The Muse's Undoing

“I think I may have slept with Raven too many times.” I tell him.

“Uh-oh. What happened?

“She asked me out for tonight.”

“I mean, you could have canceled,” he tells me. “I wouldn’t have been—I would have understood.”

“I’m not trying to date her.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes?”

“You two don’t talk at all?” he asks.

“Not really. No.”

“She doesn’t hang out with Vaughn, does she?”

“No!” I’m surprised he even asked that.

Matthew holds up his hands defensively. “Just checking. I can’t keep an eye on you all the time.”

“I’m not getting involved with anyone right now. I’ve only been back a few months. I’m still trying to get my bearings.”

“She seems…okay…”

“You don’t like her.”

“She’s a socialite,” he says with some disdain.

“She owns an art gallery,” I argue.

“Does she? Or did her daddy buy her an art gallery?”

“Touché. Still, she doesn’t sit around on her ass all day.”

“So you do talk.”

“Matthew…” I stop walking and turn to him. “What’s your point?”

“It’s okay if you want to date her?—”

“I don’t. I don’t want to date anybody.”

“Why?” he asks.

“I just said.” I gesture about ten feet back on the sidewalk.

“Because you’re getting your bearings?”

“Exactly,” I say.

“By going to sex clubs.”

“It’s a sex club, not multiple sex clubs. Are you judging me? You said you’d never judge me.”

“I’m not. I’m pursuing a line of questioning.”