Sadness swirled around me like a cloak. Gin would’ve loved being here to meet with a fancy choreographer from San Francisco. Once I find out who it is, I’ll have to give her a heads up, see what she knows, if anything, about the mysterious woman that Anton is head over heels for. Well, as far as her dancing is concerned.
My phone pinged as I turned it on. I scanned the messages, bleary eyed from a full night’s sleep. One message was from Maddy, updating me about school, thanking me for the most recent check I sent for books and food. It still irked me that I didn’t have to pay for her living expenses anymore. I took deep breaths and let go a little more every day. I’ll never fully let go of my responsibility when it comes to my baby sister. It’s far too ingrained into the very fiber of my being. However, I have to constantly remind myself that she’s an adult, one who is living with her now fiancé with her career and future goals all laid out in front of her. She’s happy, healthy, and in a good place, with a guy who seems to dote on her every whim. He better stay that way or I’ll tie the fucker down and pluck out every hair on his chest one at time with my handy dandy tweezers.
The next message chills my blood. Oh, that bestie of mine is going to get it. There’s only one way that he’d know about my birthday and that’s if someone told him.
To: Mia Saunders
From: Wes Channing
Little birdie told me your birthday was next week and that you’re in Miami. Carve out a day away. You can’t possibly want to spend your birthday with a stranger. I’m coming to see you. Be ready. We’ve got months to make up for.
With a flourish I rang the little snake that gave away the goods.
“H-ullo,” a sleepy voice answered. “Mia, you okay?” She responded again, this time a bit more alert.
“How could you?” I grated into the phone, holding my cell as if it was a hammer ready to strike.
Ginelle sighed and mumbled. “Had to be done.” She yawned.
“Really? Had to be done. Is that your response? I’m so mad at you.” I whisper-yelled into the phone. Why I was whispering I couldn’t say since there was no one in the apartment with me.
She groaned and yawned once more. “Mia, I did an eeny meenie miny moe of hot guys from the phone numbers I stole from your phone.” I rolled my eyes and clenched my teeth. Just like her to steal their numbers instead of asking for them. “Wes was the one I landed on. You shouldn’t spend your birthday alone.” Her voice turned into a cross between a high pitched yawn and her normal witty self. “I’d come out, but you know after May’s vacation I can’t take the time. What time is it anyways?”
I glanced at the clock on the side table. Eight o’clock in the morning on the East coast. Snickering, I responded. “Five your time. Serves you right. Now I have to deal with Wes.”
“Deal with him? Hmm, I’d be doing a lot more than dealing with him. Why are you so mad anyway?”
Good point. Gin meddled in my business all the time and never before had I been angry with her. Perhaps it’s because I wasn’t ready to see Wes so soon after the Aaron debacle and the fact that I was still working through my own issues over what happened. All of this on top of the big whopper that I was falling in love with the guy. Fuck! That was the problem. My mind could push back, fight my heart all it wanted to, but the end-all be-all was that I’m in love with the dirty blond, sex god, who looks just as good in a pair of low-slung swim trunks or a tux, as he does buck naked. Definitely prefer the bare ass naked version. I licked my lips remembering our last encounter in Chi-Town. It was intense, carnal, and seared into my memory for eternity.
“Hello, Mia? Dick got your tongue? I sure as hell hope so. You’re grumpy since that political prick got his grubby hands on you.”
“Gin! I was attacked. Have a little mercy.”
Her voice went instantly soft. “I know babe, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to let that fucker get the best of you. No man gets to have that power over you. Remember. That’s what you told me after all the shit you went through with Blaine.”
I groaned. “I don’t know girl. Anton here is mouthwateringly hot—”
In true Ginelle fashion, she cut me off. “Girl, what I would give to be in your position right now. No, not your position. You like playing all hard to get. See me and my awesome tits, come look at ‘em, oh, no, you can’t have ‘em. Me, I’d be down on my knees in front of that hot piece of mocha-covered goodness sucking down his manhood like a frappuccino-flavored, icy treat.”
I busted out laughing. “You would, you skanky ho-bag.”
“Who me?” She pretended to be surprised.
I groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “But Gin, here’s the thing, the second he got close, I freaked. Had a full on flashback of that night with Aaron.” Scowling I picked at my cuticle, working a piece until it bled. The pain was nothing compared to the worry that I was more screwed up than I thought after what happened.