The Boyfriend Thief Read Online Free PDF Page A

the little girl standing in front of me demanded again.
    I groaned. “Come on, kid. I’ve done the shuffle five times for you already.”
    Bob wasn’t supposed to talk back to customers, but this kid had pushed me to the breaking point. My feet hurt and the foam costume stuck to my sweat-covered skin.
    The little girl’s face turned red and she pressed her lips together in a tight white line as her eyes grew bigger. I knew that face. I’d been working around kids at Diggity Dog House long enough to know when they were about to throw an all-out temper tantrum.
    “Okay, okay, I’ll dance,” I said quickly, launching into the shuffle. My moves were slower and not as enthusiastic as they had been the first four hundred times, but hopefully it would do.
    Unfortunately, I had forgotten there was one other face a kid could make that also resembled the beginning of a temper tantrum.
    The puke face.
    Which was what that pig-tailed little girl in front of me did as I finished up the shuffle. Chewed up bits of hot dog propelled out of her mouth and all over the front of my costume.
    The girl’s mom grabbed her hand and snatched her away, now that I was covered in hot dog barf. I stood frozen in place for a moment, my arms extended straight out to my sides in an effort to not touch the barf at all.
    A group of middle school boys walked by, laughing and pointing. It worked to snap me out of my stupor and I hurried back inside Diggity Dog House, straight for the employee bathroom.
    The best way to keep from getting any barf on me was to remain inside the costume while I tried to clean it. So I was still dressed as a giant hot dog when a knock sounded on the door behind me.
    “Occupied!” I shouted.
    But the door opened anyway and Elliott squeezed himself in. I pushed the mesh back into place before he could see my face. “I thought I saw you run in here.” He wrinkled his nose at the front of the costume. “Gross. Kid puke again?”
    I tried to make my voice sound like Tara’s. “Yeah, totally gross.” I added a giggle to the end of my words for good measure.
    “Here, let me do that.” Elliott took the paper towels from me and wiped the costume. Not many guys would willingly clean barf off a girl.
    “There,” he said after a moment, smiling kindly. “The worst of it is gone.”
    Of course, Elliott thinking I was Tara erased any bit of decency he had. I didn’t see him cleaning barf off Molly.
    “Thanks,” I said through clenched teeth.
    “No problem. It’s not like we haven’t all been puked on while in that costume at one time or another.” His smile faded and his expression grew serious as he looked at me, his eyes searching to find mine through the screen. “How are you doing? Have you thought anymore about what we discussed yesterday?”
    What had they talked about? My mind raced with a million ideas. About going out with him? About kissing him? About running away to Vegas with him? In every scenario, I could see Elliott and Tara in each other’s arms, laughing at how stupid Molly was for not suspecting a thing.
    I realized Elliott was still looking at me, waiting for an answer. How would Tara respond to that question?
    “Oh, um…” I giggled. “I haven’t decided yet.” That seemed like a vague enough answer to hopefully get me by.
    Elliott sighed, looking annoyed. “You can’t keep hiding from it. Sooner or later, you’ll have to deal with the truth.”
    The truth? The truth that Elliott was totally in love with Tara and was sneaking around with her? Or at least, he wanted to? Maybe Tara didn’t want to be the other woman and was holding out.
    My hands clenched into fists inside the puffy gloves of the costume. “You’re such a creep, sneaking around behind Molly’s back.”
    Elliott blinked. “What are you—”
    He stopped, and then before I could make a movement to get out of his reach, he snatched the mesh off the costume and stared angrily at me.
    “Avery,” he growled. “I should