Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“I’m confused,” Piper said.
“So is Maggie.” Zoey plucked a cherry tomato out of her salad but then put it down before eating it. “I told you what they do. They’re bad men, hon. You need to leave them alone.”
That made sense. Perfect sense. Except… “I can’t.”
“Then why are we here, if you’ve already made up your mind?” Zoey asked. “Is it advice you’re after? Or approval for your actions?”
“Advice.” My response was quick. “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
“We’ll get to that,” Zoey stated, assuming a more serious tone. “You said those three were friends. How is it that none of them knows what you’ve been up to with the others?”
“Up to?” Piper asked weakly.
“Just, you know, some kissing,” I said hastily. And, um, a little bit more in some cases, but I didn’t say that. “I guess they don’t like to share that kind of stuff.”
“Then you should,” Piper said.
“No, she shouldn’t. She’s not dating anyone officially. No one’s talked about being exclusive. She’s done nothing wrong,” Zoey insisted. “Except to fall for criminals.”
“Criminals?” Piper squeaked.
“Jesus, keep your voice down,” Zoey said, looking around.
“Here’s my advice,” Piper interjected, her voice stronger than before. “Run. Forget about anything you may have done with them. Don’t try to get involved with one of those guys, Maggie. Do you really want to get into a relationship with a criminal?”
“Criminals,” Zoey corrected, accentuating the plural. “For once, I’m going to have to agree with Ms. Tight-Ass here. Those guys are bad news, and not just because they’re criminals.”
“This is the part where you elaborate,” I told her, her statement adding to my curiosity.
“They’re not independent,” Zoey went on. “Their bosses pretty much own them. I’ve heard this from a Don himself. It doesn’t matter when a Don comes calling. His henchman must answer, otherwise that henchman is in deep trouble. So, even if you decided to choose one—or more—of those guys, you’d have to bear in mind that you won’t be dating just him. It’s like you’d be dating his boss, too.”
Piper looked scandalized. “So now she’s dating four men?”
I rolled my eyes and focused on Zoey. “Let me see if I get this straight. You think I should forget about those three and pretend like nothing ever happened?”
“Not quite,” she wagged her index finger. “You mentioned some serious sexual tension between you and that Slater guy, and good god, that man is fine-looking. Why not just have fun with him?”
“Zoey!” Good thing Piper was a nurse—she looked like she was about to have to resuscitate herself.
“No dating,” Zoey interrupted Piper. “No romantic involvement whatsoever. Just some good old-fashioned fantastic sex. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I don’t do that,” I said.
“Have good sex?” Zoey quipped?
“No, I meant—well, okay, it’s been a really long time.” My dry spell was well over a year old. “But I don’t like to do that sort of thing outside of a relationship.”
“So find a nice guy,” Piper urged. “Just one. Maybe a teacher or an accountant.”
“Sounds like Slater could teach her a thing or two,” Zoey said. “Or any of them, really.”
“Or none of them,” Piper added. “That’s still an option. Maybe you could do something else. Like take a language class or something.”
Silence ruled for a moment and then we were all laughing. “I may be a bit rusty, but I do know that congregating verbs isn’t as much fun.”
“I’d go for it.” Zoey slugged her iced tea as if it were alcohol. “Just something casual—no strings attached.”
“Or not,” Piper countered. “Learning a language is something you could put on your resume.”
Zoey laughed. “And anything you do with those guys will decidedly not be suitable for your resume.”
“I love you guys,” I said, glancing at Piper first and then Zoey. “Do you know that? And I owe each of you a Halloween costume.”
Zoey gave a short laugh. “Why?”
“Because you’re the little devil on my shoulder, and Piper is the little angel on my other shoulder. So you should look the part.”
That got us laughing again, and eventually, as the conversation moved onto lighter topics, we managed to actually eat.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about my situation, and what they’d said. They had both made some quite compelling arguments. The smartest thing would be to stay away from all of them. But if I didn’t—or couldn’t—I knew one thing quite clearly. I didn’t want to choose just one of them. They were a package deal. I felt that instinctively. They were a unit. A family, even. They loved each other like brothers. I’d never want to come between them or even choose between them. But whether to move forward or stay the hell away—that, I had no clue about. But maybe I didn’t have to decide right away. I thought I had some time until one of those three or even all of them came back to my bar.