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  senseless for about two months straight a few years ago. I

  doubt either of us even cared anymore. But Kira would

  have, so I tried to pul her away before things could get

  ugly.

  Besides, he wasn't alone. The woman with him had a beer

  and she tipped it to her mouth, eyeing us with a smile. I

  yanked Kira's elbow to pul her away.

  "Ow," she said when the crowd closed behind us, cutting

  off the view of him. "What did you do that for?"

  "Don't cause trouble," I told her. "C'mon. Drinks."

  "Don't cause trouble," I told her. "C'mon. Drinks."

  "I wasn't going to cause trouble." She frowned and tossed

  her hair, not caring she'd whacked some dude across the

  face with it. He looked pissed. Not the way I wanted to

  start the night.

  "There wil be other guys here," I told her.

  Kira just sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh,

  I know that."

  The Pharmacy was almost always a total sausage party—

  three guys for every girl, easy, and al of them horny and

  looking to hook up. Chivalry had nothing to do with them

  puling out their walets and plying us with booze. It was al

  about getting laid.

  "Oh, look," Kira said from beside me. "Talk about

  trouble."

  She was right. Trouble with a capital T. I stood taler in my sexy shoes and lifted my chin, straightened my shoulders.

  "Helo, Austin."

  Once upon a time, Austin and I had fucked like tigers. I

  was wiling to bet he stil had the scars. I did.

  was wiling to bet he stil had the scars. I did.

  "Paige." His hair was longer, but he had the same grin, the one that parted thighs like the Red Sea. He didn't look

  surprised to see me.

  Austin wore a blue-striped shirt and faded jeans that

  hugged his ass just right and hung down, ragged, at the

  hems. Jeans like that should be outlawed on men like

  Austin. His buddy, some guy I didn't know, wore an

  almost identical shirt, but with brown stripes. He didn't

  look half as good.

  Behind me, Kira dug her fingernails into the skin of my

  elbow. It stung, and I shook her off. "How are you?"

  "Good. I'm good." His eyes shifted to Kira and back to

  me. "Haven't seen you in a while."

  "Haven't been home," I said, though home to me now was

  an apartment on Front Street, not a trailer or a rented

  house in Lebanon.

  "Yeah. I know. Hey, Kira. I made it."

  My insides froze. I glared at her, but Kira gave me her

  best dumb look. "What?"

  best dumb look. "What?"

  She'd told him we'd be here. I knew it. I could see it on

  both their faces, their conspiracy, and I wondered how

  he'd convinced her to tel him. I thought about walking out,

  and the only reason I didn't was because he was looking at

  me. Not her.

  Kira saw it, too, and she gave me a narrow-eyed glare. I

  wouldn't have put it past her to have set this up purely to

  see the throw down between me and Austin, but I wasn't

  going to do it. I was past those days. She ralied when

  Austin's friend gave her a grin. It helped that he was cute.

  Not as cute as Austin, but then realy, who was? Who had

  ever been?

  "What're you drinking?" Austin was already puling out his

  walet to pay.

  I wasn't going to turn down a free drink, not even from

  him. "Margarita."

  "I'l take a Slow, Comfortable Screw." Kira made sure to

  lean in close so he could hear her. Her lips brushed his ear.

  Austin leaned away a little, not enough that Kira would

  notice. But I did. He introduced us both to his friend,

  Ethan, who managed to tear his gaze away from Kira's tits

  long enough to nod toward me without a trace of

  recognition. Wel, what had I expected him to do? Say,

  "Oh, so this is Paige?"

  "So what are you up to now?" Austin asked me as Kira

  and Ethan eyed each other.

  "I work for Kely Printing." The last time we spoke I'd stil been finishing the degree I'd started when we were

  together and taking care of some rich couple's kids. I

  didn't ask him what he was doing, not for work and not

  here in Harrisburg. I didn't want him to think I cared.

  "What about your mom?" Austin moved closer, his arm on

  the bar. "She stil working for Hershey? I haven't been to

  the shop for a while."

  My mom owns a tiny sandwich shop she inherited from

  her dad when I was in high school. I'd worked in that shop

  almost my entire life, running errands as a kid then

  graduating to making subs and running the cash register.

  Now I only helped if she had a big order to fil and deliver,

  or a party to cater.

  "She stil has it. She was working for Hershey but got laid

  off."

  Austin nodded. "I'm working for McClaron and Sons."

  I had no idea who or what McClaron and Sons was, but

  the fact he was working for someone other than his dad

  surprised me into a reply. "What about your dad?"

  Austin shrugged, then grimaced, and only because I'd once

  known him so wel it had been like knowing myself did I

  catch his hesitation. "It was time I got out of that job."

  "But you're doing the same thing, right? Construction?"

  Kira popped into the conversation and drew both our

  attentions.

  "Yeah, and some other stuff," Austin said, but didn't

  elaborate.

  Interesting. Austin had worked for his dad's business the

  way I'd worked for my mom's—summers and after school

  since he'd been old enough to carry a hammer. It had

  always been the assumption that he'd take over the

  business when his dad retired, and become a ful partner

  business when his dad retired, and become a ful partner

  some time before that. I'd figured he already was.

  "What about you?" Kira sipped her drink, eyes on Ethan.

  For someone with a boyfriend, she certainly seemed

  interested in him, but then Kira was just one of those girls.

  You know. The slutty ones.

  "I'm a mechanic," he said. "For Hershey."

  "Oh, that's a good job!" Kira sidled in between Austin and Ethan.

  "It is a good job," Ethan agreed and drank from his cup

  while his eyes wandered everywhere on Kira's body but

  her face.

  It was so easy, realy. They wanted to seduce us. We

  wanted to be seduced, for a few hours anyway. I knew

  what we looked like to them. Two girls in slinky outfits,

  sucking back drink after drink and letting the crowd push

  us closer and closer. There's no such thing as social

  distance in bars. The music makes conversation impossible

  unless you lean across to shout in someone's ear. The

  crush of people means you have to fight for your own

  smal space, and sharing it doesn't seem so bad after a

  smal space, and sharing it doesn't seem so bad after a

  drink or four.

  When Austin's hand ended up on my ass, I didn't even

  blink. It felt good there. Heavy, warm. He had strong

  fingers to go along with those biceps. He smeled good.

  Drakkar Noir. D