“True,” Roxy said, nodding.
“Women are each other’s worst enemy, you know?” Katie continued. “Wives and girlfriends all the time come into the club, pissed off at me, because their husband or boyfriend came there on his own free will. Like, just because I strip, I want to get with their goofy ass husbands.” She rolled her blue eyes so far back I worried they’d get stuck. “And if doing that and having safe and fun times with available dudes makes me a slut, I have no problem getting that tattooed on my middle finger.”
Suddenly, without any one reason I could put my finger on, the back of my eyes started to burn, and I think I fell a little in love with Roxy and Katie at that moment.
These were my people.
Roxy’s gaze bounced from Katie to me, and her smile turned soft and mischievous. “Speaking of guys who are players, players, I have to bring up Nick.”
A strange pressure clenched my chest as I scooped up the last of my omelet. Nick. Oh, Nicky boy. I was so doing my best to not think of him and his parting words.
That you and I are the way we are.
What in the hell was that supposed to mean and why was it a shame? And why did he have to be so freaking hot and really shitty when it came to dealing with the opposite sex? Ugh. Double and triple ugh.
“Yeah,” Katie said. “Now let’s get to the good stuff.” She twisted toward me. “So you and Nick hooked up. Congrats on that. I imagine that was a good and decent hard fucking.”
The fluffy egg and diced bell peppers I’d just eaten almost got stuck in my throat. I swallowed quickly and then dragged in air. “What?”
Finished with her food, Roxy pinned me with a no nonsense stare that would’ve made my mama proud. “We know you hooked up with him.”
“Did he tell you that?” I blurted out.
Roxy grinned. “No, but you just confirmed what we already knew.”
My eyes narrowed. Dammit. “If he didn’t, then how did you know?”
“Because of what he said to you when he saw you Friday night in the bar,” Katie explained. “He didn’t expect you to come back. Therefore, that means y’all did the nasty. That’s his M.O.”
“You guys know about his . . . I guess, his rule?” I started to fiddle with the wrapper the straw had come in, folding it like an accordion. Although I had sincerely forgiven him, anger brewed. “Did everyone know about that except me?”
“Well, everyone who knows him does.” Roxy’s brows knitted as she studied me. “He didn’t set up ground rules or something before you all got down to business?”
This was such a weird conversation, when I thought about it. “Not really. At least not in a way that I understood what he was saying. Having a rule where a girl can’t go back to the bar after sleeping with him is about the dumbest thing I’d ever heard of.”
“You’d be surprised by how many chicks he’s hooked up with who’re totally okay with it,” Roxy replied dryly, and then leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. “But as long as they’re cool with it, too, whatever, but man, when you told him off at the bar, it was freaking priceless. Don’t get me wrong. I consider Nick a friend, and we get along because we’re just friends, but I wished I had thought to record that.”
I’m glad she hadn’t.
“I’m so disappointed I missed that.” Katie sighed heavily. “But you gave him hell. He needs that. Hell, most people need that every now and then.”
“Oh man, and when he jumped over the bar to stop you from leaving?” Roxy fanned her face with her hand. “I need to get Reece to do that at least once a week for me.”
I coughed out a laugh. “Yeah, that was kind of impressive.”
“And I also missed that.” Katie pouted. “Such bullshit.”
Roxy grinned. “So are you going to give us the details?”
“Apparently you all already know everything.” I straightened out my straw wrapper and then began folding it again. “Not many details left.”
“There’s always detail,” Katie corrected. “But I don’t have to ask if he’s good or not, because one look at him tells me he’s good at it.”
A flush stained Roxy’s cheeks. “And that’s not the kind of detail we’re asking for. I know he went to see you after he left Mona’s Friday night. His car was in the condo parking lot.”
So he did drive a car. I shook my head. “He did stop by Friday night, but we didn’t do anything. He actually came over to apologize to me.”
Roxy’s brows climbed her forehead as she exchanged a look with Katie. “Say what?”
I glanced at the bedazzled girl next to me. “He came over to apologize for the way he acted.” I paused. “Obviously, that must be shocking behavior for him.”
“Shocking doesn’t really even cover it.” Roxy blinked a couple of times. “Did he try to get some after apologizing?”
“Not really,” I answered, letting the wrapper uncurl in my palm.
“Whoa,” Katie murmured.
I wasn’t sure if the whoa was a good or bad thing. “He seemed genuinely apologetic, to be honest. We chatted for a little while and then he left, but he did say something along the lines of me coming back to the bar.”
“Whoa,” repeated Roxy.
“Is this all really that surprising?” I sat back, dropping the wrapper on my plate.
Roxy nodded slowly. “Yeah, for Nick it is. Look, I don’t know how to say this nicely, but—”
“He’s a dick?” I finished for her, and when she winced, I had to fight the grin. “Trust me, I know he’s a dick. I’ve never in my life had a guy act like that after we got together. And I’ve only forgiven him because, like I said, he seemed genuinely sorry. That doesn’t erase how he acted, though.”
“Yeah, he’s a dick,” Roxy said. “But he can be a really nice guy. Nick was there for me when I was dealing with that . . . that creep, but he’s got relationship issues,” she finished.
“I don’t think he’s a bad guy,” I said. “I just think he’s not relationship material.”
Roxy was silent for a moment as she smoothed her hand over her hair, stopping when she reached the topknot. “I honestly think I’m his only female friend. He hardly talks to Calla. It’s kind of weird. It’s like she doesn’t exist to him.”
Okay, that was weird. I thought about how he believed he met the “one” but had been wrong. Was it Calla? I didn’t know enough about her to even hazard a guess at that possibility.
“But that’s just how he is.” Roxy’s brow creased as she continued. “And we’re not even that close. He’s not the most talkative guy. Sometimes he goes through spells when he is, but mostly, he’s kind of quiet, like an observer.”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t been real talkative the first night we got together. Then again, both of us had other things on our minds. “He was pretty talkative Friday night.”
“That’s pretty telling.” Roxy’s forehead smoothed out. “When you walked back into the bar Friday night, I just knew something was going to go down between you two.”