Page 17 of Sweet Chaos
“You don’t have to come,” Scarlett hastened to add. “You probably don’t even like parties.”
“It’s a beach party,” Nicola said, ignoring Scarlett. “So you don’t want to miss it.”
“A beach party in January?” I cocked a questioning brow at Scarlett.
Scarlett shrugged. “There’s no competition for the fire rings and the beers will stay cold. But like I said, you don’t have to come.”
“Are you saying you don’t want me there?”
“Well…” She chewed on her lip and furrowed her brow as if I’d just asked her to solve a quadratic equation. Scarlett was always honest. I remembered that. “I do. But only ifyouwant to be there.”
Just then, my name was called, and ten drinks were set on the counter in front of us. We transferred them to cardboard trays, and Nicola and Scarlett insisted on helping me carry the drinks to my car. If any of this shit spilled on my interior, Cruz was dead. I’d only spent money on two things. This car and my house. And I was borderline OCD about both of them.
“Thanks for the coffee. Hope we see you at the party,” Nicola said, pushing this whole party thing whereas Scarlett was more hesitant.
“Well, okay, so I guess I’ll see you around,” Scarlett said, giving me a little wave over her shoulder as she walked away.
Chances were, I wouldn’t go anyway. There were plenty of girls who were willing and ready, girls who did not come with any strings attached. Get in, get out, don’t stick around long enough to let anyone get too close or ask probing questions I wouldn’t answer anyway.
I made it back to the office with two minutes to spare and set the drinks on the table. My good deed done for the day.
“Where’s my tall Americano?” Cruz asked after he finished passing out the drinks like he was Santa Fucking Claus.
“It got an upgrade.” I took a sip of my venti Americano as I walked past him and sat at the table which of course was round. Cruz claimed it made everyone feel like they were equals. The office was open plan and everyone else was thrilled with that concept and the overall relaxed atmosphere. Me? I had a door and glass walls around my office to give me privacy and block out all the noise. I didn’t hate people. We had a good team—young, smart and driven—and for the most part, I got along with everyone I worked with. But I could only handle people in small doses. Anything more left me feeling drained.
“Cheers everyone.” I lifted my cardboard cup in a toast. “Enjoy your Starbucks because that’s the last time I’m doing a fucking coffee run.”
Everyone around the table laughed as if I’d made a good joke. At least they saw the humor in my asshole tendencies.
Cruz muttered under his breath,still an asshole, and rubbed his eyebrow with his middle finger. The fact that he actually believed I’d bring him a morning beverage after he’d pulled that stunt made me chuckle.
Putting the Starbucks incident behind us, we got down to business. I fucking loved my job and even though I didn’t need to be here half as much as I was and technically, I could work from home, I spent a lot of time in this office. I liked having structure. A place where I needed to be five days out of the week. Cruz and I were a lot alike that way. We’d both grown up with parents who were mostly MIA and had never enforced rules, structure or curfews. We were street kids from the hood made good, and neither of us had ever forgotten where we came from.
When we started this company five years ago, we were still in college and it was just me and Cruz, developing software and building websites from our kitchen table in San Diego. Now we had thirty employees, an office on the twelfth floor of a new high-rise near the marina, and an ocean view. Times had changed but I guess at the end of the day, I hadn’t. Not really. I was still rough around the edges, still taciturn and somewhat detached, and I still had this fear that one day I’d wake up and everything good in my life that I worked my ass off for would be ripped away. That fear had been my constant companion since I was a kid. I didn’t think it would ever go away.
7
Scarlett
“Ican’t believe you invited Dylan.” I took a sip of my caramel macchiato. I was so basic. “He probably won’t come anyway.”
“Then you’ll have nothing to worry about,” she said calmly.
“Exactly. It would be better if he didn’t come.”
“But you’re still hoping he does.” Nicola tilted her head and studied my face. She was a knockout—a tall, willowy brunette with huge dark eyes and full lips. Guys usually did a doubletake when she walked by, but Dylan had barely glanced at her. Interesting.
“I don’t know, Nic. I’m so… God, I’m a horrible person. Let’s not even try to sugarcoat it.”
“I won’t. You’re truly horrible. The worst. What a bitch.” She rolled her eyes. “Get a grip. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Are you serious? He’s my sister’s ex-boyfriend,” I whisper-shouted. Two businessmen at a table across from us looked over briefly before returning to their conversation.
Nic waved away my concerns. “Your sister moved on. She’s living with another guy. She gets to be happy so why can’t you guys be happy?”
I stared at her, completely missing the logic because her statement had none. “It goes against the sisterhood code. Everyone knows that.”
“If you were going for him while your sister was still with him, yeah sure, I could see that. But it’s over so he’s fair game.” She shrugged like this was something everyone knew. I wasn’t too sure about that. “You can’t help who you fall in love with.”
