Page 304 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Again, my name isn’t Betty.”
“It’s not?” Easton asked.
“No.” But she still didn’t tell us what her name actually was. Instead, Betty hefted the bottle I’d handed her into the air by the neck and spun on her heel. “And now, gentlemen, I bid you goodday. I have a bottle of whiskey in my hand and a couch calling my name.” Pushing the door open, she flashed us a wicked smile, before backing out the door.
For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then Easton let out a low whistle, looking at me with his eyebrows raised.
“Please tell me you’re hittin’ that,” he ground out. “Because if you’re not, can I have a try?”
Taking a deep breath, I counted to five, trying to remind myself why punching my best friend and business partner in the face was a bad decision.
“I literally just met her.”
“But youwantto be hittin’ that, am I right?”
Was he?
I wasn’t sure. Betty was attractive, no doubt, with that dark hair and gorgeous olive skin, and big brown eyes that seemed to be perpetually narrowed at me in annoyance. There was no denying the fact that I liked looking at her.
But, was it smart to get involved with a woman who lived in the building I was starting a business in?
Probably not.
Was that going to stop me?
Probably not.
“Let’s just focus on what we need to do here,” I said instead of answering him, his knowing smile making it very clear how transparent my deflection attempt was. “I’ve almost got the last shelf installed. It would have gone a fuck of a lot faster if I’d had a second set of hands to help me out, but my partner was somehow missing in action. Again.”
“Hey,” he defended with a laugh. “Lunch is the most important meal of the day.”
I opened my mouth to offer some sort of witty retort, but a sudden noise and a scream from the front of the building drew us both up short.
“Was that—” Easton began, but a second scream cut him off.
“It was.” I sped past him, practically elbowing him out of the way in my haste to get to the door.
I may have only just met her, but I had recognized Betty’s voice—and the rage that scream contained.
CHAPTER NINE
Ricki
Backing out the door, I smiled to myself, keeping my eyes on the guys until the last possible moment.
It was always exciting when someone new moved into the neighborhood; that was half the fun of living in Queens. The eclectic feel of the community, a little bit of something for everyone, all wrapped up in a great big melting pot of culture and people, food and traditions.
I freaking loved it.
It was so much better than the stuffy, high-brow area where I’d grown up. Just thinking about the stifling pressure of the expectations I’d lived under in my youth had me wanting to gag.
Pushing aside those dreary thoughts, I looked again at the bottle in my hand, knowing that the rest of today was going to be great thanks to Asher and his generous donation to my and Violet’swhiskey day.It really was rather nice of him.
And knowing Asher was going to be spending a lot of time right here in my building meant that there just may be a lot more of those fun, snarky interactions we seemed to both enjoy sharing.
Thinking of Asher, I paused with my key half-way to the lock, letting my eyes drift back to the big window beside me where I’d first seen him earlier. I wondered what he and Easton were actually building inside the empty storefront. The two spaces that made up the bottom floor of our building had been vacant for as long as Violet and I had lived here, so the thoughtof having something occupying that valuable real estate was awesome.
Despite the obvious bar he’d installed, I hoped it was a sweet vintage boutique. Or even better—a sushi place. Lord knew that there were enough pizza places around here to feed an army, but I had to walk almost ten blocks to find something even sort of resembling a decent dragon roll.
