“Because it’s all good!” Naomi chips in.
Milena beams. “Yeah, Dad killed that quick.”
“Which is great, because this motherfucker definitely lives under a bridge somewhere.”
Naomi flashes her phone, revealing a picture of a truly troll-like young Russian man wearing a track suit, with awful facial hair, the world’s worst mullet, and…
“Is that…”
“A tattoo of a girl fucking herself with a vodka bottle on his neck?!” Milena huffs. “Sure the fuck is.”
“Yikes.” I make a face.
“So yeah, that’s why we’re celebrating.” Milena flashes a thick black credit card. “On Dad’s dime, even.”
I start to grin. Then suddenly the reality of my original plans for tonight hits me.
“I—”
“Well?” Naomi turns to hail a taxi. “Where should we go first?”
“Gimme a sec.”
I pull up the site again and click on the chat. The icon by the stranger’s username is dark, indicating he’s offline. I chew nervously on my lip.
BrokenBee
Hey, I’m so sorry. Something important just came up, a family thing. I hate to do this to you, but I have to postpone tonight. Apologies again!
I’m about to slip the phone back into my bag when it dings. My pulse skips as I see the new message.
RaisedByWolves
That’s not how this works, babygirl. You’ve already said yes.
I take a shaky breath.
BrokenBee
I know, I’m sorry. But something came up
RaisedByWolves
And I don’t care.
I stare at the phone.
“Bianca!”
My head snaps up to see my friends getting into the back seat of a cab. Naomi raises her brows.
“Well? Unless you’ve got a better offer?”
Not one I can tell you about.
My eyes drop to my phone.
RaisedByWolves
Either use the safe word, in which case this ends here and now, permanently. Or else you WILL be seeing me tonight.
Shit.
BrokenBee
I’m sorry. I have to go
I close the chat window and stuff my phone into my bag before I jump into the cab.
6
BIANCA
“Here!”
I groan as Naomi shoves another tequila shot into my hands.
“Naomi, really, I’m good.”
