Page 22 of Three Little Words

“I’ll consider myself warned.”

“Good.” And she spun on her heel.

She walked to the entrance of my booth, then stopped and turned, looking over her shoulder.

“By the way,” she said. “The lotus is crooked.”

She smirked, then continued walking.

The door slammed behind her as she left.

For a moment, we were all silent.

My head was spinning. I couldn’t think of what to say or do.

I wanted her. Bad.

And I hated her.

“Who the hell was that?” When I looked up, Zoe was still staring at the door. “What the hell just happened?”

“Benny? You good?” Garrett stood at the entrance to his booth, staring at me. “Who was she?”

Bradley sighed. He came into my booth and patted my shoulder.

“That,” he said, loud enough for both of them to hear, “was Bryn. The Bitch.”

“Oh.” Garrett nodded sagely.

They’d heard me talk about her before, just never by name.

Because Bradley was right. I usually just called her The Bitch.

Bradley continued, “She was Benny’s first love.”

Not the right thing for Bradley to say. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder. “She’s a traitor. She’s the enemy.”

“Yeah, yeah. We know. Let me explain the rest.”

I sighed and looked away.

“Bryn worked here for a year. She did her apprenticeship with us and then had a few months at that booth.” He pointed to the sixth booth, left empty.

I sighed. “I taught her everything I knew. And yeah, we…we dated.”

My throat felt tight.

Was I still that torn up about her?

I couldn’t be. I wouldn’t let myself waste any more time missing Bryn.

“She fucked me. Literally and figuratively. Stole a shit-ton of my ideas, some of Bradley’s. Then she left. Moved across the river to Malone and got a job at another shop. And when they folded—because really, she was the only good artist there—she opened her own place.”

“Wait—that’s the owner of Skin Buzz?” Garrett raised his eyebrows. “Holy shit. I didn’t know that. I mean, I knew you had bad blood with whoever owned it, but I didn’t know she was your ex.”

I looked up at him and shook my head. “She’s bad news. If she ever tries to talk to you, you keep your mouths shut about the business. If we don’t watch our backs, she’ll ruin our chances in Malone before we even get the new place open.”

Zoe had come closer while we were talking. She leaned against the wall of the steps, frowning. “Is she really that big of a problem?”

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