Fool's Gold (Contemporary Romance) (4 page)

“I meant the guy you were with out there.”

Victoria shrugged. “Just a friend.”

For a second it looked like Beta wanted to argue, to pry, to generally act like a possessive asshole. Then he sank back into himself. “Oh.”

“Look, Beta, you’re a nice guy, but you’re like... like a brother to me, you know? I just don’t see anything romantic working out between us.”

He looked away.

It was lame. It was the oldest, lamest excuse in the book. She knew it. He knew it. But the fact was, he wasn’t as charming or as handsome as Trent. He was just... Beta. Beta from Omaha.

“Alright, Victoria. I appreciate you telling me.”

His voice caught her by surprise, but before she could respond, he was moping off into the crowd, his gaze firmly on his feet.

Victoria felt bad. Breaking Beta’s heart was something she hated doing. But it wasn’t all her fault, was it? After all, he was the one that kept asking her out. He shouldn’t put himself in a position to be rejected if he couldn’t handle it.

She made her way back toward the front of the club. As she emerged next to the darkened stage, she realized that even though he asked her out, she always said “yes.” The realization didn’t make her feel any better.

T
HE 
fluorescent lights humming overhead were only making Beta’s headache worse. He stared at the screen, trying to concentrate on the code. Half his day had gone to helping Eloise on the third floor with her pre-holiday sales reports, and he was behind on the week’s task.

“Are you listening, Ben?”

Beta’s heart skipped a beat. He looked up and found Chad, his boss, leaning on the edge of the cube wall that surrounded Beta’s desk. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I asked if you were done with the website for Prime Lawn.”

Beta leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “I’m working on it right now. I was the only one on the help desk yesterday and today, so I didn’t have much time.”

“You know that’s due today, right?”

“Yeah, I know. The final requirements just came in yesterday and I was on the help desk and--“

“That’s not good enough, Ben. I pay you good money to get this stuff done and you telling me that you just couldn’t get to something isn’t enough.”

The clock over the break room read 4:45. No one else was even in the building. The only reason Beta had stayed was to try to get caught up enough to keep Chad off his case.

“What do you want me to do? Work all night?”

Chad snorted. “Of course not. Tomorrow’s the Fourth. Prime Lawn won’t even be in the office until Friday.”

“So...”

“So get it done, Ben. This is the real world. Clients won’t wait.” Chad turned on his heel and marched back to his office.

Beta rubbed his knees through his Dockers. His legs ached from sitting for so long, and Chad expected him to work through the holiday? He stared at the screen, trying to get his head back into the code.

Chad walked past a while later, coat slung over his shoulder. The door slammed behind him as he left. The clock read 5:01. A whole extra minute. He’d probably list it as overtime.

With a sigh, Beta started typing. If he worked until 7:45, he could still make it to the night’s EVE op. On the plus side, it wasn’t like the guys would have any battles planned for mid-day on the Fourth of July.

C
HUCKLES 
did his best to send Victoria and her armful of groceries sprawling across the apartment. He yelped as she stepped on his tail, then retreated to the couch to glare hurtfully.

“What are you, a road block?” She used her elbow to turn on the lights.

The cat raised his paw and gave it a dainty lick, pretending she wasn’t even there. Victoria shook her head and took the bags to the kitchen counter.

“And now you’re too good for me.”

Chuckles didn’t respond.

“Well, I hope you had a good day, Mister Hoity-toity.” Victoria stacked the groceries in the cupboard, but kept out one can of cat food. “I have your dinner ready, if you’ll deign to eat with the likes of me.”

Chuckles padded over when he heard the rip of the pull tab. He might pitch a little fit now and again, but he had sense enough to eat. Victoria raked her fingers down his back, then gave him a scratch behind the ears. He purred without ever stopping eating. Buying groceries after pulling a double pushed her day well beyond twelve hours, but the cat had to eat.

She did, too.

“I hope you enjoy it.” She tore the top off a cup of noodles and filled it with water. Granderson wasn’t comping meals anymore, and she couldn’t afford Mario’s’ prices, not even at half off. “I think your groceries cost more than mine.”

Chuckles purred louder. To him, that was probably just fine. Once they were warmed up, Victoria took her noodles to the couch and opened her battered laptop. Chuckles may spend his evenings in the apartment alone, but hadn’t yet learned how to access social media. And a good thing, too. Who knew what kinds of stories he’d tell about her.

The mail icon in Facebook glowed red. Victoria moused over it, hopeful. She hadn’t heard from Trent in a week, and she was missing him. It was funny how she could meet a guy a few times over the span of a week, talk to him for a month on the internet and feel like she’d known him all her life.

The message was from him.

He had attached a picture of the New York skyline and the fireworks. “From my balcony,” said the caption. Victoria studied the wrought iron railing, the buildings across the street and the explosions soaring through the sky. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself sitting there beside him. Could imagine his hand on her waist. His breath on her neck.

She hammered out a response and told him that she wished she was there. Chuckles slipped between her ankles, then hopped up beside her.

“What would you do for a week without me, huh?” She scratched him behind his ears.

Chuckles purred.

It was nonsense. She shouldn’t even try to imagine what she’d do with him. It wasn’t like she could afford to take a week off from work, nevermind buy tickets to New York.

But maybe if she could, Charlotte could stop in to check on him.

Victoria sighed. Even talking to Trent was ridiculous. She didn’t know why she kept putting herself through this. It wasn’t even a long distance relationship. It was just long distance fantasy.

“Chucklehead, you better be grateful.”

The cat purred louder.

Victoria flipped through her Facebook feed, skipping past the wedding photos and the vacation pictures. God, how she hated Omaha. A dead end town in dead end Nebraska. She was just about ready to shut down the laptop and turn to Nicholas Sparks and bed, but a chat window opened at the bottom of the screen.

Christine Tanner: vicks, u there?

Victoria Strauss: chrissy!

Christine Tanner: how’s omaha?

Victoria Strauss: same shit, different day.

Christine Tanner: cool cool. hey, i heard you split with the real girls

Victoria Strauss: yeah

Christine Tanner: if ur looking for something new, u ought to come up here. the scene is bumpin

Victoria Strauss: to ny?

Christine Tanner: yeah. it’s better than omaha, u can be sure of that

Christine Tanner: i don’t have anything in particular, but i was talking to a guy about auditions last week and i thought of u

Victoria Strauss: i can’t just fly up there, chrissy

Christine Tanner: why not? a one way ticket isn’t too bad

Victoria Strauss: one way? lol

Christine Tanner: i’m serious. come out here. i’ll help u get a job. i know people

Victoria leaned back against the sofa and re-read the last line. A job in New York? If she actually
could
find a singing gig, maybe the waitressing thing wouldn’t have to be the rest of her life. God knew the jazz scene in Omaha was dead. “What do you think about moving, Chucklehead?”

Christine Tanner: hello?

Victoria Strauss: i’m here. just thinking

Christine Tanner: good. think about it and let me know. i hate to see a talented voice waste away

Victoria Strauss: i will. thanks, chrissy

Christine Tanner: np, babe. u seen much of beta lately?

Victoria Strauss: we went out a few weeks ago, before u were in town

Christine Tanner: he didn’t mention it. i don’t chat with him much. he doing okay?

Victoria Strauss: same old beta

Christine Tanner: alright, vicks. i gotta jet. u take care

At least she didn’t seem upset about her brother. Victoria closed the laptop and tossed it to the other end of the couch. What if she really did move? She looked around the little apartment. A few posters looked down from the walls. A ten year old TV sat on a milk crate. Other than Chuckles and some old furniture that not even Goodwill would want, there wasn’t anything that wouldn’t fit in a suitcase.

She reached for the laptop and opened it back up. It took a few minutes to find the right words, but she finally started typing.

“Trent, what are your plans the week after next?”

Y
OU'RE 
going to do WHAT?” Charlotte nearly choked on her margarita. She stared across the tiny table at Victoria.

Only one other table in the restaurant was occupied, and it had a couple Mexican guys whose attention was focused on the soccer game on the TV hanging in the corner.

“I’m going to move.” Victoria selected a chip from the bowl between her and Charlotte and used it to punctuate. “One, jobs here suck. Two, music here sucks.”

Charlotte’s look of shock melted into a grin. “And three, Mr. Amazing is there. You can’t fool me, Vicks.”

“Well, yeah, of course. I mean, he’s no Ben Tanner, but...” Victoria scooped a load of salsa on her chip, taking care to leave a chunk of onion in the bowl.

“Low blow. What’s wrong with Beta? Didn’t you finally go out with him?”

“Yeah, I did. Like, right before I met Trent. Days before.”

“Was it as bad you expected?”

“He was Beta. The same Beta that I tried to date freshman year of college. God, he was the same Beta I tried to date junior year of high school. I swear, he hasn’t changed since he was twelve years old.”

“So Beta is a giant manchild. Got it.”

“No, you don’t understand. He took me to Appleburys. He had pants so new that they still had the sticker on the side.”

Charlotte winced.

“Yeah, that bad. And the whole time, he wouldn’t shut up about his stupid video game. The same one he was playing three years ago. Honestly, I wonder if he even graduated.” Victoria grabbed another chip and loaded it with salsa. “But I don’t want to talk about Beta, okay?”

“No problemo, kid. Tell me more about this New York idea.” Charlotte topped off her drink from the pitcher beside the chips.

“Well, I was talking to Christine and--“

“Christine Tanner?”

“Yeah.”

“So you shit on her little brother and then you decide to move in with her in New York?”

“No, not at all. Wait, did I shit on Beta? I didn’t shit on Beta.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

“What! I didn’t. Look, Beta’s a nice kid, okay. But he’s still a kid. Trent, though. My God, you met him.”

“Trent is indeed a grown man.” Charlotte leaned a little closer. “Did you sleep with him yet?”

“Charlotte!”

“What? It’s a legit question. Did you?”

“No, I did not, thank you very much.”

“Well, I guess he was only here a week. The way he was looking at you at work, though...”

“He was a perfect gentleman. And as much as you don’t believe me, I’m a lady. I don’t sleep with anyone the first week I know them.”

“The second week?”

Victoria shrugged and bit into her chip. She flicked the salt from her fingertips. “He was already back in New York.”

Charlotte laughed, high and long. “I love you, Vicks. You never fail to amuse me. So, you’re going to stay with Beta’s sister and what? Do you have a plan?”

“I don’t know. Christine said she knew some folks doing auditions and she knew someone else that would hire me in their restaurant. I thought that might be enough.”

“Well, be sure to get your own place. Or at least get a place with roommate. Just don’t move straight in with Trent.”

“Why not? He might want to sleep with me?” Victoria threw up her hands. “The horror!”

“Vicks, I don’t mean that. I just mean that once you’re there, once you spend a few weeks with him, you might realize he’s not quite the person you think he is. You’ve known him for a month.”

It felt like she’d known him for years. They chatted practically every day. The Mexican guys watching soccer got up and filed out, one of them practically craning his neck to scope out Victoria and Charlotte on his way out the door.

“I’m not going to move in with him. I’m not an idiot. I’m going to talk to Christine. I know she’s got some kind of apartment and she’s on the road with the band, so I was thinking maybe I could crash with her for a few weeks.”

“That’s not a bad idea. God, I wish she would spend a week here some time. I miss her.”

“So come to New York with me! Then you could see her to your heart’s content.”

“I can’t, Vicks. My mom’s not doing so hot.” Charlotte gulped down the rest of her second margarita. “I’d love to come sometime, but not until after...”

The cancer. How could she forget about the cancer? “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I...”

“Not your fault. What are you going to do with Chuckles?”

“Take him with me, I guess. I looked on the Delta website. You can take a cat in a carryon. I figure I’ll give him some kitty Benedryl and he’ll sleep the whole way.”

“At least you’ll have someone familiar.”

She sounded almost bitter. Victoria couldn’t blame her. She was practically trapped in Omaha with her mom and the disease. It might be crass to think of it that way, but it didn’t make it any less true.

Charlotte’s face lit up. “Hey, you said Trent works for some bank, right?”

“Yeah?”

“You should see if they need any tellers.”