Today had been about as much fun as...honestly, there were very few things I could think of that sucked as much as today had. Root canal. Pap smear. Pretty much any medical procedure. That time in eighth grade when I got my period in the middle of English and didn't realize it until Abbie Jamison started laughing. Or when I was seventeen, and Everett was looking in my room for something and found the vibrator I'd just bought but hadn't yet dared to use.

It was too hot to walk, and I didn't feel like taking the subway, so as soon as I stepped outside, I flagged down a taxi. Fortunately, I'd managed to get out ahead of the rush and only had to wait a minute or so. As soon as I was inside the cab, I pulled out my phone and sent a group text. I needed reinforcements before I did something crazy.

Like going straight to Jace's house and demanding to know where he got off being such a fucking jackass.

Not a good idea. Not a good idea.

I kept repeating that to myself as I waited for my friends to text back. I breathed a sigh of relief as first one, then the rest, responded. Everett was already home, and the girls would meet us at our favorite restaurant in a couple hours. This was why I loved them. I hadn't told them anything other than I needed them, and they said they'd be there.

When I got home, Everett didn't try to get anything out of me, but the grim expression on his face told me that I only needed to say the word and he'd do whatever I asked.

I changed into something nice but comfortable. Not sexy. I wasn't going out with my friends to dance and find someone to fuck. I'd never felt less like having sex than I did right now. All I wanted to do was vent to them and then let them distract me for the rest of the night. I still had to go to work tomorrow, and the day after that, which meant I needed to figure out how to deal with things, but for tonight, I needed the break.

"You look nice," Everett said as we headed downstairs.

"Thanks." I reached for his hand, appreciating the familiar feeling. "So do you."

He pulled me against his side with one arm and waved down a taxi with his free hand. "Whatever you need tonight, Sav. We've got you."

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Lorde said as she leaned forward, blue-green eyes flashing, "you suggest that the two of you reveal your identities before you have sex, but he says he wants to do it after, then blames you for not telling him who you were sooner?"

"And then he goes to your boss and complains, getting you removed from the story," Everett finished, the muscle in his jaw popping with each word.

"That about sums it up." I stabbed a piece of steak with my fork, then glared at it.

"Fuck him." Lei put her hand on my arm, squeezing gently. "He deserves to get some second-rate hack writing about him and his show."

I dropped my fork, wincing as it clattered against the plate. "It's for a great cause though. Clean drinking water." I sighed and press my fingers against my temples. "I can't really bring myself to wish for the show to crash and burn when that's what he's doing it for."

"I can," Lei said doggedly.

"So can I." Lorde's normally bubbly voice filled with an anger I wasn't used to seeing from her. "And I'll ask Robert to look into donating to charities that provide something similar, so you don't have to feel bad about wanting that jerk to fail."

I gave them both a watery smile. This was exactly why I called them. I was a strong, independent person, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice to have some support once in a while. Especially when it came to dealing with the extra sensitive shit I couldn't call home about.

I loved my parents and my brother, but there was no way in hell I'd talk to them about anything relating to sex, even the vanilla kind. They weren't naive enough to think that I wasn't having it, but we didn't talk about that sort of thing in my family. The sex talk my mom had given me when I was ten had been all flat-out biology and anatomy, and even that had embarrassed the hell out of her.

"Maybe you should start putting in applications elsewhere," Lorde suggested. "I mean, it's not like The Heart of Art is the Times or anything."

"I know." I dropped my face in my hands and groaned. "And it's not even that I really like the magazine, but it's one of the few art magazines still in print. It'd be nice to have that on my resumé before I go somewhere else."

"Everything's digital now. Why fight it?" Lei reached across the table and stole a crouton off my salad. "If I could work from home in my pajamas, I'd do it."

I nodded, but my heart wasn't in it. I knew she had a good point, and there was some appeal in working from home, but I always imagined myself working in an office where I was part of a group dedicated to bringing news to its readers in physical print that I could cut out and mail home to my parents. Like a female art critic version of Clark Kent.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. Maybe this was life's way of telling me that I wasn't as logical and pragmatic as I liked to think. That perhaps I had a more romanticized version of how I thought my life was supposed to go than I wanted to admit.

Dammit! I didn't want to be that person. The one who had this vision of how things were supposed to go and then freaked out when they didn't follow that plan. I was smarter than that. I didn't follow my heart. I followed my head.

And the one time I hadn't, the one time I'd let myself hope that I could have something more than just a night or two of hot sex, I'd been reminded none too kindly that wasn't the way things worked.

"Hey, we've got your back." Everett put his hand on the back of my neck and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'll go kick his ass if you want me to."

I was sorely tempted to take him up on it. If anyone could take on Jace, it would be Everett. But I didn't want to risk my best friend getting hurt. I told myself that I didn't care whether or not Everett hurt Jace, but I wasn't that good of a liar.

"No," I said reluctantly. "It's probably best for everyone if we go our separate ways."

"I think you're right." Lorde grasped my hand. "At least New York's a huge city, so the chances of the two of you running into each other again are slim."

I was about to agree with her, except at that moment, I heard a commotion coming from the front of the restaurant and turned to see four insanely attractive men being led to a nearby table. I recognized one as being Reb Union, a musician I really liked, and two I didn't know. The fourth, of course, was Jace.

Fate sucked.

"Dammit," I muttered, barely able to get the word out past the emotion clogging my throat.

"Sav?" Lorde's fingers tightened around mine. "What's wrong?"

It took far too much self-control not to look again as I said, "That's him. With the group that just arrived."

"Him who?" Lei asked. Her voice took on an edge. "That asshole? Where?"

"The group of really hot guys?" Lorde asked, her eyes wide. "With Reb Union?"

I nodded.

All three let out low whistles, and I couldn't blame them. Those were probably four of the best-looking men I'd ever seen, and I spent my life being friends with Everett.

"Which one is he?" Everett's voice was harder than I'd ever heard it. "Which of those guys is he, Savannah?"

"The blond," I mumbled as I stared down at my hands. The really hot one with the sexy tattoos who's great with his hands.

A muscled arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me over. I ducked my head against Everett's shoulder and let him hug me. Except he didn't let me go after a couple minutes like he usually did.

I raised my head. "What are you doing, Ev?"

He grinned, but there was a bit of steel behind his eyes. "I'm being a good boyfriend."

I started to roll my eyes, but when he raised an eyebrow, I realized he was serious. He knew how upset I was, how shitty I'd been treated, and he wasn't going to let Jace get away with thinking that he'd hurt me.

Everett pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'm serious, Sav. Let me play the part and show that bastard that he lost the best thing that could've ever happened to him."

It was appealing, I had to admit. Flirt and cuddle with Everett so that Jace could see that what he'd done hadn't destroyed me, that I wouldn't be spending my time mooning over him like some lovestruck schoolgirl.

But was that really how I wanted to play things? I wasn't sure.