Inferno - Chelle Bliss by Chelle Bliss

“I’m meeting Asher for a drink.”

“Where?” Lily asks. “We’ll go there.”

“They don’t serve food.”

Gigi narrows her eyes at me. “Why do you have to lie?”

I shrug. “I need some time to process shit without you all chirping in my ear.”

“Yep. He’s a goner,” Pike states. “Ride that wave, brother. It’s a great feeling.”

“I feel like shit.”

“Your body is in shock. It’ll change. You’ll be riding the wave of good feelings soon enough.”

I pin my cousin with my gaze, hating his smug face sometimes. “You’re full of shit.”

Pike wraps his arm around Gigi’s waist, pulling her closer until she’s flush against his side. “I’ve never been happier. I never thought I’d get married, but boom, best thing to ever happen to me.”

I hold back the vomit that’s crawling up my throat at the thought of little ones running around my house. “You’re living the dream…just not my dream.”

“You’ll see,” Rebel says, rubbing her fingers in my hair to drive me crazy. “You’ll get the kid bug and be the best dad.”

“I’ll be a kick-ass dad, but I’m not ready for all that picket-fence shit.”

“No one is,” Pike says, but I ignore him and his cheery outlook on relationships and love. “But you figure it out.”

“I’m too young.”

Everyone in the room laughs at my statement. I know it’s stupid, but it’s how I feel. I’m not old and not old enough to settle down.

“Time’s ticking,” Lily adds with a smile. “You’re not getting any younger.”

“Man, you people are rough today.” I go back to cleaning my table, already having finished the rest of my workstation. “I’ll let you know when I need you to know anything.”

“Which is never,” Rebel says. “You’re like the Fort Knox of emotions.”

“He doesn’t have any, or at least he didn’t until now,” Gigi teases as she steps away. “The boy is in for a world of hurt.”

“I hate you all,” I call out as my cousins sit around laughing at my absurdity.

Pike stands and stretches. “I’m telling you now, brother, if you like her—like really, really like her—you lock that shit down and lock it down quick.”

“Lock it down?” I ask, confused by his statement.

“Yep. Make sure she knows she’s yours, or else someone else will snatch her away and you’ll be there holding your dick and all alone.”

“Ridiculous,” I mumble.

“Women aren’t going to wait around forever for you to come to your senses. If you don’t snatch her up, someone else will.”

“Noted,” I tell him, giving him a salute because I’m a complete shithead and I don’t want advice from anyone.

“He’ll fuck it up,” Lily says, pushing herself up from the stool before grabbing her purse. “He always does when it comes to feelings. He’s allergic.”

“Deathly,” Gigi adds. “But what guy isn’t at his age?”

I throw my rag in the dirty basket, ready to get the hell out of here and away from the conversation. “I’m out.”

Lily pops up on her toes, giving me a kiss on my cheek. “Go get her,” she whispers in my ear.

“Lily,” I warn.

She pulls back and smiles at me. “Just let go, little brother. You won’t be sorry.”

“I already am,” I whisper back.

“Where are we going?” Lily asks the rest of the group as I stalk toward the back, snapping off my latex gloves before tossing them in the trash can. I don’t care where they go as long as it’s not the Neon Cowboy.





“Where’s Olive?” I ask Asher. His girl is never far behind him.

He exhales, leaning back in his chair with an exasperated look on his face. “She packed her shit and left.”

My eyebrows rise. “What the hell did you do?”

“It’s what I didn’t do.” He shakes his head and mumbles under his breath. “I fucked up.”

“Shocker.” I laugh. My cousin and I are the biggest fuckups of the family when it comes to women. “Now what? You going to let her go?”

He shrugs before taking a pull from his beer bottle. “I don’t know what to do, man. Maybe we need space.”

I pick at the cold fries in the middle of the table we’d decided to share to help wash down the lukewarm beer. “You trying to convince yourself of that? You don’t sound sold on that bullshit.”

“Don’t you think we’re too young for relationships?”

“Ash, you’re asking the wrong man. You know my answer.”

“I heard about Opal.”

“I’m not even a little surprised.” I lean forward, turning the beer bottle in my hand. “Everyone’s so damn nosy.”

Asher laughs as he runs his fingers through his dark hair. “It’s a pain in the ass, but they mean well.”

I stare at him. “You’re lying a lot tonight, asshole. You hate their gossip as much as I do.”