Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“You don’t have to be a stupid frat boy with cheesy pickup lines to be a misogynist, Rain,” Taylor says. “You just have to not respect women.”
“I don’t think he doesn’t,” I reply.
“He just doesn’t care enough about you to let you into his life or do anything but use you as a fuck toy,” Jasmine replies stonily.
“Well, when you put it like that…” I sigh again.
“How else can I put it?” she asks.
“What about the necklace?” I ask. “See, I think the necklace means something. It’s obviously not a guy’s necklace, and it clearly means something to him. What if that’s what’s important to him, and it’s holding him back somehow?”
They both groan.
“She’s not gonna listen to us, is she?” Taylor asks Jasmine.
“Nope. She’s not.”
“My man must be giving that good dick.”
They both laugh, and even I have to smile. I wish I could explain my fascination with Marlon after only knowing him this long, but I can’t. There’s just something about him. It’s like he sank a hook into me the day we met at the bar and I just haven’t been able to get it out of me since.
“Okay, it’s drinks time,” I say, standing. “I’ll buy. What do you two idiots want? I’m getting a mimosa. You want one too, Jaz?”
“I want a mimosa like you want Marlon’s dick!”
“Oh my goodness–”
“I’m gonna go full J.D. in Scrubs and get an Appletini,” Taylor says excitedly. “And if they don’t have those here, then get me a sex-on-the-beach please and thank you.”
Laughing, I head over to the bar and try to get the bartender’s attention, but he’s busy serving a threesome of girls in tight black dresses who are clearly being a handful. I look for someone else who could serve me, but the only other person working is a girl who looks like she’s restocking ice.
I accept my fate and lean up against the high-top and gaze out across the crowd as I wait, knowing it will be a few minutes before I’m served.
There’s a girl at one of the booths whose dress catches my eye. It’s very interesting teal, one-shouldered with a nice taper that stops mid-calf, and I am wondering whether or not I could actually just go talk to her about it and come back before the bartender is ready when I feel a presence behind me and a whiff of Givenchy, Gentleman Society, cologne invades my nostrils.
“Excuse me, but do you like raisins?” a voice asks.
Oh God, not now. Please not now.
I turn around and find myself staring at one of the Wall Street bros who didn’t get the booth he wanted because of us. He’s wearing a dark blue Canali suit with a white shirt underneath and Ferragamo loafers. His brown hair is slicked back, and he has a pair of Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses tucked into his breast pocket. Guys like this are a dime a dozen in this area of the city, and they all think they’re the next Gordon Gecko and that every girl wants to go home with them and worship them for simply existing.
“Did you just ask me if I like raisins?” I reply.
“Yeah.” He grins. “Do you like raisins?”
I internally roll my eyes. “Um, sure.”
He nods, and I realize I’ve fallen right into his trap. “Well, how about a date?”
“Did you seriously just say that?”
“I seriously just did.” He smirks, glancing back at his friends, who are standing at a high-top table, urging him on, smirking over their beers.
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”
“You are fine.” He nods. “At least tell me if you’re single.”
His question hits me out of left field.
Am I single?
I haven’t spoken to Marlon in three days, and technically we’re just doing a friends-with-benefits thing anyway, so that would mean I’m single, aren’t I?
“Let’s just say…it’s complicated.”
Why am I even entertaining this guy? Maybe I’m just bored waiting for the bartender.
“Well how about I uncomplicate things for you?” he asks. “My name’s Adam, and I work on Wall Street, as you might have guessed. I’ve got an apartment in the city, and I just put a down payment on a home in Connecticut, and I’m looking for a woman who can fit into my life with me.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Fit into your life with you? What does that mean?”
“Basically the whole family thing just isn’t for me, ya know? But my firm likes it, so I need someone to come with me to work events. Make me look like a good guy, you understand.”
“Look like a good guy…”
My skin starts to crawl.
“You’re a babe–you know you are. So if you were willing to come with me to work events, charity auctions we do, and things like that, I’d be willing to come up with an allowance for you.”
“An allowance,” I repeat, tightlipped.
“That’s right.” He smiles. “A generous one. You’d be able to upgrade your wardrobe–not that you don’t look great in what you’re wearing, of course. And maybe we could have some fun afterwards too if you felt like it.”