Page 45 of Venom and Lace
“Let’s just make the list and see how you feel after, hm?” She threw back her shot and shook her head. “Damn, I didn’t know how badly I needed that.” She wrote a giant “Pro” on the board and then “Cons” on the other side of it. “OK, pros first.” She drew a dollar sign on the left side of the board. “You would get a lot of money out of this deal.”
I rolled my eyes and sank down in my chair. “You know I don’t give a shit about the money.”
“OK. Number two, Ryzen’s not a bad guy to get married to. I mean, up until this point, he has been everything you could have asked for in a man, am I right?”
“Yeah, other than the CIA manipulation tactics, he’s been real swell.” Was she listening to herself? This list should be only cons at this point, especially after the way he’d grabbed me. It had been kind of scary to see that side of him.
“Number three, we get to keep our lease.” She tapped the bottom of the marker against her chin. “Without the lease we would have to cancel the order from La Madam Orgo. It could ruin our reputation. We might never get a chance like this again.” She paced back and forth in front of the board. “Oh, God, we would have to cancel the current shipments, or redirect them, or pay thousands upon thousands of dollars in storage fees.”
I stood and gripped her shoulders. “Get a hold of yourself, it’s the alcohol talking.” I shook her gently and we burst into a fit of laughter.
“Damn, I was about to go down a black hole then.” She snorted and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. We stayed that way for a few moments, the giggles taking over as the alcohol kicked in.
I grabbed the marker from her hand and wrote under the cons side, “MARRIED.” I pointed at the word and pouted at her. “I would be married. And for God knows how long.” I threw my hands up in the air. “You know how I feel about marriage, especially after seeing how my dad treated my mom all these years.”
She nodded and leaned against the dining room table. “I know, love, but it really wouldn’t be forever.”
“That’s worse, because then I have a divorce to look forward to.” Ugh, what a disaster this was turning into. If there was one thing I was certain of, it was that marriage was not in the cards for me. I had watched for years as my dad belittled my mom, made her feel like garbage, cheated on her, and tore her down. And she’d just taken it. All these years, she’d just taken it. I wasn’t sure if it was the money that kept her there or if she just really loved the man—I couldn’t imagine why. I couldn’t even blame her for being the neurotic woman she was today. We didn’t always get along; she thought I was ruining my life with the type of work that I was doing. But she was still my mother, and I loved her no matter what. My father, on the other hand—I could do without him for the most part.
“Con number two.” I wrote “CIAN” in big letters. “I don’t know what it is, but the way he was smiling when Ryzen got chosen as successor? I don’t think it’s over with him. I mean romantically, obviously, that’s done.”
Juliet scrunched her nose up and grinned. “You sure about that, you dirty girl? Sounded like things were about to get real kinky in that barn.” She used a pillow to dodge the marker I threw at her.
“Speaking of kinky, are you ever going to give me any details about this mystery man you’ve been seeing?” I snorted when she blushed. It was so unlike her.
“Soon.” She smiled, a faraway look in her eyes. “I don’t want to jinx it just yet. Besides, we need to take care of this”—she pointed at the whiteboard—“first.”
I sank down next to her on the sofa and laid my head on her shoulder. Her head pressed against mine and I sighed. “We’ll figure it out, Nova, we always do.” We crossed our fingers in our secret code, a calmness coming over me, knowing that she was right.
We spent the rest of the night catching up on everything I’d missed while I was gone. Juliet thought that Owen might have a crush on Thora, but Thora was oblivious. I had received another black rose while away, and someone had left us our very first one-star review on our website. They said our Octopussy toy was too provocative and had too many ridges on its tentacles. Juliet had framed it and hung it up in our office on Monroe, which I couldn’t stop laughing at.
“Speaking of Thora, she has an art show tomorrow downtown and invited us. I thought we should support her.” Juliet threw the pillows off the bed and onto the floor.
“I didn’t know she was an artist.” I slipped on some shorts and T-shirt and climbed into bed next to her. Nothing like having a sleepover with your BFF, especially after a crappy week.
“Me either, until she mentioned it. She, um, paints with her body parts.” Juliet smiled and pulled the covers up to her chin. “I knew she was one of us when I met her.” She reached over and turned the lamp off, and I passed out almost instantly.
The sun came roaring through the blinds hours later, and I pulled the covers over my head, hiding from the light. It was a Saturday; we didn’t have shit to do, and I’d be damned if I was getting out of bed before noon. I reached for my phone but had no missed calls or texts. Good, Ryzen must have realized what a dick he had been and was giving me space.
Juliet and I spent most of the morning in bed watching reruns ofGilmore Girlsand eating greasy breakfast sandwiches and potatoes to cure our hangovers. It was perfect. The day was going to be good, and I was loving it. No Ryzen, no Cian, no rich cowboys and their messed-upHunger Gamesscavenger hunts. Just me, Juliet, and a ton of coffee.
In the afternoon we stopped at the office, and I was amazed at how organized and clean it was. “Wow, Thora did all this?”
Juliet shook her head and laughed. “She’s like the Energizer bunny. I’ve never seen someone get so excited about organizing things.”
By the time eight o’clock rolled around, I had almost completely forgotten about my whole dilemma. Juliet was a breath of fresh air after a hellish week.
I wasn’t sure what to wear to an art show, but I didn’t think jeans and a T-shirt with grease stains was it. I pulled out a dress from my suitcase, one I had brought with me on the trip but hadn’t worn because Ryzen had made me think it was too revealing. Well, it was going to be perfect for an art show downtown, that was for sure.
Juliet whistled when I walked out of the bathroom, and I did a little spin for her. “Too much?”
“No, babe.” She handed me my clutch. “This shade of blue is perfect against your skin. And your peaches look good.” She giggled and grabbed her coat.
Twenty minutes later we were stepping out of a cab downtown. The art show was in a meat factory-turned-artists’ loft, and there were two other artists also presenting that night. We gave our name to the guy at the front of the line, and he lifted the divider so we could walk in.
The place was packed with people, everyone from old men in business suits to young surfer guys who looked like they had spent the day at the beach. Thora’s showing was on the right side and we made our way over until we found her.
“Holy cow,” Juliet mumbled when we walked in.