Page 11 of Tattoo My Heart
“YoulikeKaryn?” My eyeballs are about to fall out of my head. “Since when?”
He now looks embarrassed by his outburst. “I don’t know. I always have.”
“Ah, fuck,” I sigh and reach for a fresh bottle of beer.
We all remain quiet for a bit, with me trying to process what just happened, and everyone else just trying to give me the time for it.
I let out a long breath before looking at the group of guys around me.
“Well, does anyone have a sister or a cousin that I could take to this party? I don’t need her to be hot,” I make sure to add. “But a good personality would go a long way.”
“What about Carrie’s best friend, Evie?” Kyle points at James with his bottle as he refers to his baby mama. “She’s super nice and also hot. That’s a bonus point since it’s not something you actually requested.”
I stare at him like he just grew a second head.
“Evelyn is my stepsister, you dickhead,” I remind him. “How am I going to show up there with her?”
Visions of Evelyn’s beautiful face flash before my eyes. My jeans are getting uncomfortably tight, and I am trying to think of all the ways that would be a terrible idea.
“It’s not a bad idea,” James agrees, making me turn my head to stare at him. “Not like you’re related by blood. And you didn’t even grow up together,” he shrugs. “So what’s the big deal?”
I hate to admit even to myself that the thought of Evie often floats through my head. When I rejected her all those years ago, she was still a teenager. A smart one, but a teenager, nonetheless. I was twenty-one and thought I knew everything. Also, I was not very nice to her mother at the time either.
I hated myself for being attracted to a girl who I considered to be a brat. Now, as I’m looking back, I know that I was wrong about everything. Evie’s mother is the perfect partner to my father. He just adores her, and she thinks he walks on water. I feel guilty for having judged both my stepmother and her daughter.
“That’s not a thought I am willing to entertain,” I now tell my friends. “You fuckers need to pull through for me and find me a suitable date for this shindig. I have a very limited amount of time.”
“There’s this app thing,” James starts, and my eyes snap to his face. “It’s called…”
“Holidates,” we both same at the same time.
“Yes!” He points at me with excitement. “You’ve heard of it?”
I eye him carefully. “Question is, how didyouhear about it?”
“Someone I work with,” is his quick to response. “And Carrie mentioned it.”
My eyebrows go up into my hairline. I’m not sure what to make of this, and I don’t know what kind of a relationship James and his woman have where she needs to look for a date on an app. They just had a baby, for god’s sake.
“She wasn’t looking for herself, asswipe,” he throws the cap of his beer bottle at me.
“I didn’t say anything,” I rush to say, but he calls me out on it.
“You didn’t have to. I could see it on your face.”
“Oh,” Kyle butts in. “I thought Carrie was looking for a hookup, was just gonna say that I didn’t know you guys were into that. I was going to offer my services…”
“Shut the fuck up before I end you, fucker,” James points at our not very smart friend.
“What?” Kyle puts his hands up defensively. “Carrie is a MILF. I’m available for her anytime.”
James jumps out of his chair so fast, we don’t even have time to see it. Before I blink, Kyle’s seat is sideways, and James’ boot is on his head.
“Say you’re sorry,” he calls out to Kyle.
“I’m sorry, man,” Kyle immediately says. “I was only joking. You know I was joking.”
“He really was,” I jump in to save my buddy’s life. “Kyle is not smart enough to realize that is not a ha-ha kind of funny though.”
