“I can’t believe you dated all three of them. I swear to god, Violet, if you weren’t so likeable, I’d hate you.”
Violet groaned quietly. “There’s nothing to hate me for. I ruined it with all three of them. If anything, you should like me even more because of how pathetic I am. A sympathy like, if you will.”
The other woman smacked Violet’s arm. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. They showed up, so clearly you didn’t ruin things too terribly. I could text myhusbandto show up somewhere and he wouldn’t. These guys rushed right over.”
“Yeah, they did.”
“Guess you have to put out now.”
Violet squeaked and smacked her friend back. “Be quiet!”
“I’m serious. I’ve been reading these books, Vi. Multiple men with one woman. It’s hot.” She fanned herself. “I’d have one man to give me orgasms, another to cook, and a third to clean. Those would be their full-time jobs.”
I looked over at Jayden and Adam and bit back a laugh at their expressions. Leaning closer, I spoke quietly. “I’m not doing the cooking or cleaning, assholes.”
Their laughter broke the two women apart, and Violet rubbed at her dark red ears before dropping her hands to the counter. She cleared her throat and smiled at her friend. “I couldn’t have done this without you, Jenny. Thank you.”
“I did nothing, Vi. You did this all on your own.” Jenny glanced back at Adam. “And with the help of Mr. Two Handfuls of Wax.”
Adam choked and thumped his chest with his fist as he caught his breath. His eyes watered as he held up a hand to Jenny and grunted in response.
Jenny laughed and tapped the counter. “Remember what I said.”
Violet’s eyes flashed to us, round with god only knew what. She bit her lip and tapped her fingers on the counter. “Go home, perv.”
Jenny’s lilting laughter trailed away as she left, leaving the four of us alone. I felt the temperature rise and the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Something was happening. I just wasn’t sure what, or how I’d come out of it.
12.
***Violet***
Beingalonewiththethree of them left me breathless. The things that I’d seen from Adam just an hour earlier, and the things I’ddonewith Jayden just a few days earlier, were swirling through my head, and I was feeling a mix of caught and embarrassed. I’d begged for their help. They’d shown up. I didn’t know what came next.
“Looks like you sold out of everything. Good job, Vi.” Jayden walked over and leaned against the counter. “Want to send a rude text to your family to let them know?”
I grinned, slightly more at ease knowing he was still joking around with me. Reaching under the counter, I pulled out the candle I’d saved for him. “Wait on that text. If I did that and failed at any point in the rest of my life, they’d never let me live it down. I saved this for you.”
He took off the lid and smelled it, a curious look settling over his features. “Is this…?”
I shrugged. “I recreated the way you smell. It was a hit. A woman tried to pay me a hundred dollars for that candle when she saw it was the last one.”
He held it closer to his chest and looked at me like I’d hung the moon. “Thank you, Angel.”
I swallowed and looked at the three of them, all watching me. I’d never imagined I’d be in front of any of them again, much less all three of them at the same time. It was strange, to say the least. I wanted to say things that were just too much. Apologies, explanations, promises to make it up to them. I had a thousand things running through my head, but I didn’t let any of it out. They hadn’t come for that.
“I can’t say thank you enough for you guys showing up. I was terrified I’d accidentally put the final nail in my business coffin. Thanks to you, Adam, I just sold every single thing I had in stock. A few women even mentioned hosting events.”
He moved closer and shook his head. “No, that was you. If your candles sucked, no amount of seeing my ass would’ve made them sell.”
I pressed my knuckles to my lips to keep from saying what I was thinking, which was that his ass could probably sell a birthday candle for a couple grand. Looking at Ian, I felt a nervous flutter of excitement. They were all still there.
IanHe walked around to my side of the counter and stopped in front of me. “Proud of you.”
I looked at the floor to hide my goofy grin. “Thank you.”
“Do you need help with anything else?” That was Ian—all of them, really—always willing and eager to help with whatever they could.
Rose’s wedding popped into my head, and I hesitated. I’d mentioned to Jayden that taking an ex would be easier than finding a new date to be my pretend boyfriend. There they were, three of my exes, asking if I needed help with anything. I knew they didn’t mean something like pretending to be my boyfriends in front of my family, but a girl could hope. My family had only met Jayden, and not under the knowledge that he was my ex. Any of them could pass. I’d be comfortable with them, too.