Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
I nodded back, letting him know I was good.
Harper and Aly both had big eyes when I turned back to them.
“Holy shit, woman.” Harper grabbed my arm, leading me to their table. It was a high-top in the corner.
There were other people in the back section with us, but they were on the other side of the room. In the middle was a plethora of pool tables, an air hockey table, and other games. The bar was in the corner with a door to the outside next to it. People were coming in and out, and you could catch a glimpse of a couple picnic tables outside.
Again, I was impressed. This place had it going on.
Both Harper and Aly had drinks already, and an appetizer sat in the middle of the table.
“So that’s him?” Harper looked over at Shane, studying him like Shane was about to come over and rob us.
Shane noted the attention, giving me another look.
I shook my head. I needed to catch up with my friends before he came over.
“He’s not who I remember from high school,” Harper said.
I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
Aly had been watching me, not Shane, with a knowing look on her face.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head slowly, a grin appearing. “You look good, that’s all. Like, real good.”
Harper’s attention turned to me. He nodded, but sounded miffed. “You both are getting some. What am I doing here?”
Aly’s smile fell. “Self-pity, much? Your man flew to California for you. Not me. Not Kali. You.”
“He shouldn’t have come! I left him—”
“You’ve been miserable since he left.”
“I have not. We were doing SNL dance routines just the other week.”
“Yeah,” she shot back. “We do those when you need to be distracted from your misery.”
Her voice rose, and we were now getting attention from more than just Shane’s table. Corvette and Roadie seemed to be enjoying the show. Roadie was grinning. Corvette gave me a smile and lifted his beer in a salute.
“Okay. Enough,” I told my friends.
They stopped bickering and flushed, giving me a guilty look.
“Sorry. It’s been a few days, you know?” Aly’s words were to me; her dark look was to Harper.
He raised his chin, pointedly ignoring her. Then he turned to me and softened. “It’s really good to see you. All the drama here—we were worried about you. What happened?”
“I…” I flinched. “I can’t tell you guys except to say there was a guy in the area. Shane was worried about me, and I had to stay where they were for a few days.” I held my hands out, seeing their instant concern. “It’s all good. The bad guy left, and it ended up helping in a way because I saw Claudia.”
“Oh.” Harper’s mouth turned down.
Aly’s face went blank.
“She’s definitely not coming back with us, so there’s that.” I remembered that was the main reason I’d come out here. “Ruby just will have to go without her favorite daughter for a while.”
I’d also come out here to escape Foley. Or the memories of Foley. Or… I wasn’t really sure anymore. I just remembered feeling a mountain of pain sitting on my chest, and over the last few days, that mountain had gone.
I felt lighter. Freer.
Thinking of Foley didn’t send me into a blind rage of suffocating pain.
Weird, right?
Or maybe not.
I looked over at Shane.
Yeah. Maybe not weird at all.
The waitress came to their table with another round of beer for them. She lingered, giving Shane a smile. I noticed. He didn’t because he was watching me.
He responded to something she’d said, not taking his eyes off me.
My body warmed, but I wasn’t surprised. It was the Shane effect. I’d named it.
“Holy fuck.”
I tuned back in. Aly and Harper’s gazes were stuck on me.
“What?”
“Nuh-uh.” Harper shook a finger in the air. “You can’t play that card. We saw that whole exchange. You… You got it bad for him.”
I rolled my eyes and looked at Aly. She was biting her bottom lip. “What?”
“You love him.”
I felt like a frozen fish came out of nowhere and hit me in the face. “What?”
“You do.” She nodded. “You fell in love with him. What are you doing?” She leaned across the table, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, but that head—she was giving me an owl impersonation right now. “Hon, you were shattered when we came out here. I thought distraction. Sexual fling. Hot and intense, but short. Emphasis on the short. You’ve not even talked to us about Foley, and you’ve moved on to a new guy? And that kind of guy? Do you even know anything about him?”
Oh. Whoa.
I leaned all the way back in my chair, because this was not my friend.
“I don’t know, Aly. I mean, I knew him in high school. He’s remained good friends with my brother. I’ve spent the last few days in his world, and I mean, fully in his world. But you’re right. I’m thinking you might know more about my man than I do.” I held a hand out. “By all means, educate me on the person I’ve been with the last few days.”