Cake Love: All Things Payne(105)

"Whiskey. The bottle and four shot glasses." Aria holds up her hand for the waiter that is passing by.

"So, wait a minute. I ... uh ... you aren't his girlfriend? Okay I can see that now. But the accident, my God, I had no idea."

Tiffany's eyes grow big and she glances around the table.

"I thought you knew. You know right, Evaleen?" Tiffany's eyes are pleading with Evaleen.

"No, I had no idea. No one in that office knows anything about Payne's past, well, except the Mimir brothers." Evaleen shakes her head and resumes sipping from her straw.

"Shit balls!" Tiffany exclaims.





Chapter 29 - THE Drunk Dial ...

"So Henrik has no family?" I ask grabbing a shot glass that the waiter just dropped off and hug the whiskey bottle as if it's a life preserver.

"Yes, he had an uncle in Baltimore, shady character. Always in and out of jail. The uncle's son, Henrik's cousin shot the uncle about a year ago. I don't know it all seems sort of sketchy to me. I understand why he isn't really in contact with his cousin."

Wow. No wonder Henrik is such an *. He's had a terrible life for a long time. As much as I don't want to I am starting to have some sympathy for him.

"Don't you dare, Morgana!" Brain pipes up waving her squiggly finger at me.

"Come on, Brain. Look at his life. He is still human, you know."

She rolls her eyes in disgust.

"He f*cked you and then left you --with no underwear I might add -- to get fired. There are people in this world who have been through worse and still treat others with respect. What he did was awful."

"Now I wouldn't call it awful, Brain." My Vagina calls out, waving her sensual hips.

"Okay, you two just leave it. I may have some sympathy for him but you are right, Brain, it doesn't excuse how he treated me."

"That is some messed up shit." Aria slurs as she throws back a shot. This is her third shot and it is already affecting her. How can someone who is a bartender get drunk so easily? Aria defies logic sometimes.

"Just forget I said anything. I really did think everyone knew. The way he talks about you two I just assumed you were his friends." Tiffany points to me and Evaleen.

We look at each other and break into laughter. Shaking our heads at the same time like creepy twins who wear matching everything.

"Oh God, that was good. Oh man, I haven't laughed that hard since ... well ... since you interviewed with the company, Drake. No, Payne has no friends, except for you, Blackburn." Evaleen points to Tiffany and I figure out that's her last name.

"What about Edgar? He told me they were friends in college." I counter Evaleen.

Evaleen giggles and squeaks and then giggles some more.

"Edgar? Uh ... maybe ... uh ... yeah. Perhaps. I don't know about Edgar. Why would I know about him? He's not even my boss it's not like I try to find out about his personal life for Christ sake!" Evaleen's voice goes high and then low and then growls the last part.

"Hold on there, cowgirl. We are talking about Mr. Payne's life, not grilling you about Edgar. Relax. No one thinks you have the hots for him. I mean they KNOW you have the hots for him, they don't think it." I explain my point as Evaleen glares at me while the rest of the table chuckles.

I push back my second shot and am starting to feel good.

"Drake, forget about Payne. Here I got something for you." Evaleen digs in her purse and pulls out a small piece of paper, sliding it across the table. I pick it up and see a website scribbled across it www.datingEblackbook.com.

"Is this a dating site?"

"Yeah. I did it a few times. The guys on there aren't bad. You just got to weed out the losers to find the good ones."

As decent as my buzz is right now it can't hold back the irritation I feel. I push the paper back to Evaleen.

"Bechmann, just no. Please give me a break. I don't think I can handle men right now."

Her lips curl up into a smirk and she gets up waving me to come with her. I grab my purse and make my way through the crowd to her side. We end up in the ladies room as she heads into the blue toilet stall. Despite the very dated establishment the bathroom is quite modern. The gleaming light gray tile looks new with blue mosaic counters and three white basin sinks. I decide to empty my bladder too since I am in here. As I hover my ass over the toilet seat I hear Evaleen.

"You know you can have your job back anytime you want, Drake."

I quickly wipe up and flush. When I leave the stall Evaleen is washing her hands and I saddle up beside her at the adjacent sink. As I wash my hands I glance over at Evaleen who is smiling while drying with a paper towel.

"What do you mean anytime I want? I was fired."

"Uh, technically you were never fired. I put you on time off without pay. You are still an employee of Mimir."

I bypass the paper towels and grab her arms, turning her to face me.

"And you were going to tell me this when? Any time over the last month and a half I would have liked to know that."

She pries my wet hands from her and tries to dry her damp sleeves.

"Well, I thought Payne would man up and try to get your job back for you as soon as he came back to the company since he was just as much to blame for the situation I found you two in. But, of course he said nothing, his usual course of action. As tough as that man pretends to be when the shit hits the fan he clams up like a ... a ... clam!"