“Joey,” she responds, her eyes wary. Like me, she doesn’t want to be here either.
Tough shit, Sous.
I shake my head.
A chef. My chef?
Joey.
Who names their female child Joey? If she’s my employee, I wonder how fucked I’ll be when HR gets ahold of this tidbit. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I attempt to shift without waking her, but the bed creaks anyway. She groans as my body finally frees itself from the confines of sheets, feathers, and a comforter.
What did we do last night?
It looks like a cheap remake of that awful Twilight scene. As the image infiltrates my mind, I chuckle at the dumbness, unable to hold back the comparison. Lo always loved the books. Not the movies, but she watched them anyway. Made sure to force me to watch too. My laughter costs me, and her eyes widen. Unlike me, she is up in a flash. Her face wild with fear and confusion. Jesus. She must not remember either.
In the past two years, I’ve slept with so many women I can’t see straight when trying to picture them. But this? Her worried look and uncertainty have me feeling like utter shit. Were we not supposed to sleep together? Did she not want this? Fuck. I’m never this irresponsible. Scratching my head, I try to recall more from last night, scouring my brain for a morsel of truth.
“Never have I ever...” Joey pauses, biting her lip. “Fucked in public.” Her face reddens, scrunching in the most adorable way. Almost like she’s a young teen and I’m an old pervy man with too much experience. It’s not entirely wrong. She loosened up with the drinks she ordered, and it’s enticing to see the fiery girl mellow.
All of us, sans her, take a shot. There was that one situation with a teacher my sophomore year... I nearly forgot. Jase gave me hell for that. It didn’t stop me from fucking her every chance I got.
Mommy issues and all.
I shake my head at the memory. Did I decide to go pre-teen last night? This is so fucked. Who plays never have I ever anymore? High schoolers that want to get tanked and lucky.
My head spins as awareness dawns on me. She’s young...
The pinching to my head doesn’t abate while I try to filter through last night. My memory of her age isn’t hitting me at all. Is she even legal? Joey. This woman, she’s petite and small, nearly half my height, which is saying a lot since I’m six-five. Bitter indifference mars her face, the grimace making a crumpled-up piece of paper seem smooth.
Should I say something, or just soak in this awkward silence?
“Hey,” I mutter lamely, my face feeling hot for some reason. Without meaning to, I reach behind my head, grabbing my neck. Sweat lingers there, perspiring like a welling pond. What’s wrong with me? Lo always said I did this when discomfort rises inside me. Maybe she’s right. Joey’s eyes meet mine. The fear is gone, but annoyance has risen in its place.
Maybe what they say about redheads is true...
“Hey,” she mocks, her temper flaring, making her cute shortness seem even more adorable.
Adorable.
Cute.
What. The. Hell?
“Want to tell me why you hate me already? It usually takes a lot more than a greeting for that. Usually, after fucking, it’s not hate they’re feeling either.”
She scoffs, her nostrils flaring. Narrowed eyes meet me with malice as though I’m a perpetrator. “Of course. You think you were some fucking glorious god in the sack. If a cliché generator could use someone’s brain as the artificial intelligence, it’d be yours.”
I can’t help but laugh. Damn. What did I do, and why do I even care?
“So you’re saying, I wasn’t good?” The taunt leaves my lips before I think better of it.
Her face goes through a barrage of emotions and feelings, but how it pinks her cheeks is answer enough.
“I was good then,” I murmur, mentally patting my back. Not being able to recall the last time someone didn’t enjoy themselves.
Her. She didn’t. She hated you after.
I close my eyes at that, the memory, the pain, the melancholy. She’s gone. I’m gone. We’re nothing anymore.
“Nope, but nice try. Maybe next time, you should use your mouth for more useful things than speaking,” she rebuts with a raised brow. Her legs wiggle as she tries to shimmy herself back into her jeans. Her hips are generous and so is her ass. I’m stuck watching her struggle to pull them over her plump curves,