Maxine sipped her drink. “We’ll see, brother. We’ll see.”

Chapter 5

Cherisse

HER POST-AWARDS SHOW cocktail party hangover was epic. Cherisse stayed in bed until after 9 a.m. Not late by most standards, but she was usually an early riser, greeting the sunrise so she could start her day. She wasn’t a morning person, but years of training herself to be just that helped. Fake it ‘til you make it. Whenever she had an event that required networking, the next day wouldn’t start until later than she’d like.

Not that she could help it. Extrovert Cherisse kept going like the Energizer Bunny until she crashed, and then introvert Cherisse wanted nothing to do with anyone. Sometimes, she allowed herself the luxury of sleeping way in; others, she’d force herself to push through.

This Friday morning, she’d tried to strike a balance of sorts. She had a lot of upcoming things but nothing that was pressing for today, so she strolled downstairs, nearly tripping over her cat. The unrepentant furball insisted on curling around her feet since she’d disturbed his snooze spot by choosing that moment to come down the steps.

“Jello, Jesus, fuck!”

Jello yawned and went about his business of sleeping, stretching languidly across the bottom step. No love for her this morning. He’d probably already been fed by Remi, so he didn’t need Cherisse for anything right now. She found Remi and Reba on the couch, heads close together, peering at something on Remi’s laptop. Not an unusual occurrence since they were both better at bouncing back from these types of events than her. Remi was a true extrovert, who thrived on being around people, and Reba was just a morning person. Cherisse could be on when needed, but after that, get people away from her so she could recharge.

“Morning.” She nearly cracked her jaw with the huge yawn that escaped. Remi and Reba both jumped. Remi pushed down the top of the laptop even though Cherisse couldn’t see what they’d been looking at anyway. What was that about?

Remi shifted the laptop from her lap to Reba’s, jumping to her feet to push a giant cup of warm goodness into Cherisse’s hands. “I got your fave fancy Ritual’s vanilla latte. Figured you’d need the boost.”

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” She inhaled the yummy caffeine before taking a sip, and yesss, it was heaven on her tongue, but something was off here. Reba was being shifty, throwing weird looks while keeping a firm grip on the top of the laptop, and Remi kept urging her to drink more of the latte. “What’s going on?”

She wondered if this was Sean-related. Last night, she’d managed to stay clear of him. Had briefly spied him and the woman he had glued to his side, but they hadn’t collided. Good. She’d had enough moments of being around Keiran; she didn’t need her ex thrown into the mix.