Page 61 of Dev Girl

I plowed into the project and pushed through the evening, losing myself in code.

A short while later, Maddox texted to see if I wanted to go to Ravyn’s, and see what she’d done on our project. I let him know I was in.

It meant not seeing Onyx today. There were a lot of days where I didn’t see him, and I already told him no for today, but the thought hit me hard now. Soon, seeing him wouldn’t be an easy option.

Damn him.

I had a little bit before Maddox stopped by, so I gave Xander a call to talk about the notes I sent over.

“You’re not working on this in all of your free time, are you?” He sounded concerned.

What was I supposed to say to a man I knew spent more time than he had on his own work? “Mostly.”

“You’re supposed to be doing competition stuff,” Xander said. “Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining about what you sent. It’s fantastic. But I have to answer to people if I’m the reason you burn out.”

“I pick what I do, that makes me the reason I burn out.” Which I wouldn’t, because I was good at what I did, damn it. “Besides, this is fun, and the competition doesn’t take all my time.”

“That’s fair.” He dove into questions about the existing work, the fact that I didn’t have much left, and what kind of prospects he had. When we were done, he asked, “What do you have in that brilliant head of yours that no one knows about?”

“No one?” Because there was one thing, but Onyx used a basic version already and Maddox was familiar with it too.

Xander gave a short chuckle. “No one who’s going to pay us millions for it.” He sighed. “I don’t care if Maddox knows about it. Not for these purposes. What do you have?”

“It’s like a buy-sell-trade app, but specifically for albums. Records. CD’s. Onyx has a setup on his website, to help people connect who are looking for something specific, but I could see it being so much bigger.”

“Love it. Write something up and we’ll talk,” Xander said. “But only because it’s good. Don’t expect me to jump on everything just because you had an idea.”

“Of course not.” I was excited that he liked this one, though. I felt good about what I was working on, and like I was making something bigger. It was an exciting feeling.

I headed downstairs to grab the dress Aubrey found me for the Follow the Leader cover, in case Maddox decided to take pictures today. Though Ravyn wasn’t done with the art, Maddox might photograph me anyway, for a number of reasons.

Aubrey was helping a customer with a fitting, and Maddox wasn’t here yet, so I took a seat behind the register to wait.

When the door swung open, I sat up straight and prepared to play shop girl. When Don walked in, my gut soured and I had to swallow back the surge of bile in my throat.

What was he doing here?

Every mistake I made last time I saw him rushed back to taunt me. How shy, defensive, and withdrawn I’d been. How much he tore me down with the fakest bullshit niceness, and how I let him.

Why did I give him any leeway to do that to me? I couldn’t stop him from saying what he was going to, but I didn’t have to give a fuck about any of it. He didn’t have that kind of power over me, and I wasn’t going to let him destroy the good mood that talking to Xander left me in.

In fact, last time I saw him, he pointed out I’d never be more than a code monkey, because I didn’t have the skills to go further, and I knew he was wrong.

“Honey Pot, hi.” He was warm and bright the instant he saw me.

I hid a cringe at the name, and painted on a bright smile. “Hey. How are you?” God that tasted foul.

His eyes grew wide, but his pleasant expression returned in a blink. “I didn’t expect to see you in here.”

“Aubrey’s one of my best friends. I’m here a lot.”

“It’s cute that you still use terms like best friend. And it’s sweet that she lets you stick around.”

I couldn’t do this. “Get out.”

“This isn’t your establishment.” He looked unfazed.

I could stay that way too, at least on the surface. But that didn’t mean he could be here. “I’m speaking on behalf of the owner.” And where the fuck was Aubrey, anyway?

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