Page 33 of The Bad Girl

Dammit!

“I was late yesterday,” I reply back.

Stacey takes a sip from an ImPressed coffee cup, giving a shrug. “A bad girl doesn’t have to explain herself to anyone, but you wouldn’t understand.”

I throw down my bag and make my way to the coffee maker, knowing I can’t go toe-to-toe with her banter. The analytical part of my brain is spinning in circles, wondering what I would give for two extra hours of sleep. The answer: a kidney.

Stacey’s eyeing me from across the room, not even trying to hide her disdain. “Jesus, ya look like shit, Nadine. Did ya sleep on a bed of rocks?”

“I’m guessing I slept better than you.”

Stacey gapes at me, unprepared for the jab.

“So, how was your arrest?” I continue

“I’ll have you know, I was released Monday afternoon, so I slept quite well, actually. As for my arrest, it was uncomfortable, but I made a few headlines, so it was entirely worth it.”

I push the ‘brew’ button on the coffee maker, and a serious Pavlov effect comes into play as the rich liquid fills my cup. “That’s really badass.”

Stacey ignores the compliment, cutting in with, “I hear you’ve taken pictures.”

Seriously, Max?

“A few,” a say impassively, disallowing her from seeing how annoyed I am.

“That’s good, but you have to be careful not to appear overeager. We also need to solidify when you are seeing Tom next week. We don’t want to push it to the weekend, because that will give you too much time together.”

“Too much time?”

“You want to make it a work night, cut out early, leave him wanting more.”

Once the stream of coffee stops, I take my cup and walk over to my desk, glaring down at the intruder.”Get out of my seat.”

Stacey rolls her eyes. “A bad girl wouldn’t have to say that out loud. A simple gaze would have been enough.”

“Oh, shove off!”

“Now, that’s more like it.”

She relinquishes the chair, and I slide into position, logging into the mainframe to make sure there arren’t any fires that need to be extinguished.

Stacey sits her butt down on the desk near the keyboard. “I hear you did good work with Nola.”

I shove the keyboard away, looking up at her with a sneer. “Nola was a grade-a bitch!”

“Grrrrl, anyone walking down a runway with lobsters in their damn hair is bound to have issues. Be careful how you handle that one.”

“Did you hear what LaNaut did after that walk?”

Stacey’s brow furrows. “LaNaut, LaNaut…it sounds familiar.”

I flick my hand dismissively. “Oh, she’s practically a no name. She tried to put scorpions in her pubes to get attention, and she got stung. I’m talkin’ pussy swelled up the size of a cantaloupe.

“What?!?”

“Yeah, after negotiations went down, we talked, and Nola turned out to be quite the gossipist. The modeling agency had tried to keep the story on the down-low, but Nola isn’t doing them any favors.“

“Do these women have any brain cells?”