“What are you talking about? That was literally the most mortifying moment of my entire life.”
“Who cares? Cole thinks you’re a #California10.”
“What parallel universe are you in? He doesn’t think I’m a 10. He thinks I’m a child molester.”
A guy passing us on the sidewalk gave me a weird look.
“He was joking about that. But he wasn’t joking when he said, ‘It’s not every day those kids get to see a California 10 half-naked.’ ”
“He didn’t say…”Wait a second.I replayed the scene in my mind. Usually my memory wasn’t so vivid. But the past five minutes had been so horrifying that I would forever remember them in perfect detail.Fuck.I’d remember it forever? Noooo. That meant it was Incident #7, right after my last incident of face-planting Xander Frost’s penis.
Shit!I thought I’d repressed that! But apparently it wasn’t going anywhere. Which meant the penis grab was officially Incident #7. And this was #8. I was almost into double digits. I stood there reliving the horrors of the high schoolers staring at me. And Cole’s cocky smile. As the scene unfolded in my mind, I realized that he had in fact called me a California 10. “He was just messing with me.”Right?
“No way. He’s so into you.”
“Complimenting people is probably just part of his job. It’s like how doormen always act excited to see you and hand you packages. You know they’re just faking it.”
“Oh, I bet Cole would be more than happy to hand you his package,” said Chastity.
“Well I can never show my face in that building again, so he’ll never get the chance. And anyway, I’m officially done with men. They’re all assholes.”
“We’ve been over this,” said Chastity. “They aren’tallassholes. And as your wing woman, I think you should give Cole another chance. You two are totes adorbs together. You totally owned him in poker, and tonight he got you back by having you flash a few schoolboys.”
“Ew, don’t call them that.”
“So now that you’ve calmed down, should we go back in?”
“I told you. I’m never going back.”
“Not even to mess with Cole?”
“Nope. But if I happened to change my mind, how would you suggest we do it?”
Chastity scrunched her mouth to the side in the way she always did when she was thinking hard. “I don’t know.”
“Well…when you think of something, I’ll be happy to come back.”
“Promise?”
I nodded. But the sinister look on Chastity’s face made me immediately regret it. She would stop at nothing to try to get me a new boyfriend. Or boy toy. Or whatever weird relationship Chastity was trying to get me into.
This Is War - Chapter 12 - Mr. Frost
Monday – September 18, 2023
“It’s going to be fine,” said Chastity as we stood outside the BIMG office building. “Xander Frost probably doesn’t even remember you.”
I stared at her.
“I mean…it was a busy day. He met tons of people.”
“And how many of those people do you think grabbed his ass while sticking their face in his crotch?” I cringed at the memory of inadvertently molesting my new boss.
“Probably just you…”
I nodded. “I rest my case.”
“Okay, fine. He’ll definitely remember you. But what does that matter? I bet he liked it.”
