Page 82 of Bad Influence
I like the quiet,regular clients. They are the best, they don’t care that I've made a name for myself in the art world and best of all, they don’t talk. Except today, I hope one of them will talk. Beneath the buzz of my gun, my brain is too focused on Caroline. On her soft body against mine, the sweetness of her mouth, the noises she made when I kissed her and made her come.
I should be concerned how easily I’ve gotten used to her presence in my life.
It’s like I’ve been existing in my life so far, floating along being invisible from everyone and Caroline is the first person to see me. More than that, she’s forcing me to see the world the way she sees it. She knows all my clients and their back stories more than I do.
The worst thing is, I can’t see her because she’s not here. I took her to Manhattan today for her job interview which Lilith arranged. I’ve never met anyone who’s more excited to get on the train than Caroline. Her constant chatter with Eve and the clients is missing today and the shop feels eerily quiet.
“Where’s Caroline?” Jake asks as I wipe the tattoo on his arm.I pause for a second and glance up at him. He’s never met Caroline so I’m surprised to hear him say her name.
“How do you know Caroline?”
Jake shrugs his wide shoulders. “I talked to her the other day when I called to change my appointment. She wanted me to give her an update on my Lulu when I came in.”
Lulu is Jake’s pug. I remember because I tattooed her likeness on his bicep the last time he came in. Of course, Caroline wanted to know about the dog of a man she’s never met before because that’s a perfectly normal thing to do.
“She’s not here,” I say, bending forward to work on his tattoo again.
“That’s too bad,” Jake comments lightly. “She seems like a nice girl.”
I pick up my gun and get back to work. Not sure how I feel about someone speaking so fondly of Caroline. Doesn’t matter Jake’s never met her or might never meet her. No one has the right to call her anything.
My afternoon gets worse when Eve comes back to lunch and declares, “It’s so boring here without Caroline. I need someone to talk to.”
“You’re at work, Eve. It’s not supposed to be entertaining.”
I don’t bother looking up from my sketchbook and give her a nod of thanks when she sets down a coffee in front of me. Caroline’s interview was at eleven and it’s a little past one. Granted I’ve never interviewed for a job at a law firm, but should an interview take this long?
“I don’t want entertainment,” Eve protests. “I want someone to gossip with. I don’t know how she does it, but she always manages to get the best gossip.”
She heaves a sigh like she’s been greatly put upon, which finally makes me look up at her. Eve is staring out the window, a forlorn expression on her face.
“What were you doing before Caroline came here?”
“Not realizing my potential for gossip,” Eve says.
“Caroline hasn’t been here long enough to know any gossip.” I close my sketchbook and sit up, crossing my arms. We don’t have anyone scheduled for the next hour because we’re finally getting our schedules back on track after our last receptionist messed them up.
“She knows everything about everyone. She’s got one of those faces.”
It’s not the face. It’s the eyes. Those wide, innocent, naive ingenue eyes which make people immediately trust her. And for good reason. Caroline might gossip, but she’s not someone who makes fun of you and she’s never going to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets to anyone.
“Neither of you should be gossiping about the clients,” I say.
Eve frowns, pursing her lips as she examines me. “You’re being extra prickly today.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Usually, you’re just grumpy and quiet. When you’re feeling extra grumpy, you nitpick everything,” Eve explains, nodding along with her own logic. She removes the hair tie off her wrist and twists her dark hair into a bun.
“Telling you not to gossip about our clients is good business, not me being prickly,” I tell her.
I pick up my phone and slide my thumb up the screen to see if I have any notifications. What if something happened? Funny, how she lived on the other side of the country for years and I never worried. She’s been here long enough and I’m stressing about her getting lost in the crowd like she’s five, and not an adult woman who grew up in a large city similar to New York.
“Oh, it’s because Caroline is still at her interview,” Eve coos. “Now it makes sense.”
I glance at her. “What makes sense?”
“Why you’re irritable,” Eve says blithely, as if Caroline’s non-presence explains away everything.
