Page 76 of The Biker and the Baker

By the time I get to the restroom, Rebound Girl is already in a stall, so I pretend to spruce up my hair while the one other occupant dries her hands with the coarse paper towels and leaves.

When Rebound Girl finally emerges from the stall, our eyes catch in the mirror, and she halts in her step, but only for a brief moment before she averts her gaze and walks to the sink closest to the door and farthest from me.

She’s even prettier up close. Beautiful skin, beautiful hair, beautiful eyes. Exotic features…she’s either Vietnamese or Filipina.

Women are my people so I can’t even find it in me to hate her. It’s not her fault I’m an emotionally immature asshole who doesn’t know how to commit or love like a normal human being.

“Do you know me?” I ask her reflection, prompting her to meet mine in the mirror.

“No.” She frowns. “Should I?”

“It’s just the way you stopped and looked at me just now... never mind.” I fluff my hair. “Is that Onyx I saw you with out there?”

She’s slow to answer, focused on lathering her hands with the cheap, watered-down soap from the dispenser. “Um, yeah. Do you know him?”

“Yup,” I say, letting the P pop. “He gave me syphilis.”

I start for the door, and as I’m passing her, I say close to her ear, “Dirty dick. Dirty rep. I’d run for the hills if I were you.”

With that, I yank open the door and walk out.

I’m pitiful.

Chapter 19

Onyx

3:02 AM

Pia:Hey you…

Onyx:Fuck off

Pia:OK

Onyx:And lose my number while you’re at it

Pia:OK

Chapter 20

Pia

Onyx:Hey

Onyx:Outside your house. Come out for a min? Need to talk to you.

Heart drumming in my chest, I read and reread the text about ten times, nibbling my bottom lip, before I finally text back, “OK.”

The same two letters I responded with two nights ago when he told me to “fuck off” after I drunk-texted him. Heavily intoxicated and full of remorse, I’d been all up in my feelings after seeing him with Rebound Girl. Texting him is a mistake I shouldn’t have made. The mere act makes Kyor’s diagnosis and Calvin’s belief about me seem true—that I’m only interested when there’s unavailability and improbability.

And now he’s here. Outside my house. Wanting to talk to me. It feels like Calvin all over again. But I won’t pretend this doesn’t thrill me. The possibility that I can have him whenever I want him…

I scramble around my apartment, combing my hair just right, moisturizing my lips, spritzing a hint of cologne behind my ear, and switching my pajamas for a homey-but-sexy shorts and tank.

By the time I walk out of my apartment, there’s a heady smile on my lips. A smile that suffers an immediate death when I get to the front of the house.

Onyx stands in the driveway, eyes to the ground. But parked on the curb behind him is his rarely driven SUV with Rebound Girl sitting in the front passenger seat, snapping selfies on her phone.