Love Thy Neighbor (Friend-Zoned)(48)

It’s sweet that he cares so much. He looks so damn devastated, and I try so hard that I’m sure my face is bright red, but I can’t help what happens next.

I burst into laughter.

Right in his face.

It might be the fact that I’ve had two hours of sleep or it might be the fact that Ash thinks he broke me, but I can’t stop laughing. My head falls onto his shoulder with a plop and I feel his body shake with laughter too. He wraps me up in his arms and I laugh into him. I choke out between my laughter. “You think you BROKE me, Ash! What the f*ck?”

He chuckles. “I don’t know how a woman’s body works! Fuck!” Still wrapped up in him, he whispers, “What am I gonna do with you, girl?”

He kisses the side of my neck, and although I lift my head to give him better access, I know there’s no time for a play session this morning. I grip his shoulders as he plants his mouth firmer onto my throat. My breathing heavies and my eyes close from the pleasure his skilled mouth is bringing me, but I manage to utter, “Ash, I need a shower. I have to get to work, like, soon.”

With that he groans against my neck and releases me from his hold. We stare at each other for a few seconds before he prompts with smiling eyes, “Shower, babe.”

I whisper, “Right. Yeah. Shower.”

Acting on impulse, I slide my palm up his thigh to grip him through his pajama pants. His eyes darken and his mouth parts slightly. “This is gonna keep, right?”

Smiling that damn crooked smile I love so much, he answers, “For you, babe. It’ll keep for months.”

Smiling, I lean forward to kiss his lips and whisper against them, “That was a great answer.”

Then I hop up, walk out of his apartment and go back to mine to shower and get ready for work.





Chapter Fifteen

Rocking my world





Growing up, I loved Disney movies. I love Disney movies so much that my sisters and I still watch them together. I don’t think you can ever be too old to watch Disney.

Why am I bringing this up?

I’m bringing this up because after this morning’s lust, fright, then deep and meaningful discussions with Asher, I feel lighter. While I walk the concrete sidewalk to get to work, I actually feel like Snow White, daintily dancing through the forest with her little critter friends following her as she sings. Only my little forest critters are actually those awful grey pigeons.

I’m pretty sure those pigeons carry diseases. And here comes one now.

I sidestep the pigeon and carry on my golden path. Nothing’s going to bring me down today! Arriving in front of Safira’s, I flash my brightest smile and push the door open. Walking across the studio, I greet anyone and everyone with, “Good morning, bitches!”

No one answers, and I chuckle because I’m sure they’re all tired and hung-over from the night before. When I arrive into the store room, my blood runs cold. Tina sits on the desk sniffling and wiping at her eyes.

Whoever hurt my best friend is f*cked!

I say, “Honey bear, what’s wrong?” as I wrap her into a hug.

She sobs into my shoulder and squeaks, “It doesn’t match!”

What the hell?

Moving her long dark hair out of her face, I prompt her to start from the start. “Come again?”

Still sobbing, she holds up two of Safira’s catalogues and points to a dress that appears in both. She chokes out, “The printing company got the color wrong!”

Confusion furrows my brow while I look hard at both catalogues. I honestly can’t see a difference and I tell Tina that. She drags me out of the store room and over to the display windows so I can see them in the sunlight. She pokes one catalogue with tears pouring out of her pretty green eyes. I look closer and still can’t see the difference in color. Giving up, I ask her, “What’s wrong, beba? This isn’t about some silly catalogue, right?”

I get no response to this. Tina simply lifts her head and wails loudly.

Okay, I’m losing my shit freaking out. I’m not really good with emotions. I mean, I have a lot of them, I just don’t know how to address other women’s unexplained ugly cries. I’ve dealt with many versions of Tina, but I have never seen her like this. She’s gone cuckoo bananas. I look around in panic before I get a stupid idea.

Panic!

I run across the room to the counter, fiddle underneath it til I feel the protruding knob and press the panic button. As soon as I press it, relief courses through me knowing Nik will be here in a second to deal with today’s crazy-assed version of my best friend Tina. Not a second later, I cringe as I realize that Asher’s head probably just exploded from the amount of noise that thing causes in The White Rabbit’s security room.

Less than a minute passes before Nik barges through the door and as he opens his mouth to say something, spots an inconsolable Tina with her head raised up to the ceiling, sobbing like a mad woman. I look over at him with a what the f*ck expression, but he just sighs deeply and shaking his head, walks over to his wife to wrap her up tight.

My good morning has turned to shit.

I need a drink. Stat.

I gasp in fright when I hear someone whisper in my ear, “Lunch time. Security office. You owe me. I can’t hear shit.”

Turning, I see Asher wiggling around a finger in his ear trying to clear it. I shoot him an apologetic look before saying, “I panicked.” His lip curls and he narrows his eyes at me. I raise my hands in surrender before leaning closer to him and hissing, “Would you look at her? I’ve never seen her like that!”