“It’s okay. Actually, I—”
“No, it isn’t. I’ve never left a friend in a club like that, and it was a shitty thing to do. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her concern touched me. “Sonia’s kind of hard to argue with sometimes.”
“Tell me about it,” Maddie said, her face twisting into a grimace. “She’s my boss.”
“She is?” I’d thought they were friends.
“Well, she’s my supervisor at work—that’s part of why I didn’t stand up to her. Trust me, I’ve felt awful about it ever since. Sonia and I aren’t especially close, but when she was asking around for people to attend your party, I volunteered because it sounded like fun and also good research.”
“You’re researching strippers?”
Maddie laughed. “I wish! But no, my sister’s getting married, and in a few months, I’m supposed to throw a bachelorette party for her.”
Ah, that made sense. “Did you learn a lot the other night?”
“I learned what not to do. I definitely won’t leave anyone behind. How did you get home, did you end up getting an Uber?”
“Well, actually, I—”
“And where are you living? Sonia told me how you and Clint were staying with their parents, that’s why I volunteered to get your things for you.” She shuddered. “You didn’t go back there that night, did you?”
“No, I—” Wow. This was going to be a bit hard to explain, partly because I still couldn’t quite understand it myself. “The twins took me home.”
Maddie’s mouth fell open so wide that I could practically see down her throat. “What? You went home with the strippers?”
“Yeah. I mean, I was practically unconscious. They brought me to their place.”
“Oh my God, are you okay? Did they… I mean, they didn’t try to…”
“They were perfect gentlemen, all of them.”
“All?”
“The twins, that bartender we met, and the bouncer.”
“You’re staying with four men? Four drop-dead gorgeous men?” Maddie’s voice was so loud it was echoing around the room.
People were staring, and I felt my face flush. “Yep.”
“But how… when… where? Do they live in some kind of strip club barracks or something?”
I laughed. “No, they share a big house over on the east side of town.”
Maddie stared at me as if I were an alien lifeform. “Tell me everything.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything! You’re living with two of the hottest guys on the planet. Three, actually, because that bartender was incredibly dreamy, too. And that bouncer! He was so big. Up close, is he as good-looking as the others?”
“Yes,” I said honestly. “But in a different way. He’s pretty quiet, but somehow very reassuring. It’s like I don’t have to worry about what I say or do when I’m around him. I’m not sure how to explain it.” Whatever it was, I was grateful for the big man’s calm demeanor.
“How can you relax in a house with that much testosterone?”
Her words made me chuckle. “They’re not even there that much. They’re at the club at night, of course, and Tonio—he’s the bartender—takes college classes during the day. The twins work at a gym in the afternoons. I’m not sure what Knox does, but he’s not home much during the day, either.”
“Knox is the bouncer?” Maddie asked, and I nodded. “Look at you, casually recounting the daily activities of strippers. Do you feel like you’re about to melt into a puddle of lust the whole time you’re there?”
I looked down, my face heating.
Maddie instantly apologized. “I’m sorry, Em, that was crass. I know you’re still reeling from your breakup. It must’ve been devastating, and I’m sorry for implying otherwise.”
For some reason, I felt like I could be honest with Maddie even though it wasn’t really easy to put my conflicting feelings into words. “It’s… strange. I’m upset, of course, and truly shocked. If Clint wasn’t sure about us, why the hell did he make us move out here together? But also, well, for a while now, I’ve felt that things weren’t quite right in our relationship.”
Maddie took a drink of her chai latte. “How so?”
“Things just seemed harder than they should’ve been. He was the only real boyfriend I’ve ever had, so I didn’t have much to compare him to.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew they weren’t entirely true. I’d often compared Clint to the amazing heroes in romance novels, but that wasn’t a fair comparison. Men like that didn’t exist in real life.
I sipped my own drink while I thought about it. “You know how, sometimes, you hear couples talk about how they thought things would be different when they had a baby? Almost like they expected the baby to save the marriage?” Maddie nodded. “In retrospect, it kind of feels like moving out here was a last-ditch effort to save our relationship. Things weren’t going great, but I figured that a fresh start might help. Moving in together. Finding jobs together. And, of course, I figured he must be serious about me if he asked me to marry him and move out here with him. I never dreamed he’d get back together with his high school girlfriend almost instantly.”