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Monday. You’ll have the weekend to tie up loose ends at the sports bar, and trust me when I say you better be ready to work, Raven. This isn’t going to be some cushy office job where you can kick back and file your nails all day.”
    “Don’t worry,” I say, rising from my posh leather chair. “I’m no stranger to hard work. Just allow me some time to adjust and I’m sure before the week’s through I’ll have the hang of it no problem.”
    “Deal.”
    Grant extends his hand and I stare at it. The thought of touching him is a little unnerving. I know it’s just a handshake, but I can’t deny the physical attraction my body feels toward him, and I’m afraid if I shake his hand, he might be able to tell just how hot I feel in his presence.
    Get a grip, sissy. It’s a fucking handshake, not a hand job.
    I clear my throat and grasp his hand. He firmly takes me in his grip and we shake on it, staring one another in the eye. I take a deep breath and hold it in until he releases me and I’m free to go.
    On my way out of the office he calls after me.
    “Say, I’m just curious. When you saw me sitting in your sports bar, what was going through your mind?”
    I turn and lean up against the doorjamb. I curl my lips together and flash him a look of mischief I can visibly see has an effect on him by the way he places a hand on his desk to steady himself.
    Then I say, “I was thinking how much I’d like for you to fuck my tits.”
    I laugh on my way out the door, leaving him slack-jawed and horny.
    Serves him right, if you ask me.
     

- 5 -
     
    Raven
     
     
    I spend the better part of my afternoon heading over to Drake’s to quit my job. Chase, my boss, isn’t very pleased I’m giving him no notice, but he understands the position I’m in being left without a roommate, and needing more money.
    “You gotta do what you gotta do,” he says, his thick, Brooklyn accent shining through. “It’s gonna be a shame to lose you.”
    “Thanks, Chase. I really appreciate it.”
    We hug, and I say goodbye to my fellow co-workers, looking around the place with a contemplative sadness. I’m going to miss it. Spending the last year working here has brought me good friends, good fun, and shown me that even though school may have not been for me, I was still able to cut it in the big city all on my own.
    No, I am able to cut it, and now with a $75,000 a year job it’ll make cutting it that much easier.
    By the time I get back to my apartment, it’s just after six. Frankie and Tito are on the couch watching Netflix. Thankfully I didn’t walk in on the chill part of the deal. I’ve caught them making out before, but that’s about as much of that as I want to see.
    “Hey, there’s my English Enigma,” Tito says as he gets off the couch to greet me. There’s stacks of boxes piled everywhere, and he steps around a few to meet me in the kitchen.
    “Hey, Rave,” Frankie waves from the couch.
    “Hey guys,” I drop into a chair, exhausted from being out and about all day.
    Tito sits expectantly across from me with his lips pursed and his eyebrows raised. I know what he’s waiting for, but he’s just going to have to wait a little while longer. I need a drink.
    “I’ll get it,” he says, going to the fridge for a Jack Daniel’s cooler before I can budge an inch from my chair.
    He hands it to me and I say, “I’m really going to miss you, you know that, right?”
    “Yeah, yeah. Kisses and hugs to you, too. So spill it. What happened with Huffy?”
    “Huffy? You’re calling him Huffy?”
    “Huffy, Huffinator, Huffleupagus. Whatever. Just tell me.”
    I burst out laughing at that last one. Huffleupagus, a play on the famous Sesame Street character, Snuffleupagus. I really am going to miss Tito when he’s gone. No matter what kind of day I’m having, he can always make me laugh.
    “Did you go all British bulldog on him? Put him in his place? I bet you put him in his place, right? Yelling, screaming. God, I would