Page 16 of Tattered
Six
RYAN
I’m busy setting up for my next appointment when the doorbell rings and the sound of Nadia’s voice booms through the front lobby. Her cheery tone as she sings a good morning has the guys grumbling and a smile stretching across my face.
A few seconds later, I hear her knocking on the door as I turn to look at her short five-foot nothing frame.
“Hey,” I say, pulling out the cleaning disinfectant to clean my station.
Nadia crosses the room, perching her hands on the edge of the counter before jumping up to take a seat. Her legs swing back and forth as she stares at me, waiting for me to say more. I know what she’s doing here, what she’s hoping to achieve, but I decide to make her beg a little.
“Cut to the chase. I want all the deets.” She smiles, running her finger along her lower lip, waiting.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play coy with me. You know I hate that shit. Spit it the fuck out already,” she finishes with a grin.
“I’m really not sure what you’re talkin’ about, but if you don’t mind I have a client who should be here soon.”
“Yeah, actually, I do mind. You might want to hurry and spit it out if you don’t want to be late,” she says, reclining back against the wall, folding her arms over her chest. “I’m not planning on going anywhere until you tell me what I want to hear.”
Spinning around on my heel, I narrow my eyes at Nadia and toss my gloves down on the counter. The move earns me a loud giggle as I roll my eyes at her.
“There’s really not much to tell. We hung out for a little bit and I gave him a ride home.”
“Don’t even try to lie to me, Ryan. You’re terrible at it, you know that? I want to know the real deal. How many times did you two fuck? Did he go down on you? Was it everything you ever dreamed of and more?”
I hear Chris from the other side of the shop, his chair scraping across the floor as the music turns down. My head peeks over my shoulder as he holds the needle in one hand and his black gloved hand in the other. The look on his face says what I’m thinking, “what the hell is wrong with this girl?”
“It’s nothing for you to be worried about,” I say, raising my eyebrows before looking back at Nadia as I reach over to shut the door as Chris yells out afuck you. Nadia flashes me an innocent smile, one that says she isn’t the least bit sorry for involving one of my good friends in this conversation.
“Once and yes,” I say, turning back around to finish setting up for my appointment.
“Yes, he went down on you or yes it was everything you’ve dreamed of?”
“Seriously?”
“As a heart attack. You promised, spill it.”
“Yes, he went down on me.”
I decide to ignore her other question, not wanting to get into how perfect the night had been. We were almost frantic in our reunion. It was as though we couldn’t get enough of each other.
“You’re a buzzkill. This isn’t at all as exciting as I’d pictured it to be.”
I smother my smile knowing how annoyed she is that I’m holding out on her.
“Alright, well, if you’re not going to tell me what happened, will you at least tell me if you’re planning on seeing him again?”
That was a question I had no problem answering.
“He said he’s planning on staying in town for about a week and the plan is to spend time together while he’s here.”
As soon as the words pass my lips, the sound of the door ringing again has me opening the door to see who it is, wondering if it’s my next appointment. I glance over at Nadia when I see my brother’s large, stocky frame stalking toward us.
The moment her eyes fall on Dean’s, as she turns back toward me, looking equally annoyed as she is sad. As much as she tries to act like she doesn’t like Dean, I know it’s the exact opposite. She’s always had the biggest crush on him, even back when we were in high school.
“Ryan,” he says, resting his hands above the doorway before glancing over to where Nadia is sitting. A slow smile spreads across his face when he sees her sitting there, legs still swaying to the beat of the music playing overhead. This time though, she’s looking down at her phone using it as a way to distract her from looking at him. It’s a ploy to ignore him, to act like she’s unaffected by his presence.
