Free Luster by Tessa Rowan

stuck-up bitch?”
    “I was going to say straight-laced. Don’t go putting words in my mouth, princess.”
    If I wasn’t wearing my favorite pair of Jimmy Choos right now I’d stomp on his damn foot. “I swear, if you don’t stop calling me that…”
    Matt holds up his hand in mock protest, laughing in earnest. “All right, all right. I wasn’t tried to get you all riled up. I just wanted to talk.”
    I glare at him. “So talk.”
    “That dress suits you nicely,” he replies. Even though I don’t want to, part of me feels a little flattered at the compliment. I’m surprised he likes it though, him being so anti-clothing and all.
    “Thank you. You clean up pretty nicely yourself.” I swallow hard, looking away when the corner of his mouth quirks up, the shine from his teeth catching the light.
    We’re both quiet for a minute or two. Whether it’s from the drinks or not, I start to feel myself relaxing. I let out a shaky breath when Matt turns to face me, reaching up to wind one of my curled ringlets around his finger.
    I don’t want to bring it up. I don’t want to sound whiny or desperate for his attention. But something is aggravating me to no end, and all I want to know is “Why?”
    The lack of light casts shadowy angles across his face. “Why what?”
    Shit. Did I seriously say that out loud? I did, didn’t I? “Why did you…you know what? Never mind.”
    “Say it.” He lets go of my hair and waits for me to say something else.
    “What happened the other day. And you just blew me off, like whatever.”
    “I’m pretty sure you were the one blowing me,” he begins, before my cheeks flush and I cut him off with a look that could kill. He visibly shrinks back a bit and shakes his head.
    “I’m sorry. You’re right. I, uh, was kind of an asshole to you. Which I already warned you about, but you didn’t deserve it. I don’t even think I said thank you. Did I?”
    I lift a brow, unsure if I heard correctly. Did Matt Walsh actually just apologize for being an asshole? Do I need my ears checked? Playing it cool has never been something of ease for me, but I hang back and shrug my shoulders just like him. “You did not.”
    “Falyn, I’m…sorry. And thank you. For what you did.” His eyes refuse to meet mine as they lower to the floor.
    In my slightly drunken state I laugh at his unusual choice of words. “You mean when I sucked your dick?”
    Matt looks both amused and shocked, chuckling along with me. “Yeah. That part. It was very nice on my end, I must say. No prude knows how to pull something like that off.”
    Okay. I have to admit, I feel rather mollified in knowing that he approved of my oral skills. Maybe it’s just the third martini in me though.
    Matt leans in closer, clearly about to say something else when a screeching noise erupts from a few feet away from us. We both look at the same time to see a petite, beautiful woman in a pale pink dress waltz over to our corner, a weird smile on her face. I feel like I should know who she is…she looks really familiar but the lighting in the room is throwing me off.
    Matt’s gone rigid beside me and a vein that I’ve never noticed before is pulsing at his temple. The woman somehow manages to sweep herself up into Matt’s robotic arms. “Oh my god Matt! It’s been so long! How are you, amorcito ?”
    “Dinah,” he spits out, barely able to contain the venom in his words. Wait. Dinah? As in the Dinah? Dinah the pop star? The one he left at the altar on their wedding day-Dinah? Holy shit. This might get ugly.

12
    Matt
    D inah peels herself off of me thankfully, before droning on. We both know this isn’t real. Nothing she ever says or does is real. “I heard you were striking it big with your sculptures. I had no idea how well you were doing!”
    Like I give a shit. It’s so fucking hard not to shove the bitch away from me, but I can’t imagine how fucked up that would look. I don’t want to cause any trouble for Eliza. And