Page 32 of Party Favors

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. “Bye.”

“Have a good night,” he said. Max hesitated for a second, and then he gently pulled on Basta’s leash and they headed off. I watched as he walked away, allowing myself one last good look.

I figured I deserved it, given that I was never going to see him again.

CHAPTER TEN

It wasn’t until I got back into my apartment that I realized I still had Max’s coat on. This whole night had been so strange and surprising that it was like I’d forgotten about everyone and everything else. I collapsed onto the couch, kicking my shoes off.

Since I was all alone, I gave in to my impulse and smelled his coat. It had the same clean, fresh, and masculine scent as Max. I took it off and set it on the couch next to me.

I reached into my purse and grabbed my phone, sending him a text to let him know that I had his coat, ignoring the part of me that was overjoyed at the notion that I was going to see him again.

His coat started to buzz.

I searched through it until I found his phone in his pocket. I registered that he had an Android and it buzzed a second time, and then again.

Both new texts were from different women—one named Emanuela, the other Jade. Muscle memory had me swiping up the screen, and to my surprise, he didn’t have a security lock on his phone. That was weird.

I was in his messaging app and couldn’t help my curiosity—I quickly scrolled through it, and every message seemed to be from a different woman. Natalia, Coco, Alana, Elle, Kate ... did he date supermodels exclusively?

Violetta? As in Princess Violetta, Nico’s sister? My rational brain reminded me that wasn’t possible because she was married and Max did not seem like the kind of guy who would cheat.

Especially not after it had been done to him.

I put his phone down, feeling guilty for having even glanced at the names. I didn’t read any of the messages because I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself for violating his privacy even worse than I already had.

My cell buzzed, and for one brief, clearly stupid moment, I hoped that it was a text from Max.

Which was obviously impossible.

No, it was from Adrian.

Can you call someone at the hotel I’m staying at and have them bring me toilet paper?

For the first time in, well, forever, I found myself feeling annoyed at Adrian. In the time it had taken him to write a text and send it to me, he could have called the front desk himself.

I did as he asked and texted back that his toilet paper was on its way.

After I pushed the send button, I realized that I hadn’t thought about Adrian even once after I told Max about him. When I had been talking to Max, if someone else had said Adrian’s name to me, I probably would have asked, “Adrian who?”

It was like I had completely blocked him out of my mind.

Or Max had inadvertently pushed him out.

This felt significant.

I leaned back and took a deep breath, staring at the ceiling. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? Was I just trading one impossible crush for another?

The door opened and startled me. Vella dramatically strode inside and slammed it shut.

“Never. Again.”

She stomped into the kitchen and took a log of cookie dough out of the fridge. She threw it on the counter and grabbed a serrated knife and started sawing through it.

“Did you want to talk about it?” I asked. “Did you light Otis’s hair on fire and you need me to be your alibi?”

“The bar for men is so low it’s in hell and those idiots still try to play limbo with the devil.”

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