Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(5)

Jasmine huffed, “I need to. It’s been a while. But I loves me a good hot man.”

“Nice body,” Krista continued, thinking back. “Biceps, super broad shoulders—he was like, hulking in the entryway. Trim waist.”

“Dress?”

“Suit,” Krista matched the girls’ smiles. She couldn’t help it. “Tailored, silk tie that matched his eyes…he looked good in it. He wore it like a second skin. He like…lounged in it, or something.” Krista shook her head, trying to calm the hatching butterflies in her stomach.

Like any girl, Krista also loved to look at hot guys, but this one had been different somehow. There was certain quality to him that made her act like a teenager with a crush. It hadn’t happened since she was a teenager with a crush.

“So…he was super-hot and you freaked out,” Kate summed up.

“Well, it wasn’t just that his face was perfect, you know? He was rugged and masculine, but so damn smooth he’d melt in your mouth.” Krista fanned herself, finally giving in with a bright smile, “He gives me fire-crotch just thinking about him.”

“Hah!” Jasmine pointed at her with victory. “I knew it!”

“So hit that, Romeo,” Kate laughed.

“She’s a chick. She’d be Juliet, dummy,” Jasmine said flippantly.

“Whatever. Same dumb play.”

“Yeah, right,” Krista mentally shrank back from the suggestion. “New job. He’s the kind of guy that everyone probably talks about.”

“Yeah, true. And if he doesn’t have a girlfriend, which he probably doesn’t, all he wants to do is sleep around and then talk about it. I hate man-sluts,” Jasmine pronounced, going back to her beer.

“Yeah,” Kate agreed into Krista’s nod, “But they sure are nice to look at!”

All the girls fell on the bar laughing. A truer statement had never been uttered. The three of them were worse than any man when it came to gawking. They’d all three turn and look, smiling appreciatively, and then walk away without bothering to say hello, having no time for the man. Heartache or a bad lay was rarely worth the nice face or body.

Still…a girl could look!

“But when are you going to get back out there?” Jasmine asked, as her knowing chuckles subsided.

These girls, to some extent—Kate more so than Jasmine—knew her history. They knew about the bad nights and the dark days. They knew her recovery from the scared, weak woman her ex-boyfriend Jim made. They were her support network most of the time, but sometimes, like now, they branched out and pushed.

Krista shrugged uncomfortably. Jasmine was right to push. Krista was young. She’d made some mistakes—one in particular—but she couldn’t let that dictate the rest of her life. She did need to move on. She needed to learn to trust again. She needed to find someone safe who wouldn’t jerk her around.

She just didn’t feel like starting today. She said as much.

“But you do need to, though,” Jasmine persisted in a quiet voice.

Krista sighed, tears springing to her eyes unbidden. “Jim got ahold of a Facebook account. He’s been messaging with threats.”

“What?” Kate yelled. “When did this happen? Why am I just hearing about this?”

Krista waved her away, desperate not to let Jim ruin her day. “It was bound to happen, right? Even when he was cheating on me, or…the other stuff…he was always possessive. He thought we were going to get married,” Krista snorted in derision. “It’s just a computer. He doesn’t know where I am.”

“What’d you do? Did you contact his parole officer?” Kate pushed with round eyes.

Krista shrugged. “He wasn’t breaking any laws. I closed all my social media accounts.”

“I never use that crap, anyway. You’re not missing anything,” Jasmine deflected.

“Well, me neither—hence us not knowing this first-hand, but… Shit.” Kate stared at her drink.

The girls stared at their drinks for a quiet moment, each reliving some memory from Jim they’d rather forget. After a second, Jasmine said, “What did that salesman say when you waved his paper in front of his face?”

She could turn around on a dime, thank God. She steered the conversation back to safer waters.

After a deep breath, Krista said, “I didn’t hear what he said—I sprinted out of there too fast!”

“He wasn’t mad?”

“No. When I met him later, he was smiling about it. Definitely not mad.”

“Oh my god…” Jasmine had a somber look, like she’d just found out someone had just died. “He totally knows he makes you nervous!”

“Yup,” Krista said, peeling the label off her beer. “It was a print-out of some graphs for a sales presentation.”

“He works on the same floor?”

“No, thank God. He printed it from the art department. It had his name on it and everything. He had to go reprint.”

Jasmine started laughing.

“There’ll be no living with him now. You’re screwed,” Kate said as she shook her head.

“Yup.”

Chapter Two

Day two!

Training day, which had only taken a couple hours of the morning, and consisted of a ridiculously quick job rundown by a mildly disgruntled employee. Krista had learned a couple things. One, stay away from someone in the department named Dan. He farted.