Wild Tendy (IceCats 2)

As our lips meet, my eyes drift shut. Yeah, it’s new and sparkly, this relationship of ours, but damn if she isn’t the beginning to my happiness.

Chapter Twenty

Aviva

“Why am I nervous?”

Jaylin looks over at me from the table where she’s sitting. She has paperwork spread out, and her brow is furrowed. Dustin Sr. is coming in to discuss why my rent is now two hundred dollars more and why he told my dad. I don’t know why my stomach is churning, but it is. I knew never to trust that man, but I had no choice. My mom rented the place way before I knew anything about business. If I had my way, I’d buy the building outright and flip him the bird.

“I don’t know. You have no reason to be. I’m going to ruin him.”

I sigh as a smile pulls at my lips. My best friend is a badass.

“How’s the car doing?”

I cover the olive bin and grab the cucumber one. “Good, thank you. I love it.”

“Awesome. It’s a good car.”

I nod. “Nico thought he was gonna give me his red sports car.”

Her eyes widen. “You should have taken it!”

“No way. I can’t imagine myself in something like that. Callie, though… She already decided she would look fabulous.”

Jaylin laughs. “That girl is a mess. Why did he want to give you that?”

“I guess he’s getting a truck. He says he’ll be better protected from crazy women drivers,” I say dryly, and she snorts with laughter.

“So, things are going well?”

I’m beaming, and I don’t even try to hide it. “They are. He’s wonderful. Direct as all hell, but wonderful.”

“What do you mean, direct?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t think. He just does.” I shake my head, a grin on my face. “He goes on these big stream-of-consciousness bursts of stuff that don’t even make sense, but he’s telling me. Like, last night, I guess his cup thing shifted during the game, and his ball fell out?” I start to giggle, remembering how silly he sounded. “So he goes on this long ramble about how he was worried he was going to lose it, and then he wouldn’t be able to have kids, and then he would be known as One-Nut Buck, and I wouldn’t want to sleep with him because he only has one ball. I swear, he is so silly.”

My face hurts from grinning, and I know Jaylin notices. “Aw, someone is smitten.”

I shrug. “I guess. I don’t know.”

“You do know. You like him.”

I bite my lip. Should I admit it? “I do. A lot.”

“Good. You need someone who makes you feel good,” she says sweetly, and I know she means it.

I think she’s my biggest cheerleader when it comes to my bliss. For so long, I haven’t cared, but now I do. I feel like I’m chasing it now. Craving it. Since Nico is gone and we only have the phone to communicate, I look for things around me to make me feel good. Usually after a long day of work, I go to bed. But the past couple nights, I’ve gone to watch Callie at the gym. We made cookies last night and had our version of Netflix and chill. Stranger Things and cookies. It was the best, and it was what I wanted to do. I wished Nico were there, but I was still happy. It’s all so crazy. All it took was for someone to come along and show me that I can be happy even with this shittastic life of mine. I don’t know how it all happened so quickly, but it has.

I’m smitten.

“He asked me to be his girlfriend,” I say, and she looks over at me, her brow perked.

“Let me guess. You said no?”

“No. I actually said yes.” I pause. “Well, I didn’t disagree or agree. I just said I like being wanted, but that was my way of saying yes.”

She rolls her eyes. “Because being direct is so hard.”

I scoff. “Not for him. I wish I could be like that. I always second-guess myself.”

She gives me a look. “If you treated your personal life the way you do your business life, you would have found someone a long time ago.”

I make a face. “But then I wouldn’t have found Nico. Or better yet, run my car into him.”

“True,” Jaylin laughs, shaking her head. “How long has it been?”

“We’ve been together for over a week now.”

She nods. “Yup. He’s the one.”

My face twists. “What?”

She looks over her shoulder at me. “I’m telling you, Aviva. You may have crashed into him, but that dude crashed into your life and turned it upside down. You haven’t quit smiling since I’ve been here. You keep checking your phone, gushing, and being so girly. You’ve never been like this. This all means something.”

I hold her gaze. “I can’t even disagree with you, but I’m terrified that it’s not the case for him, which is why I will keep my guard up.”