s Philip.”

  My breath caught before I responded. He was calling to ask me out, and now I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. I didn’t want to stop what Rhys and I were doing. What if Philip was the one I was meant to be with, and Rhys was just the one to get me over Corey? I hated thinking of Rhys as the rebound. He was more than that.

  Dinner. I could do dinner.

  “Hi, how are you?”

  “I’d be better if you finally agree to have dinner with me.”

  I hesitated for a beat, but then just went for it. “I’m free on Saturday.”

  “Saturday it is.”

  “Perfect. Where were you thinking?”

  “Ever been to the Signature Room?”

  I hadn’t but had always wanted to go. The restaurant was on the ninety-fifth floor of the John Hancock Building. “I haven’t, but I heard the view is amazing.”

  “And the food.”

  “Okay. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Aren’t I supposed to pick you up?”

  I wasn’t letting a stranger know my address. Maybe it would be different if he didn’t know who I was or if I weren’t on TV, but I had to take precautions when I could, and that was why I gave Philip my office number.

  “Maybe on the third date,” I teased.

  “Oh, so there will be two more dates?”

  I chuckled. “If date one goes well.”

  “No pressure.”

  “None at all,” I affirmed.

  Watching Rhys talk about hockey was like staring at a pair of shoes in a store window. They were beautiful and exciting, but you couldn’t touch them.

  I wanted to touch him.

  A feeling of sadness fell over me as I watched his broadcast while I lay in bed. Why couldn’t Rhys be the one who wanted to take me out? I’d even settle for another date on a booze cruise. But he wasn’t ready, so I fell asleep with Rhys talking in the background about shots on goal and power plays.

  I hadn’t seen Rhys all week. I knew he was busy, and so was I, but for the past four weeks we’d at least seen each other—well, went back to my place. However, it seemed
as though once I told him I had a date, he stopped talking to me. The day after Philip called me, I’d texted Rhys with the news. Maybe that was my mistake, but I thought we were only friends with benefits. I didn’t expect him to stop talking to me.

  Me: So … I have a date on Saturday.

  Thirty minutes later, he texted me back.

  Rhys: I have a game.

  Me: He’s taking me to The Signature Room. Have you been before?

  There was another lapse in time between texts. This time only five minutes.

  Rhys: Once. Took Bridgette there for our anniversary last year.

  I stared at his reply. Even though I was going with another guy to the restaurant, I was instantly jealous as I read the words.

  Me: Do you recommend anything? I’ve never been.

  Rhys: Well, since you’re going with another dude, get the center cut.

  I smiled as I texted back.

  Me: Is that the most expensive thing on the menu?

  Rhys: Well, the seafood tower is, I think. But I don’t think you can eat that by yourself.

  We’d texted a few more times, and then it stopped, and I hadn’t heard from him since.

  For my date with Philip, I dressed in a sophisticated rosebud print, maxi length, crepe fabric dress with long sleeves and frilled details. Given that it was winter and snowing outside, I paired it with knee-high black boots, a black belt around my middle to give the dress more of a waist, and my wool coat I had dry cleaned after the coffee was spilled on it.

  Before I called for an Uber, I tousled my hair that I loosely curled to give it a little more volume, and then I shrugged on my coat. The car pulled up a few seconds after I made it downstairs, and I slid inside. Without thinking, I looked over at Rhys’s building. A slight pain squeezed my heart as I realized I was really going out on a date with another man. I envisioned him running outside, opening the car door and pulling me out to tell me he didn’t want me to go. However, I knew he wasn’t home because he told me he had a game tonight.

  What if I never saw Rhys again? If things worked out with Philip, could I walk away from the man who made me laugh? The one who made me coffee each morning we were together? The one who I could be comfortable with and not care how my ass looked as he took me from behind?

  The car pulled up to the skyscraper, and right away, I saw Philip standing outside in the freezing cold. When he saw that I was getting out of the car, he rushed to it and held out his hand.

  “Thank you.” I smiled as he helped me out. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

  Philip smiled as he gestured for me to start walking. “Not at all.”

  We walked into the building and right into the waiting elevator. Philip pressed the button for the ninety-fifth floor.

  “I see the coffee came out of your coat okay.”

  I nodded. “See? I told you it was no big deal.” It really wasn’t. My coat was dark grey, and after it was dry cleaned, there was no evidence of the spilled coffee.

  “You’re right. K & K Cleaners does an excellent job.”

  “How—” Before I could ask how he knew which dry cleaners I went to, the elevator door opened.

  After checking our coats at the coat check, we were seated at a table against the window. Philip ordered the braised short ribs to start and a bottle of the most expensive merlot on the menu. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to impress me or if he really did like that wine.

  “How did you know I go to K & K Cleaners?” There were several dry cleaners in Chicago.

  He continued reading the menu as though he didn’t hear me.

  “Philip?”

  “Oh … What was that?”

  I repeated my question. “How do you know I go to K & K Cleaners?”

  “I don’t. Just a lucky guess because it’s by your studio, right?”

  I let out the breath I was holding. “Right.”

  We both returned to our menus, and once I figured out what I was going to have for dinner, I asked, “What is it you do for work?”

  “I’m a nuclear engineer.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing.”

  “Yeah, it’s not boring at all to play with radioactive materials and get paid for it.”

  “I bet.” The waiter came over and poured us each a glass of the burgundy merlot and then I ordered the center cut for my meal. The moment the words came out of my mouth, I couldn’t wait to tell Rhys. He’d be proud of me. I took a sip of my wine.

  “You know, you look very familiar to me, but I’m not sure from where.”

  “Judy’s,” he stated against the lip of his wine glass.

  I balked. “Judy’s?” The only people I’d met at Judy’s were Rhys and then his friends the next time I’d been there. When I was with Jaime the other night, we didn’t talk to anyone except when Rhys showed up.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, changing the subject instead of clarifying when I’d met him at Judy’s.

  I furrowed my brows. “If I had a boyfriend, then I wouldn’t be out on a date with you.”

  He nodded and took another sip of his wine. “So you and Rhys broke up?”

  My breath caught. “Rhys? I’m not dating Rhys.”

  Philip chuckled without sound. “You two told me you were dating for four months about a month ago. So you broke up or …”

  I stared at him as realization dawned on me. He was the guy who’d caused me to actually meet Rhys. The one I wanted to leave me alone when I was trying to drown my sorrows because of Corey. I hadn’t got a good look of the guy because I didn’t want to make eye-contact with someone I was lying to. But he did look familiar and now confirmed it.

  Before I could answer his question, he asked another, “Or are you just sleeping with him?”

  I started to stand to leave, but he grabbed my hand. “I’m only trying to figure out if I have competition. That night I did, and Rhys won. I’m not mad.”

  After a few moments of hesitation, I swallowed and sat back down. “Rhys and I are only friends. That night I didn’t want to be bothered because I’d actually broken up with my boyfriend.”

  “Corey.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood. “How do you know about Corey?”

  Philip grinned. “I Facebook stalked you after we met.”

  “My profile is private,” I stated. I’d made sure of that because I didn’t want random people to friend or follow me. I did, however, have a business page, but I’d never shared anything personal on it.

  “Not your profile pictures.”

  “Oh,” I breathed as once again Philip stated facts. Facts about me and my life. But I’d deleted all pictures of Corey after we broke up. Or at least I thought I had.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be in some sort of love triangle.”

  I took a deep breath before responding. “No, you’re not.” I meant it because after this date, I was never going out with this guy again. Something seemed off about the entire conversation and him.

  “Good. Let’s enjoy ourselves then.” Philip looked out at the Chicago skyline, and I did as well. We were silent for a few minutes as I watched the snow fall from the sky and disappear many stories below.

  My phone buzzed in my clutch that was sitting on the table. I was silently praying the waiter would bring our dinner, but a fake emergency text could work. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to see who it was, but I needed any excuse to get out of here.

  Jaime: How’s your date going?

  “Everything okay?”

  “I think so. I’m just going to use the restroom and give my friend a call back to make sure.”

  “No problem,” Philip said and reached for the bottle of wine to refill our glasses.

  I grabbed my clutch and stood. Just as I was about to turn the corner to ask the hostess where the restroom was, I looked back at Philip and saw what appeared to be him slipping something into my drink.

  My body went cold, and my hea
rt started to race. Was he drugging me? How was this happening? Of course, I wouldn’t have slept with him tonight, but I’d mentioned to him that if things went well with this date, then there would be more. How could there be more if he drugged me? I would never go out with this guy again, especially if I woke up tomorrow and didn’t remember anything.

  I hurried to the coat check instead of the restroom, gave the attendant my ticket and turned to the elevators to leave. I wasn’t going to tell Philip goodbye, and I wasn’t staying for the meal. If I were to go back into the dining room, I was sure I’d cause a scene, and I couldn’t have that floating around on the internet. Instead, I pressed the button for the elevator over and over until it came. Then I did the same with the lobby level button until I was on the ground floor. I hadn’t even used the app to call Uber. Instead, I hailed a cab and got the fuck out of there.

  As soon as my broadcast was over, I went home. I wasn’t in the best mood. The Blackhawks had lost, and Ashtyn was out on a date.

  When Ashtyn mentioned that she’d agreed to go out with that guy, I told her I would be working. That was partially true because the Hawks had an early game and I’d be home at a decent hour. I hadn’t even heard from her since she texted me she had a date, and that just caused me to be even more in a bad mood. My horrible mood lasted all week.

  While she and I were friends with benefits, I wanted more with her. However, I might have waited too long to make my move. I thought I was giving her time to figure out what she wanted or who for that matter, so I never pressed her to be more. And then when she mentioned some guy wanted to take her out, I just let it happen.

  I fucking let it happen.

  Now as I pulled into my parking space in my garage, Ashtyn was out with this guy, and I was left to wonder if she was having a good time. Of course, I wasn’t going to be that crazy guy and text her or call her. If she ended up liking the dude, then she and I were only meant to be each other’s rebound.

  Instead of going up to my condo, I decided to go to Judy’s. I needed a drink and not one where I was drinking alone. If anything, I could talk to Tommy. Bartenders did that sort of shit, and Tommy and I had some sort of friendship since I’d been frequenting Judy’s for the past several years.