Chapter 0099
I was glad she said it, because I was worried I was going to lose my nerve.
“Wha…eloped?” Logan looked completely dumbfounded. “With who?”
“With Chance,” I said. “Do you remember? You met him once. Anyway, he called me up the other day and apologized and said he couldn’t wait one more second to start our lives together, so…we got married!” Logan’s face went from dumbfounded to crestfallen. “Oh.” He said quietly. “I mean….congrats. He’s a very lucky guy.”
He turned and walked quickly towards the elevators. My heart dropped to my stomach. I felt terrible for making him feel that way, but it was necessary.
Wasn’t it?
“Did I do the right thing?” I asked Maria quietly.
“You did what you felt you should do,” she said, pulling me into a side hug. “Sometimes that’s not necessarily the thing that feels the best.
1 leaned into Maria and watched Logan as he walked away. I was so sure about this before I told him. But now…I felt sick to my stomach.
The day passed by about as slowly as it possibly could have. Logan was suddenly back to how he was when I first started working with him: cold and hard to read. Luckily he largely ignored me that day.
I dragged myself over to Maria’s desk as soon as my clock hit 5 pm.
“Well? H
How did it go?” Maria asked, scrunching her nose.
“I wanted distance and things to go back to how they were, and that’s what happened,” I said. “I didn’t anticipate how sad I was going to be when it worked.”
Maria grabbed my hand a squeezed it. “Of course you’re sad. It’s almost like a break up.”
Η
guess so.” I said.
“Why don’t we go out tonight?” Maria said. “You deserve some fun downtime. You’ve been dealing with so much lately.”
I nodded. I couldn’t speak anymore or I might have started crying. María pulled me into a hug.
“Come on, let’s go to my place. We’ll get you all gussied up and ready to pick up some hotties,” she winked at me.
I laughed. “I’m less interested in hotties and more interested in the downtime. And maybe some booze.” “Whatever you want,” she said. “Tonight is about you.”
Twenty minutes later I found myself at Mario’s front door, wrapped in a group hug. I hadn’t even been able
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to walk through the doorway before Megan and Rachel ran up to me and hugged me as tightly as they could.
“Oh, Hazel! Maria has been telling us everything.” Rachel said right into my left ear. “I can’t believe what you’ve had to deal with!”
“Just tell us when you’re ready to take Natalie out,” Megan said into my other ear. “We’ll help you hide the body.”
“Can’t…breathe…” I gasped.
“Oh, god! So sorry!” Rachel said as both her and Megan released their grip on me.
“Thank you guys, it means a lot for me that you’d be an accessory to murder for little ol‘ me,” I said, taking one of each of their hands and squeezing them.
“An accessory?” Maria said. “Hell, we’d do it for you if you wanted.”
“Ugh,” I said, placing a hand on my heart. “Such good friends.”
The four of us stepped into the tiny living room.
“So, where are we going tonight?” I asked as I set my purse on the coffee table.
“That is a surprise,” Megan winked at me. “Just a fair warning though: I hope you shaved, because we just might be getting you laid tonight.”
I snorted. “As long as they don’t go above the knees I’ll be fine,” I said. When you’re as single as I am, you only shave the bare minimum,
Megan gave me a slightly disgusted look. “Alright, I’m giving you a razor. And shave everything. We made a ‘no underwear‘ rule for tonight’s events.”
I laughed, but stopped when I noticed the sly smile she was giving me. “Wait…you’re serious?”
She raised one eyebrow and nodded. “Oh yeah. I told you we’re going to get you laid tonight. What better way to get lucky than to show off all your goodies?” She smacked me on the butt. “Now go, get in the shower and don’t come out until you are completely hair free from the neck down.”
“So the mustache can stay?” I quipped.
“Oh my god Hazel, you are killing me,” Megan rubbed her eyes. She looked over at Maria, annoyed.
“I’m going, I’m going,” I headed towards their bathroom.
“Don’t look at me,” I heard Maria say behind me. “Somehow, under that layer of fur is a woman that drives the CEOs wild.”
I stood in front of Maria’s full–length mirror, staring at my body in the skin–tight dress the three of them had picked out for me. It was definitely nothing like what one would find in my own closet. It would have been bad enough with underwear on underneath, but without? I felt like I was practically naked.
“Why am I doing this again?” I said.
“Because, as some wise, 90s singer once said: if you want to get over someone, you have to get under
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Chapter 0099
someone else,” Megan said.
“Classy,” I said, turning to the side. I didn’t completely hate my body, but anyone looking at me would be able to tell I couldn’t say no to a slice of pizza. I frowned.
“Okay, you’re done with the mirror,” Rachel said and pulled me away from it. “You are gorgeous, that dress fits you like a glove, and the men will be lining up to get a chance for a piece of that.”
“Oh! And one more thing.” Maria said, walking over to me. She grabbed my left hand and removed my fake engagement ring. “You aren’t fake–married tonight.”
“Okay,” I said, nerves starting to set in. It had been a long time since I’d been on the dating scene. I hadn’t liked it then and I imagined I probably still wouldn’t. “Can we pre–game? Otherwise I don’t think I’ll be able to leave this house.
“I got you,” Rachel said. She headed out of Maria’s room towards the kitchen.
I watched her go, then looked over at Maria and Megan, who were making last minute touches to their makeup. It made sense for them to go out dressed like this, Maria had gorgeous curves, Megan had an athletic build thanks to her gym obsession, and Rachel looked like a model. Me, on the other hand? I was stick thin except for my permanent food baby.
“I changed my mind, I can’t do this,” I said.
“Maria, did you hear something?” Megan had stop mid–lipstick touch up and looked over at Maria.
“Hmm, no…can’t say I did,” she shrugged.
I sighed and sat on the bed. When my friends made up their minds about something, there was no talking them out of it.
Rachel returned carrying four shots of some sort of golden liquid. I didn’t care what it was, I just hoped it was strong.
She handed one to Megan, and I grabbed two for myself.
“Hey!” Maria said. “One of those was mine!”
I downed both quickly, then grimaced and shook my head. Those were strong.
“Alright, bitchachos. I’m ready,” I said, standing. “Let’s go find us some men.”
