Page 27 of Ruby Mercy

But mentally? Emotionally? I can’t even begin to say.

Natalia groans. “I can’t believe this whole night started because I wanted to tell you I was going to work for him. And now… this. It doesn’t exactly make my case, does it?”

“I’m now more certain than ever you should definitely not go to work for him.”

She peeks over at me, her lower lip pinched between her teeth. “Are you going to be mad at me? I know things between the two of you are—”

“Bad?” I offer. “Volatile? Completely and utterly toxic?”

“Yes. All of the above. But Kirill has always been nice to me, and he pays super well.” Her shoulders sag. “I can’t go back to work for Genevieve. I already sent her a nasty text message telling her I quit. Even if I did want to go back, she’d never take me.”

“What did you say?”

Natalia’s mouth turns up in a mischievous grin. “That’s not important right now. What is important is that I’m fairly certain she’s going to file a restraining order against me for making violent, rather unsanitary threats against her and her property, so I can’t go back there.”

I swipe my fingers under my eyes, rubbing away the mascara that has no doubt run down my cheeks. “Fine.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“Your life is your life, Nat. I don’t want to tell you what you can and can’t do. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to work for him. I probably won’t see him ever again.”

Natalia snorts. “You can’t be serious.”

“What?” I look over at her. “You think I’ll see him again?”

“I think the two of you can’t help yourselves.”

“Believe me, I can help myself. No more walking by his house, no more putting myself in a position to run into him. I can quit Kirill cold turkey. I did it for five years.”

“You didn’t see him for five years; that’s way different than quitting him,” Natalia retorts. “Kirill may not have been around, but you were still hung up on him. Just like he was clearly hung up on you.”

“He was not!”

“Girl, he went berserk-o, Viking, full-on caveman back there with that guy you were dancing with.”

“You mean he was a dick to—to… His name was…” I hesitate, trying to drum up the man’s name from somewhere in my memory. But there’s nothing. I can picture his face, though even that is a little blurry around the edges.

Natalia barks out a laugh. “You don’t even remember that guy’s name. Great googly moogly, you have it bad, girl.”

“I do not! Kirill threw me in the ocean! He said all I was good for is meaningless sex.”

She winces. “Okay, that is rude. But him throwing you in the ocean contradicts that.”

“Him throwing me away like a piece of trash means he thinks I’m not just good for meaningless sex?” I say in bewilderment. “How do you figure?”

“‘Meaningless’ would mean that when you tried to auction yourself off to the highest bidder, Kirill would have sat back and enjoyed the show. Instead, he dragged you out of there and dunked you under water. Sounds meaningful to me. Weird and a little aggro, but meaningful.”

My face flames again. “I’m not sure I’ll ever live that down. Was it really… auction-like?”

“‘Auction’ was the wrong word. It was more of a first-come, first-serve kind of vibe. An all-you-can-eat buffet of Rayne Garner.”

I drop my face in my hands. “I would have thrown me in the ocean, too.”

“I hate to be the one to say it, but he kind of did you a favor. You were on a roll. I would not have been surprised if you’d done a strip tease on the bar out of pure spite.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” I say, biting back a laugh. “My pregnancy stretch marks under the overhead bar lights… yum.”

Natalia shrugs. “Number one, you look amazing. Number two, Kirill didn’t seem to mind your post-pregnancy body. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you.”

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