Page 45 of Hyde and Seek

Lily was a little taller than me and more rounded, with an angelic face framed by blond hair. Her innocent looks contradicted with her far from heavenly interests. She was constantly on the hunt for a partner that understood that. She also had rotten luck finding one.

Marcy was almost six feet tall with smooth brown skin that glowed, hypnotic light brown eyes, and a love of weaves in bright colors. She was also a self-proclaimed nerd with an anti-possession symbol tattooed around her bellybutton. She even dressed up as Star Trek’s Uhura for Halloween.

Every year.

Hugs and greetings were given, everyone talking over each other before Ray interrupted.

“Honey, there’s time for chatting later. Right now you need a drink.”

“That obvious?” I asked.

“Uh-huh. You look totally hot, of course. But if you climbed on the bar, not to dance but to sleep, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long few weeks.”

I hadn’t told Ray much about what had been happening. She knew there was a guy I dug, he didn’t end up being into me, and I was a bit bummed out.

Right after Jake halted things, I wasn’t ready to analyze and dissect everything with her. Once I’d made the decision a few days ago to put on my big girl panties and get over it, I didn’t feel like revisiting it all.

Jake and I werekindafriends on the way tomaybemore. Things not working out was hardly a great romantic tragedy, even if the end was a bit of a fiasco.

The girls and I tossed back a couple shots and were already on our way to tipsy by the time we hit the dance floor. We danced, laughing and yelling over the music to talk.

“I’m getting thirsty. Anyone else want another drink?” Ray asked.

I opened my mouth to agree when I felt the hairs on my neck stand up, something that seemed to happen often.

“Hellooooo, handsome. Isn’t that Jake Hyde?” Marcy asked.

Of course. Seriously, of fuckin’ course it is. And next in will be Billy Mason with a new pair of sneakers for me to throw up on.

“Oh, damn. If I weren’t in Edge’s bar right now, I would say something very obscene regarding what I want to do to him, and which of his tattoos I want to lick,” Ray said with a laugh.

I didn’t bother to turn around to look. I figured that, based on his magical ability to know and see all, he’d already noticed me. I didn’t want to see him with what I assumed would soon be a harem of women flocking to him.

So I went with pretending he didn’t exist.

It wasn’t the most mature reaction, but it was the best one I could think of.

“Okay, eye candy gone,” Lily said. “Let’s go get a drink.”

We headed back to the bar, throwing back a shot as the bartender mixed up some fruity, but dangerous, concoction.

Wincing, I looked at Ray. “God, that tasted awful. Like ground up cinnamon potpourri and antifreeze. What was it?”

She opened her mouth to speak when her eyes went beyond me and a smile spread across her face.

I turned to see a familiar pair of sexy blue eyes looking down at me.

“Rhys!” I squealed in delight.

“If it isn’t my very favorite hot baker. Hey, darlin’.”

Ray looked between us. “You two know each other?”

“I had the great pleasure of eating Piper’s cookies.”

Am I just super horny, or did that sound filthy?

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