Page 38 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘Oh, I’m going to need the name of that guy you suggested for the tux,’ I asked Amber.

She shook her head, turning in her computer to pull up a screen with the information and texting me the number. ‘I told you weeks ago, you might be cutting it too close.’

As it turned out, I ended up paying a lot more than I had expected to on the tux. It wasn’t like I couldn’t afford it, I still just preferred to live on the cheap. I didn’t think that would ever go away. When you grow up with nothing and worked hard for everything, just scraping by your whole life, it’s a hard mindset to stray from.

The charity ball turned out to be a fun time, partly because Breton was able to make it last minute, there was an open bar, and I was networking with Steve, who was still acting as my pimp.

Amber and Zoe were busy most of the night, which left Breton and me at the table with Zoe’s sister Lana, who was as beautiful as she was shy.

When I finally got her to talk, it was about the business she had just started, even though she was still in university. She was apparently a genius at social marketing and was also a freelance writer and blogger with a sizable following. Seeing how painfully shy she was and how uncomfortable she was in a large crowd, I could appreciate why she chose the blogging route.

The night was perfect, aside from the fact that I was missing Jessa terribly. This was her scene, she loved things like this. She knew I was going, and over the past few days, she told me about a lot of the charity black tie events she had been to over the years. I sensed she was feeling down that she wasn’t able to accompany me to my first, but I told her, we had many more in our future. We started to use terms likeour future, our home, our friendsa lot more recently, and I fucking loved it. It seemed that as time went on, there was room for me.

On her insistence, I had taken a bunch of pictures of her two best friends. I didn't want to send them to her, I didn't want her to be sad about what she was missing out on tonight. She was already missing out on everything daily, there was no need to rub salt in the wound.

I took a pic of Breton and myself, both wearing our tuxes and sent it to her.

DREW:Who wore it best?

JESSA:My two favorite boys!!!!

DREW:Cupcake, we both know, I’m all man

JESSA:How quickly you forget, I have very limited knowledge of the extent of your manhood.

It was true, I always made it all about her when we hooked up. She hadn’t been taken care of by Matt, and I was determined to make her see that a healthy sexual relationship didn’t have to be one-sided. Little did I know that we had limited time. It had been one-sided, but at least it was in her favor, and I enjoyed every moment of pleasing her.

DREW:If you would tell me your fucking location, I’ll charter a plane within the hour. I happen to have connections.

JESSA:In time, baby

JESSA:And of course, you wear it better, but it would look better on…

She sent me a picture of the end of her bed, her toes in the bottom of her corner and the floor taking up most of the picture.

DREW:That can be arranged in a few hours.

JESSA:Stop, it’s been too long

DREW:Long it is

JESSA:Drew...

DREW:Jessa...no need to make this harder than it needs to be

JESSA:bye

DREW:I know all about being thick headed

JESSA:stop being rude and go back to my best friends

DREW:They are busy, I’m with Lana

JESSA:Lana is there?????

DREW:yes

JESSA:So, what do you think of her?

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