Ten Thousand Lies (16 page)

“Well, we’re going to this all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet,” Xanthe said. “I’m dying for some crab legs.”

“We’ll head to the shop to pick up Ricki and Ronen,” said Rex. “And then we’ll chow down.”

Ricki and Ronen.

The stories surrounding those two had me seriously intrigued and maybe a little jealous. Xanthe and Rex had found new Bro Dawgs while I had passed the time on my own, not feeling as though I truly belonged with Dave and JT and the shop back in New Jersey.

“Cool,” I replied, stuffing my self-pity down deep where I could forget about it. “Aunt Ellen’s not coming?”

“She said she’d go next time,” replied Xanthe. “She’s got some work to do.”

With Rex hauling the bulk of my crap, Xanthe led the way to a pea-green Mini Cooper.

“What the…” I trailed off. “Are all of us plus my shit gonna fit in here?”

Popping the trunk, Rex pulled out bungee cords. “The big stuff will go on the roof.”

Within ten minutes, half of my possessions were strapped to the top of the Mini, and the other half was crammed into the trunk. Then, we were zipping through the streets toward Ricki Conklin and Ronen Kelly. The thought of finally meeting them had me squirming and feeling nauseated. I hoped it was excitement, but I knew better.

I was dreading facing the man I’d spent the last year having phone sex with.

The look of the tattoo shop from the outside wasn’t all that spectacular. The Inkwell could use some serious help.

After Rex parked right in front, he and Xanthe hopped out while I struggled to get my six-foot frame out of the backseat. I fought the wriggling mass of nerves threatening to blow its way out of my gut and followed my two best friends into the shop.

The inside wasn’t much better. The scent of green soap, ink, and blood always perfumed a tattoo shop, but I was thinking a little
more
green soap couldn’t hurt in this instance. The floors were filthy, and dust layered the framed flash on the walls. Mentally cringing, I hoped Ronen’s and Ricki’s stations were kept cleaner than this. If not, they’d be in violation of some major health codes.

“Ricki! Ronen!” Xanthe bellowed. “Let’s get going! Women are starving in here!”

From somewhere in the back of the shop, a door opened and shut. I was ready to writhe out of my skin. Footsteps came down the hallway, and from the curtained doorway, a tall, lanky, swarthy dude in round glasses came out, dressed in wrecked relaxed fit jeans and a black T-shirt with a black beanie on his head and black Chucks on his feet. He had the biggest smile I’d ever seen; I could nearly see all of his teeth. His face had some patchy black scruff, and his eyes were a dark cocoa color. I knew this had to be Ronen.

His eyes landed on me, and his smile got even bigger. “Is this Jaime?”

“It is,” said Rex.

Suddenly, I was engulfed in Ronen’s bone-cracking hug. Lanky he might be but strong as a bear trap.

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you!”

Laughter bubbled out of me, despite the wriggling mass of nerves. He was just too much.

“Likewise!”

Grabbing my face, he planted a fat kiss on my forehead. He was the same height I was. “Wow, Xanthe said you were gorgeous, but
damn
! Those are the prettiest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.”

My cheeks were probably the reddest, too. I wasn’t used to such blatant flattery.

“Ricki’s using the head—” Behind Ronen came a slight cough. Letting go of my face, he turned around. “Ricki’s done using the head,” Ronen needlessly informed us.

“Ricki…meet Jaime” said Xanthe dryly. “Ronen’s squeezed the life out of her.”

“I saw that,” said Ricki, a slight smile flashing through his brown facial bush.

Oh my God.

My throat instantly went dry. My palms didn’t. My hands were soaking wet, and my heart was racing. I couldn’t think for shit. It was as though I was frozen to the spot where I stood.

Ricki was…I didn’t even know. What I
did
know was, I wanted to be all over that. Average height, he had a fantastic build under his Pearl Jam T-shirt. His jeans were a little too tight, but his thighs and legs were so awesome that it didn’t really matter. Ricki was just so…
manly
. A
dude
. A really, really hot, incredibly sexy dude.

And an asshole; don’t forget that.

Rex cleared his throat, and I realized I was gawking at the man. The man was staring just as hard at me. Above his beard, Ricki’s cheeks flushed, and his brown eyes dropped to the floor. My own face pulsed with a red-hot glow.

“Come on,” said Xanthe, completely ignoring the awkward atmosphere. “Jaime’s starving.”

Somehow, my feet moved, and I followed Xanthe and Ronen out the door, trailed by Rex and Ricki, who locked up the shop.

In the Mini, I ended up squished in between Ronen and Ricki. Ronen felt platonic, pressed into my left thigh. Ricki felt like scorching sex, burning through my jeans and into my skin. His smell was strangely good; he certainly wasn’t daisy fucking fresh but still…pleasant. He kept his face turned toward the window while Ronen chewed my ear off, asking all sorts of questions.

I was dying to hear Ricki’s voice again. Deep and husky, throaty yet soft, like audible sex. The British accent, too…I mean,
damn
. It was so sexy that, even though I was feeling completely irritated with the man, it still made my bits tingle.

Ignore that shit. He made it obvious that he had a change of heart. There’s nothing there for you.

“So…” came his voice to my right. “You been good?”

Turning to look at him, our eyes locked, and I was unnerved. They were beautiful eyes, warm, a chocolaty color, but…I felt as though they weren’t
his
, and that made no fucking sense whatsoever.

“Peachy keen, my friend,” I drawled. “You?”

His eyes crinkled when he smiled shyly, and it tugged on something deep inside me.

“I’ve been worse.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Same here. I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you guys.”

He flinched, catching my intent of stowing him in the friend zone.

Ronen laughed. “I bet.”

My cheeks flamed. I was about to ask Xanthe to crack a fucking window to get me some air when Rex pulled the Mini into a spot. Having no clue as to where I was, I exited the car after Ronen hopped out, looking around for the restaurant. Ricki pulled out a pack of smokes from his jeans as he got out from the other side of the car, and although I mostly only smoked while imbibing in alcohol, I felt the urge to have one now.

“You got a spare?” I asked him.

Surprised, his eyes met mine, and I got that weird wobbly feeling in my tummy again.

Fishing out two cigarettes, Ricki lit them both at once and then handed me one. A current zipped up my arm, straight to my heart, as our fingertips came into contact.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No worries,” he replied.

“Is my shit going to get stolen, sitting on the car like this?” I asked everyone in general.

“It’s safe,” said Ronen. “We got people looking out.”

Okay then…

I had to wonder what Local was bored enough to hang out, watching some chick’s luggage, but the others didn’t think this was weird, so I let it slide.

A five-minute walk later, we reached King’s Buffet. Rex held the door open for us, and the tiny Asian hostess directed us to a large curved booth. Dropping our bags and jackets off, we headed up to the buffet, grabbed some food, and sat. I was jammed in between Xanthe and Rex.

Ronen was extremely talkative, asking me about my work in the old tattoo shop. From what Xanthe and Rex had told me of these two, I’d been under the impression Ricki was just as animated as Ronen, the both of them boisterous and hilarious. The Ricki I had gotten to know had certainly been humorous, but I saw no evidence of the friend Xanthe and Rex adored.

The man silently plowed through his food. A few times, I’d glance at him to find him staring at me, but then he’d drop his funky-ass gaze back to his plate.

We finished the all-we-could-eat meal and waddled out the door. Ricki busted out his smokes again, and he immediately lit up two, silently handing one to me. I smiled at him, and he averted his gaze once more.

He’s a fucking weirdo, that’s what.

“Me ’n’ Ricki’ll just walk this shit off,” grunted Ronen. “You guys head on to Ellen’s. We’ll catch up tomorrow.”

“Nice meeting you,” said Ricki softly, not looking at me.

“Um, you, too,” I replied.

Ronen came right up and gave me a gentle squeeze. When he stepped back, I caught Ricki giving him the stink eye. Ricki made no move to come in for a hug himself, so I got into the back of the Mini, feeling disappointed and heartsore. Rex was already behind the wheel, and Xanthe climbed into the passenger side.

Hopefully, this was all due to the traveling and obscene amount of Chinese food because, in my opinion, what should have been a really cool time meeting new friends had just been fucking bizarre.

“What’s the deal with Ricki?” I whispered to Xanthe.

“What do you mean?” she whispered back, placing a box of coffee cups on our new kitchen counter.

I’d made Amsterdam my home two weeks ago. In that time, I’d gotten the lay of the city down once more, I knew the bookshop inside and out, and I had picked up a little Dutch. Now, Xanthe, Rex, and I were moving into our new flat.

“I mean—” I shut up because Ricki was dragging in my folded up Army surplus cot that was my bed.

“What is this thing?” he asked, leaning it up against the wall in the living room. “And where is it going?”

“Oh…” I said. “I got it.”

It was fucking embarrassing, but I had spent all my money getting my ass to Holland, paying a third on the deposit for the new house, and buying food. The only furnishings I could afford were the cot, a blanket-and-pillow set, and the saddest secondhand plastic drawers for my clothes. Even sadder, those drawers were like utility drawers for storing tools.

Grabbing my cot, I schlepped it up the stairs to my new bedroom and set it up. With the duvet and pillow, it almost looked like a real bed.

“These yours?” Ronen asked from the doorway, holding my utility drawers.

“Yeah, just put them anywhere,” I told him, fighting the blush in my cheeks.

Without a word, he put them down, glanced around my room, nodded, and walked out.

Rex and Xanthe had a wealth of crap to drag in. Sofas, chairs, tables, bookshelves, desks, and even a TV stand. Before I could start putting my clothes away, I headed back downstairs and helped the others bring in the rest of the furniture. It was the least I could do, considering I wasn’t contributing to any of it.

While Rex, Xanthe, Ricki, and Ronen were going about arranging all the furniture in the common areas, I snuck back up to my drab little room and began unpacking my suitcases, which I truly hoped would be the last time for a long time.

Over the last two weeks, Ricki had shown a little more life around me, but he was still a weirdo. There wasn’t much about him that resembled the man I had spent the last few years talking with over the phone. While I had busted him laughing his ass off with Rex or Ronen here and there, he always got quiet when I showed up.

He wasn’t mean to me or anything, just…closed off. Maybe he’d found out I was a six-footer of a bitch, and he was turned off by women who were taller than he was. If that were the case, then I was better off. I didn’t need that sort of attitude about something I couldn’t change.

With all my clothes now crammed into these god-awful drawers and my somewhat nicer clothes hung up in the wardrobe that came with the room, I attempted to stuff all three suitcases in the remaining space in the tiny closet.

“What the…”

Jumping, I turned to find Ricki in my doorway, looking around my meager room.

“What?” I asked, smoothing some hair back from my face.

“Was that your fucking bed I brought in?”

“Yeah,” I replied, trying to smile around my mortification. “I’m pretty low-maintenance.”

He stared at the drawers with a tic in his eye, looking furious.

“Ricki?” I asked quietly.

His eyes shifted to mine. “Yeah?”

“Was there something you wanted?”
Other than giving my poor furniture the evil eye?

“We’re heading out to grab some food. Came up here to get you.”

“Oh…” I wouldn’t have any money before Ellen paid me tomorrow. “I’m not hungry. You guys go ahead.” I was actually starving.

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you guys later.”

“All right.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, and I waited. He stared at me, so I stared at him.

“What the fuck?” came Ronen’s bellow from downstairs. “Let’s go!”

“See you,” Ricki said before leaving.