It was the smile. Here I’d been ready to leave the whole fucking date, and then she smiled and I was, well, thinking that maybe I didn’t want it to end quite yet.

  “You want me to take you home?” I asked, stopping by the side of my truck. She leaned against it, her eyes on mine. “Or we could hang at my place for a while.”

  “Your place,” she said instantly.

  “You sure?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Alright.” I opened the door for her and stopped myself from leaning in for a kiss. I wasn’t about to make out in a parking lot like I was sixteen years old and had nowhere to go.

  “I just can’t stay out too late,” Tally said apologetically as we drove toward my place. “I have to be up early.”

  “No worries,” I replied as she slid her fingers between mine. “I can drive you home whenever.”

  “You have roommates, right?” she asked as we drove.

  “Yep.” I nodded. Anxiety pooled in my gut and I tried really hard to ignore it. It wasn’t a big deal that I was bringing her back to the house. Hadn’t Charlie told me in the very beginning that she expected me to bring women home—or something along those lines? It was my place, too. I glanced at Tally. “But we can hang in my room.”

  “Hey, it’s better than my house,” she said with a laugh. “My parents are probably sitting in front of the TV watching some show way too loud.”

  I chuckled, but it was kind of weird to think she still lived with her parents. I knew she was close to my age, not a kid or anything, I just couldn’t imagine living with parents. I’d been on my own for so long, I could barely remember what that was like.

  “Nice place,” she said as I parked in the driveway behind Kara’s car.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I got lucky.”

  “Lucky for sure,” she said as she followed me out of the car. “I swear, we haven’t even been able to find a two-bedroom apartment in our price range.”

  “Our landlord is my roommate’s cousin,” I explained as I walked her to the door.

  “That explains it,” she replied ruefully. “I’ll try not to be too jealous when I see the inside.”

  “Remember, I’ve got three roommates, not one,” I said, putting my hand on the small of her back as I led her inside. “Cuts costs quite a bit.”

  I could hear everyone in the kitchen, and I debated just ushering Tally upstairs and avoiding all of them, but I didn’t want to seem like I was trying to hide her.

  “Come on,” I said, making a decision. “I’ll introduce you.”

  I led her forward, and as we got closer to the kitchen Tally seemed to stiffen.

  “They’re cool,” I said reassuringly in her ear as we crossed the threshold.

  It was only as I lifted my head that I realized all conversation in the room had stopped.

  Draco was sitting at the table, his arms crossed over his chest and Kara sat on the counter, eyes wide.

  But it was Charlie who made me freeze in place.

  She was standing in front of the sink in her rattiest pajamas, her hands hanging at her sides, and the look of complete betrayal written across her face.

  Oh, fuck that.

  “Guys,” I said, clearing my throat. “This is—”

  “Tabitha,” Kara said flatly. “Yeah, we know.”

  “Hey, Kara,” Tally said quietly.

  “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve, showing up here,” Kara said, her voice still level as she hopped off the counter.

  “You know each other?” I asked, glancing between Kara and Tally, then back over at Charlie, who hadn’t moved.

  “We used to work together,” Kara said, tilting her head to the side. “Right, Tabitha? Until Charlie fired your ass.”

  In a split second, I knew shit was only going to get worse and I needed to get Tally out of there before it did. Obviously there was some bad blood between them, but she didn’t deserve to be ambushed.

  “Give me a break,” Tally replied, her tone surprising the hell out of me. The woman I was getting to know was sweet as hell and—

  “I’ve got to hand it to you,” Kara said, clapping. “You’ve got balls.”

  “I didn’t know you lived here,” Tally replied.

  “Well, now you do,” Kara spat. “Get the fuck out of our house.”

  “I live here, too,” I said, irritated. Whatever they had going on between them had nothing to do with me.

  “Then pack your shit,” Kara shot back. “And you can get the fuck out.”

  “Baby,” Draco said, his voice quiet. “Calm down.”

  “I’m going to count to five,” Kara said, ignoring Draco as she straightened her shoulders. “If you’re not out, I’ll personally throw your ass out.”

  “Is she kidding?” Tally asked me, stepping closer to my side.

  “She’s not,” Charlie said, finally speaking up. Her face was completely devoid of color as she stared at us. “Get out.”

  I looked at Draco. “What the fuck, man?”

  “Take her home,” Draco said seriously.

  “Let’s just go,” Tally said, pulling on my arm.

  We turned to leave, and I was furious. I wasn’t asking them to welcome her with open arms if they didn’t like her, but they could’ve at least respected me enough to be fucking polite.

  “Oh, and Tabitha,” Charlie called, making Tally turn. “I’ve already talked to your boss.”

  Tally jerked in surprise.

  “The next time you say shit about me or my business, you’ll be out of a job and living with mommy and daddy forever,” Charlie continued. “It’s funny how fast word travels when you start telling tales. You might never find another job around here, at least not as a barista.”

  Tally sped back up and we left the house in a rush.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said as she climbed into my truck. “I don’t know what the fuck—”

  “Just drive me home, please,” Tally said quietly, closing the door in my face.

  We were silent until I’d parked in front of her house.

  “That was fun,” she said sarcastically, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, this isn’t going to work.”

  “I’ll talk to them,” I replied. “I don’t know what the fuck that was.”

  “It’s fine,” she said with a short laugh. “Call me if you ever move out.”

  She hopped out of the truck and I watched her as she jogged toward her front door. When I’d picked Tally up earlier, I’d been on the fence about whether or not spending time with her was going to be a thing, but now that someone else had blown any chance of that I was livid.

  I drove home white knuckled and practically shaking with anger. What a fucked up thing to do to someone. She’d come home with me expecting a fun time and she’d been embarrassed and talked to like trash. Plus, the whole situation made me look like a complete asshole, which really pissed me off.

  I took a few deep breaths before walking in the front door, but I shouldn’t have even bothered, because the group in the kitchen had disbanded. Kara and Draco were curled up on the couch watching a movie and Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

  “Not tonight,” Draco ordered as I turned in their direction. “We can hash it out tomorrow, yeah?”

  I huffed in disbelief, but I knew from the way he was looking at me that if I pushed it, things were going to be much worse than they already were.

  I jogged up the stairs and into my room, closing the door behind me, like a teenager that had just been grounded. I grew more furious as I shed my boots and took off the flannel I’d worn out.

  Fuck it. I wasn’t the one who’d done something wrong. I wasn’t going to hide in my goddamn room. Still fuming, I didn’t notice the water running in the bathroom and threw the door open.

  Charlie was standing at the sink washing her hands. She didn’t bother to look up or acknowledge my presence.

  “So, you’re ignoring me now?” I asked, as she dried her hands and then reached down to rub her hip.

  “Hello, Bishop,” she said, emotionless. She turned to walk out her side of the bathroom.

  “No apology?” I asked, bracing my hands on the door frame. “Seriously?”

  “What exactly am I supposed to apologize for?”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “You think it’s okay to just treat people like shit?” I asked, leaning forward a little.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said flatly.

  “I bring a date home and you’re so fuckin’ petty that you chase her out of the house?”

  “Get over yourself,” she replied evenly.

  “You didn’t want to be with me, remember?” I asked, taking a step forward. “You’re too busy tryin’ to save your sinkin’ ship. Remember that conversation?”

  Charlie made a noise, her entire body jerking. It was a huff of sound, a sob or a laugh, I couldn’t tell.

  “You’re right. You fuck whoever you want,” she replied. She cleared her throat. “While I save my sinking ship.”

  “What you did tonight was super fucked up,” I replied, unwilling to end the conversation. How the hell was she acting like the victim here? She hadn’t wanted to be with me. She’d said it over and over and when I fucking believed her and moved on, she sabotaged my fucking date and made me look like a jerk.

  “You know, Bishop,” she said with a sigh. “I’m really fucking tired. You wanna argue, you can do it with yourself.”

  “Oh, you’re tired,” I said, laughing under my breath. “Must be exhaustin’ bein’ a bitch to someone after you bought the business they worked at for years and then fired ’em.” I knew it was a shitty thing to say, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “That’s enough,” Kara snapped from behind me.

  I turned to look at her, and in that moment Charlie closed the bathroom door and locked it from her side.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you two?” I asked in disbelief.

  “You’re being a douche,” Kara said, her voice rising. “Draco asked you to drop it for tonight.”

  “I live here, too,” I replied, pointing to myself. “I pay fuckin’ rent. So why the fuck do you and Charlie think it’s your place to tell me who I can have over?”

  “You want to get into this now, I see,” Kara said. The sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs. “Alright, I’ll lay it out for you.”

  “Dyin’ to hear it,” I muttered as Draco came and stood in my bedroom doorway.

  “Your little girlfriend,” Kara said, dragging the last word out. “Is a piece of shit.”

  Draco shook his head, but his lips were twitching. He’d clearly come upstairs to stop the argument, but after hearing his girlfriend’s tone, had decided to watch the show instead.

  “Yeah, Charlie fired her. Because she talks shit about literally everyone. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or a blatant lie, she does it.”

  I tried to imagine Tally being malicious or mean, and I couldn’t, but I remembered Charlie talking about the employee she’d fired.

  “She also never showed up to work on time and called in all the fucking time for no reason,” Kara continued. “And yeah, whatever, that’s all water under the bridge.”

  Kara stopped, her face red with anger. She was so mad, that her hands were in fists at her sides.

  “But considering the fact that she’s been badmouthing Charlie’s business to anyone that would listen, telling people that the cart is infested with mold and rats and God knows what else,” she said, getting quieter and quieter. “If you bring her in this house again I’ll scratch her goddamn face off with my bare hands. Have fun fucking a woman with no face.”

  “What?” I asked stupidly. It was taking me a minute to catch up.

  “She’s been tellin’ everyone that Coffee Now has all these health code violations,” Draco said flatly, pulling Kara back against his chest. “It’s why Charlie’s been strugglin’ to keep the place goin’ and gettin’ no customers.”

  I stared at him in confusion. “Why would you think it’s her?”

  “We know it was her,” Kara said sharply. “Probably Mary, too.”

  “You got proof?” I asked, still skeptical.

  “She didn’t deny it,” Charlie said from the bathroom.

  She was standing there, still in her ratty pajamas, a look of complete dejection on her face that I’d been too angry to notice before.

  “Of course she didn’t deny it,” Kara said. “She knew that we knew. That twatwaffle.”

  “You can still fuck her if you want,” Charlie said with a humorless laugh. “We’d just prefer if you did it elsewhere.”

  “Charlie,” I said, something landing hard in the middle of my chest. The fact that she still thought I’d have anything to do with Tally, even after the stuff they were saying she’d done—

  “I was going to tell you we figured it out,” she said, her hand absently rubbing that same spot on her hip. “I mean, I have some damage control to do but pretty soon everything will be normal. No more long hours.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “I didn’t—”

  “No big deal,” she said, cutting me off. “You didn’t know she was a snake. Now you do.”

  “I wouldn’t have brought her here if I’d known.”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I know that. It’s all good, yeah? Sorry if we embarrassed you.”

  Kara made a sound of incredulity behind me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Charlie.

  “I really am, tired,” she said, smiling halfheartedly at me. “I’m gonna go to bed. Night.”

  She walked back out of the bathroom and closed the door softly behind her.

  “You’re a fucking moron,” Kara said as Draco pulled at her arm. “You know that? That bitch as you put it—” she pointed toward Charlie’s room. “Wouldn’t let me call Tabitha and Mary out because she said it was unprofessional. She didn’t want to stoop to their level.”

  “Come on, baby,” Draco said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Leave it.”

  “And then you brought her to our house?” Kara spat as Draco pulled her away. “We were nice to you. We invited you to live with us to get you out of the cabbage house and this is how you repay us?”

  The only reason she didn’t keep going was because Draco slung her over his shoulder and carried her down the stairs.

  I stood there like an idiot for a long time trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. The woman I’d taken out a couple times was one of the people Charlie had fired? She’d been badmouthing the coffee cart and that’s why Charlie was losing the business? Out of all the women I could’ve been introduced to—what were the odds?

  I dropped heavily onto the bed, thinking of the way Charlie had looked at me when I’d walked into the kitchen that night, and it finally hit me.

  She’d looked small.

  Charlie wasn’t big, she was shorter than anyone else I knew and petite—but she’d never seemed small to me.

  I closed my eyes and pictured her near the kitchen sink, her hair pulled back in a messy bun, her big t-shirt almost hiding the old running shorts she wore. She hadn’t been wearing makeup.

  Charlie, who felt naked without at least a little makeup, had been standing barefaced in her own damn kitchen, when I’d brought in the person who’d been trying to put her out of business.

  She’d been the one who was ambushed.

  I was an asshole. I’d been so sure that Charlie was being a bitch because she was jealous that I’d treated her like shit. That was on me.

  I got to my feet and strode out of my bedroom, not even pausing as I tried her bedroom door. For some reason it felt less like an intrusion because I hadn’t gone through the connecting bathroom—but it was.

  She was standing in front of the mirror against the wall, her shorts pulled down to her thighs and her shirt bunched up under her chin as she looked at a big red spot on her hip. As her head jerked up to look at me, my stomach sank.

  “I do that?” I asked hoarsely. I don’t know why I knew it, but I did. The red mark was at just the right height for a doorknob. I’d hit her when I’d burst into the bathroom and I hadn’t even noticed.

  “It was an accident,” Charlie replied with a shrug, dropping her shirt as she pulled her shorts back up.

  “Jesus,” I said, stepping into the room. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  “We really need to start locking those bathroom doors when we’re using it,” she replied with a halfhearted smile.

  “I was a dick,” I said quietly, walking toward her. “Swear to God, I had no idea you guys even knew Tally.”

  “No, I know,” she replied, waving her hand in dismissal. “It was just a shock, seeing her there all of a sudden.”

  She laughed, but the sound was husky and broken. “I mean, I didn’t even know you were dating.”

  “Only a couple times,” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck.

  “None of my business,” she said quickly. “I was pretty clear I didn’t have time, right? It’s not like I expected you to wait or anything.”

  There was no accusation in her tone, but with those words I knew—we both knew—that she had expected me to wait.

  I wasn’t sure what to do with that.

  Defensiveness rose in my chest. I hadn’t done anything wrong, not really. She hadn’t wanted to be together even casually and I’d respected that. Had she expected me to just be alone because she chose to be?

  The feeling was gone almost as soon as it arrived, because in that moment, looking at Charlie’s expression, I knew she was holding on to her composure by a thread. If we were never anything else—she was still one of the best friends I’d ever had.

  “Come here,” I said, striding forward. She let me pull her against my chest, and she wrapped her arms around my waist with a shudder. Her forehead hit my sternum with a thud.

  Seconds later, though, she was pulling away.

  “You smell like her perfume,” she said hoarsely, avoiding my eyes.

  Chapter 15

  Charlie

  I knew it wasn’t fair, but for the first time since I’d met him, Bishop disgusted me. I reached up to wipe off my face, but I could still smell the fruity perfume that Tabitha wore. I hadn’t liked it when she’d come to work and make the entire cart stink, but now it made my stomach churn with nausea.