Page 28 of Bad Influence
Taking a sip of his beer, he nods. “She did, when I came back.”
“I don’t understand why she gave it to me, then,” I muse. “She said it would be a safe space, but why not just tell me you’re here?”
“Would you have come if you knew I was living there?” Killian raises his eyebrows.
I don’t answer. Instead, I take a bite of a french fry because the answer is obvious. I’d never have come here if I’d known.
CHAPTER 10
Killian
She’s everywhere,and it’s fucking me up. When I wake up, the first thing that comes to mind is that she’s right downstairs. I walk down, and her scent lingers in the living room.
I make coffee, and I automatically reach for the second cup. I already know how she takes her coffee; with a little bit of sugar and cream, just enough that it’s not plain black, not so much that she can taste either the sugar or cream.
She’s been here for about two weeks.
It’s concerning.
Almost as concerning as my inability to focus on my client.
“I keep telling her to throw out the damn plant,” she’s saying. “The woman doesn’t listen to me. I get it, it was given to you by your ex while you were still madly in love. But babe, that was five years ago and he’s since remarried.”
The buzz of the needle is the only soothing sound in my workspace. I don’t know how Eve manages to do this, but somehow all our most talkative clients end up with me. Eve swears it’s because I don’t talk back, and that’s why they feel free to say whatever’s on their mind.
They seem to forget that they pay me to poke them with tinyneedles and leave behind paint, rather than listen to their relationship troubles.
The issue with Anna, my current client, is she’s getting a big, intricate tattoo on the back of her leg that’s going to take twenty hours and five sittings over the course of three months. So, I’m going to be listening to this tale again in the near future. Hopefully, her friend has thrown away the evil plant by then.
Around hour three, Anna decides she needs a smoke break and lumbers off my chair. I straighten with effort and try not to wince like an old man.
“Where’s Anna?”
I turn around to look at Eve, who’s standing at the entrance of my work station.
“Outside.”
Eve nods. “When do you think her friend is getting rid of the plant?”
Shrugging in response, I get up to get some blood flowing to my legs and stretch. Is it possible I’m getting too old for this at thirty-three?
“So…” Eve says. “How are things?”
“Fine.”
“The sun’s finally out, feels nice, doesn’t it?”
I narrow my eyes at her. Why is she talking to me about false spring? The sun is out right now, but we have rain predicted for the rest of this week.
“Yes,” I reply.
“Lilith and I have already started planning our summer vacation. We’ve got that Catskill trip coming up in a couple of months, but we were also thinking of going somewhere else.”
“Good.”
These are all things I don’t need to know. As my employee and even as my friend, I’ve never been interested in Eve and Lilith’s vacation plans. She books out her vacation months in advance and doesn’t feel the need to get my approval. It’s notsomething which bothers me because I know Eve is responsible for notifying her clients on time.
Eve opens her mouth again, no doubt to ask me another question, and I stop her.
