Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(35)

“That’s very good,” I said, my heart expanding ever so slightly. Maybe I was closer to my second successful couple than I thought.

“Lauren’s kinda freaked out, though. She said one of her sister’s friends went out with Keegan last year and he’s kind of a player.” She pulled a concerned face.

“Yeah, well, that’s not a big deal, right?” I said. “It’s not like you want a long-term thing with him. You just want Peter to see you guys together.”

“Well, that’s true. I’ll tell her that.” Claudia’s face lit up again. “Anyway, thank you so much.” She looked at Hephaestus. “And you, too. Heath, right?”

“Yep. Nice to meet you,” Hephaestus said.

“You too. Honestly. You have no idea how much this means to me,” she gushed. “I don’t know why either of you are doing it, but I’m so glad you are! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

I lifted my hand in a wave, and Claudia practically floated back out to the street. Hephaestus opened his mouth to say something, but Torin chose that moment to save me.

“Hey, True? Little help?” he asked.

“I’ll see you back at home,” I told Hephaestus. Although I had every intention of avoiding him until I could figure out what his motives actually were for becoming my right-hand man. I wanted to believe that he was truly here out of the goodness of his heart, because he cared for my sister and she cared for me. But with each passing hour, my father’s suspicions sank deeper into my mind.

No one did anything without an ulterior motive. Just look at me and Claudia. She was right. She had no clue why I was doing this. And as much as it was my job to help people find true love, as much as I truly wanted her and Peter to be happy, even I had a selfish purpose.

“Can I help you?” I asked the next customer in line.

Before the woman could even answer, the door opened again and in walked Peter, holding the door open for—as Claudia had called her—the balloon-lipped girl. He held her tiny waist between both of his enormous hands as he steered her toward the line, and the girl leaned back into him, clearly as comfortable as could be with the PDA.

“Two chocolate mint, please?” my customer requested.

I filled her order quickly and shoved her money into the register, never taking my eyes off Peter. He nuzzled the girl’s neck. He looked at her with hungry eyes. And she was loving every minute of it.

I was going to have to put a stop to this. Like, now.

Four more customers came and went with Torin and I working in tandem. When Peter and his placeholder girl were up, it was Torin’s turn, but I knocked him out of the way with my hip.

“What can I get you?” I asked.

“I’ll just have water,” the girl said, looking me up and down. “With lemon.”

“That’s it? Then why did we come to the cupcake place?” Peter asked her.

“I wasn’t ready to go home yet,” she said, resting her chin briefly against his chest as she batted her eyelashes up at him. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. Try to get a window seat.”

Then she twiddled her fingers and sauntered off. Her butt seemed to hang on its own hinge as it bounced back and forth on her way to the door. Peter couldn’t take his eyes off it.

I couldn’t help noticing she hadn’t said please or thank you. To either of us.

Peter gave me this sort of suspicious look. “So. It’s True, right?”

“Yep! True Olympia. That’s me.”

“You and Claudia seem like you’re friends now,” he said, squaring his sizable shoulders. “What’s up with that?”

“Is that so strange?” I asked, leaning my hands into the counter.

“You tell me.” He looked like he was on the verge of saying something else—my guess was he wanted to ask me about what he’d heard me saying at the pep rally practice—but then bit his tongue. “Can I get one Oreo cupcake, please? And water with lemon.”

“Sure.” I slowly took a cupcake from the case and went to get a plate. This was a great opportunity, getting Peter alone, but I wasn’t sure what I should do with it. Should I stick to the plan and try to make him jealous of Claudia’s new beau? Or should I try to find out what was going on with big-lips? When I turned around, Peter was staring down at his phone, checking the messages. “So . . . you’ve moved on pretty quickly.”

“And Claudia hasn’t?” he snapped.

I placed the plate on the counter, trying not to smile. So the jealousy plan was working.

“What do you see in that girl?” I asked, pulling a bottle of water from the fridge. “She’s nothing like Claudia.”

“No she’s not,” he mused, staring off toward the bathroom. Then he blinked. “Wait. What do you mean? How do you know?”

I shrugged and poured the water into a cup filled with ice. “Just Claudia’s very mature. Very polite. Cares a lot about people. I don’t exactly get that vibe from . . . what’s her name?”

“Josie,” he said, looking a bit green around the gills. But then his eyes flashed. “Not like it’s any of your business.”

“No. I guess it’s not.” I placed a lemon wedge on the edge of the cup just as Josie emerged from the bathroom. Peter tossed a ten-dollar bill on the counter.