Page 19 of Mermaid For You

“You don’t even feel guilty.”

“No, not one bit. I wish I could say I’m sorry, but I’m not. Ava”—Alexi leans toward me—“Rosemary Hayes is into me.”

As if ice water had been dumped on me, I still and my body goes into shock. My poor friend. Rosemary Hayes will use him. He’ll only be seen as a toy, a convenient plaything. “No, no, no. She’s not like us.”

“You’ve got that right. She’s incredible.”

“I mean, she’s going to use you and break your heart.”

“This is why I didn’t want to say anything. You’re such a downer about relationships, or even trying. I’m okay with being used! Gladly. She can chew me up and spit me out, but you know what? At least I’ll have had the experiences. For one day, the most gorgeous, charming, and fun woman, who I never would have thought would even notice my existence, sat down and had a conversation with me. Laughed with me. Hell, she might even like me. I’ll take whatever crumbs she throws my way. And if I’m lucky enough to share a night with her, dammit, I’m taking it.”

“Alexi—”

“No, Ava. I don’t live in fear. If Van hurts you, then I’ll be there to pick up your pieces and break him into pieces.”

Guilt riddles through me. I only want to protect him, but once again, I’m allowing my one bad experience to influence my reaction for my friend. “And if Rosemary hurts you, then I’ll be there to pick up your pieces and break her into pieces.”

Chapter Nine

AVA

After a long shower, lots of moments in thought to think over my chat with Alexi, I decide it’s time to stop living in fear. I raise and drop my arm several times outside Van’s door before I finally knock. He opens the door with the phone to his ear.

“Hi,” I breathe out.

“Ava, hi.”

“Dude, who is at your door?” a male voice yells out.

Van gives me an apologetic smile.

What I don’t expect is for Maisy to walk up. “Ava! Van! How’s it going?”

“Maisy. Hello,” Van acknowledges.

“Two girls?” the voice says. “Dude! What are you doing over there? They’re lining up at your door.”

Van presses a button and shoves the phone into his pocket. Looking extremely uncomfortable, he manages a lame, “What’s up?”

I’m not sure where I go from here. Maisy is standing here crashing my plans of confessing my desire to jump Van’s bones. “Remember we were going to go over some ideas to pitch to Margie?”

“Ooh, fun! Need help?” Maisy is looking only at Van.

“No. Sorry. It’s a surprise.” I give her a mock apologetic smile.

Thankfully, Van jumps in and agrees with me. “Need anything, Maisy, before Ava and I get started?”

Clearly, what she’s after is Van, but she settles for asking him to text her later. Van opens the door wider for me to enter. He does every polite thing possible. Offers me a seat. Gets me a drink. Makes polite idle conversation. All while I work on gathering my nerves.

“Van, let me get to the point of why I came here.”

He releases a sigh of relief. “Thank God, because the suspense has been driving me nuts.”

We both can’t help but laugh. I stand up and begin pacing because I’m far too anxious to remain still.

“This has always been my dream job. I love it here. I want to be the next Margie. This place means everything to me. However, I threw myself at the wrong person after only being here a year. He didn’t even remember me after we made out.” This is mortifying, but I need to get all this out so he understands why I’ve been behaving this way, and what I’m afraid will happen if I give in to him.

“Ava.” His voice is gentle. “I don’t think anyone could forget you.”

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