3
Gigi
“Does she even like him? Every time he’s within ten feet of her, I swear she acts like her skin’s crawling,” Beau said as he stuffed pancakes and eggs into his mouth.
Trey nodded. “It’s the weirdest thing. He went to kiss her last night,” he pointed his fork at Beau and continued, “and I kid you not, she flinched. What chick does that with her boyfriend?”
“All your girlfriends,” Beau shot back, then Trey thwacked him in the arm.
“Shut up, not even close.” Then he turned to me and asked, “What is her deal? She’s young and hot. Her blog and social media must make her some decent coin. Why the hell’s she hooked up with Mr. Dull and Self-Absorbed?”
If that wasn’t the question for the ages, I didn’t know what was. The reason my BFF chose Stuart instead of hockey superstar, Cash Clemens, still remained a mystery to me.
“Who knows why girls pick who they pick? She wants—Stuart—so I respect her decision.” I added more eggs to both their plates. It never ceased to amaze me how much these two hockey players ate.
Trey and Beau started laughing, and I gave them the stink eye. “What’s so funny?”
“You can’t even say his name without cringing,” Trey said, scooping more of the scrambled eggs into his mouth.
My jaw fell open. “I did not cringe.”
“Geneviève, you absolutely cringed.” Beau nodded his head in sympathy, but he also chuckled at the same time. So, that canceled out any points for being on my side.
“He’s a little dull. Who cares? As long as he treats Jillian well, it’s none of our business.” I only wished I believed that. I wanted more for my friend than just some guy who opened doors for her.
Trey leaned in and spoke in a low voice, “Word on the street is, there hasn’t been much noise coming from her apartment—if you know what I mean.” His eyebrows waggled suggestively.
“Ew, why would you even tell me that?” I said, a shiver going through my whole body. “And these walls are thick. Nobody would be able to hear a thing anyway.” I shook my head at him. “Nobody can hear us, so why should anyone hear them?”
“Well…” Trey started to say before Beau hit him with his elbow.
“Are you trying to singlehandedly ruin my love life, man? Watch what you’re saying,” Beau went off on him.
I stared at Beau, my mouth wide open. “People can—hear us?”
He sighed long and loud. “No, honey. Nobody can hear us. Trey’s just being a jealous asshole. Right, Trey?” Beau gave him his version of the evil eye.
“Sorry, G. I didn’t mean to say—”
“Out!” Beau said, pointing toward the door. “You’re done for this morning. Bye.”
Trey got up and said, “Fine, but I’m taking my plate.”
“It’s my plate,” Beau countered back.
Trey turned around. “Yeah, but G made this food for me. Bye, G.”
After the door shut, I looked directly at Beau. “Can people hear us?”
He got up immediately, stalking toward me like a hungry lion. “Get it out of your head.”
“How can I get that out of my head?” I asked, my arms flying up as I felt like screaming or crying—or both.
Beau cornered me against the counter. “You just do. I don’t give a fuck who can hear me making love to you. And you shouldn’t either.” His breath was hot on my already flushed face. When he’d said, ‘making love’, my heart started to beat faster and my belly tightened, beginning to ache.
“Beau,” I barely whispered out before his lips were on mine.
“These apartments are top of the line. If someone thinks they can hear something, who cares?” Then he lifted me quite unceremoniously on top of the counter.