Page 93 of Boost

I scoffed. “You have more faith in me than Tian right now.”

Roxiee eye-rolled. “Oh, come on. Christian’s got a rod so far up his ass it gave him an ego complex years ago. You, my dear, can handle this,” she stated, with a finger jab at me. “This is just another passing storm that will blow through, leave a little destruction, then be forgotten by next week.”

“I hope so, hon. I haven’t felt this insecure about a job in a very long time.”

“Iknowso. And fuck insecurity. You don’t have time for that.” Her fierce pout made me smile.

“And this is why I love you.”

Clinking my mojito glass against hers, I finished it off and relaxed into the booth while she ordered another round on our tab. We’d argue later over who was paying, then decide to split it, just like every other time we encountered that dilemma. Though, tonight I couldn’t pull a big one; I was shattered, and definitely couldn’t afford to be hungover tomorrow.

My thoughts broke when Roxiee slid back into the booth with fresh cocktails. “I ordered food too. You’re welcome.”

I burst into laughter and brought the straw to my lips. “Thank goodness—these are going to my head tonight.”

Her eyebrows lifted up and down. “Easy to drink, eh?”

“Too easy.” We lapsed into silence and scanned the bar.

“So, what are you going to do?”

I sighed. “About?”

She gave me a dry look. “The reason why we’re sitting in a bar getting drunk on a Monday night.”

Rafael.

I sighed. “Try to track him down, I guess. He’s been ignoring my calls all day, and you know what? That’s the part thatreallypisses me off. I mean, we all have pasts, right? I get that. But he could at least have the decency to accept a damn phone call.”

She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “He’ll come around. I’m sure it’s all one big misunderstanding. Besides, he’s still under contract with Colton, so it’s not as if he’s going to skip the country; he’ll be close by and lying low for a day or two.”

“I hope you’re right,” I murmured.

I feared Raf had purposely gone to ground in Portland after finding out about the breaking news, and it was worrying me that I couldn’t get a hold of him.

While I didn’t know the full extent of the abuse he suffered as a child, I understood what it was like to endure abuse as a young adult. The memories of the effort it took to hide those emotional bruises still made my heart heavy. To this day, simply thinking about those scars was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

While the press release had taken a turn for the worse this morning, I knew it wasn’t the full story, and I owed Raf to hear it directly from him. The good, the bad, and the outright ugly. I recognized evil when it presented itself, and I wholeheartedly believed that Rafael wasn’t possessed in that way.

“Babe.” Clicking fingers snapped me from my thoughts. “Earth to Greer.”

I shoved her waving hand away. “I’m back. Was just thinking…”

“About the impressive dick you’re missing tonight?”

I snorted. “Notthedick per se, but yes.”

Our conversation paused while the waiter delivered the next round of mojitos and then returned with the food. Roxiee looked him over like a piece of meat, and it had me smiling around my straw.

Once he left, she lifted a mozzarella stick to her mouth. “What?” She popped it in and chewed with sass.

I smirked. “Nothing.”

“I’m allowed to look, especially when it’s as fine as that.”

“Didn’t say you weren’t; I didn’t miss the wedding band though.”

Scooping up a loaded fry and managing to get it in my mouth without dropping cheese down the front of my designer beige dress, I eyed her while I chewed.

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