Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
“Figured you were busy.” She shrugs.
Now I feel like I owe her an explanation for not being around when she needed someone. “Can this stay here?” I knock my knuckles against the table. “I have a reputation to maintain.”
Rooster rolls his eyes, but Shelby raises her right hand. “I won’t breathe a word. Not to anyone.” She glances at Rooster. “He’s the only one I’d share secrets with, anyway. And he’s sittin’ right here.”
I blow out a breath. If I share this with them, then it’s real. No going back. Damn, I want it to be real. “Yes, I’m kind of seeing someone.”
“Define ‘kinda’,” Shelby says.
“It started out as…one thing. But now I think it’s a lot more.”
“Awww!” Shelby coos and slides out of Rooster’s lap to throw her arms around my neck. “Who is she?” she squeals against my ear.
“Thaaat’s not important.”
“Uh-oh.” Shelby retreats to the chair on the opposite side of the table. “Don’t tell me it’s that heifer Stella. I will not go on double dates with that bag of hair. She’s mean and snotty as heck.”
I choke on a laugh. “No, it’s not one of the club’s porn princesses. Or a stripper.”
Shelby opens her mouth.
“Not a club girl either,” I say, cutting off her question.
Rooster sits forward, staring at me like he can peer inside my head and uncover the information he wants. “But it is someone affiliated with the club, isn’t it?”
Fuuuck. He’s doing the math. There aren’t many single women affiliated with the club who aren’t porn stars, strippers, or muffler bunnies. He’s gonna come up with Margot’s name really fast.
“As long as it ain’t my momma, I’m all for it,” Shelby mutters.
“It’s not Angelina,” Rooster says slowly. “Dawson’s been making progress with her.”
Shelby titters with laughter.
“It’s not Heidi’s friend Dawn. She’s got a kid, and you’re morally opposed to raising crotch goblins.”
“Yes, I am.” I nod.
Shelby shakes her head. “Rude. But also, same.”
“It’s not Shadow’s wife, Myra, because that’d be really fucked up, even for you,” Rooster says, still drilling twin holes into my forehead.
“Look, stop trying to guess.” I pull a helpless puppy face. “And give me some advice.”
“What advice do you need?” Rooster’s tone is so serious, I almost believe he’s not fucking with me.
“Did I catch monogamy from you two? Or did I get hexed from, you know, being with her too many times in a row?”
“Jiggy!” Shelby slaps her hand against the table. “What in the hell’s wrong with you?”
Rooster narrows his gaze, his face getting all pinched like it does when he’s thinking really hard. “He’s being obnoxious to mask his real feelings. Because feelings make him uncomfortable.”
“Look who woke up thinking he’s Sigmund Freud today,” I quip.
“Is that true, Jiggy?” Shelby asks.
“No, I’m a naturally gifted comedian,” I answer in a this should be obvious tone.
“You’re really not,” Rooster says.
Shelby stands. “All right, I’m getting my cards. The universe will help us get to the bottom of this.” She points a sassy finger at me. “Don’t move.”
“Yes, songbird.”
As soon as she clears the room, Rooster leans forward. “It’s Margot, isn’t it?”
I tilt my head and blink at him.
“Don’t try that I’m-so-innocent face on me,” he warns. “Teller’s gonna kill you if you fuck stuff up with our access to the oven.”
“No shit.” I take a breath. “She and I already talked about that before anything…” I shake off that train of thought. “Nothing’s getting fucked up.” Then, in the most serious tone I’ve probably used with Rooster since his uncle died, I admit, “I think I’m falling in love with her.”
Holy shit. Did I just really say that?
He opens his mouth.
I hold my hands in the air. “I know. I always said I’m incapable of that. My heart’s still black and shriveled but she seems to like it that way.”
He chuckles, then takes a big breath, like he’s relieved. “Good. You deserve someone who appreciates you. You’re too unique to be wasted on someone boring.”
“Hah, so you admit I’m special.”
“Definitely special.” He wipes the sarcastic expression off his face. “So that’s why the twenty questions about Shelby and me?”
“Yeah. It started out like a friendly arrangement situation.” I’ll go to my grave before I’d betray Margot and share that she asked me to help her get better at sex. Not even with Rooster. “But now I just want to…see her all the time. Be around her.” Smell her hair. “Do stuff with her—outside of the bedroom. Although, that’s usually where we end up.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Is that normal?”
“Yes, it’s normal,” he says with more patience than I’d expect when I’m asking such a dumb question.
“Since we were really clear in the beginning that it was strictly…” for educational purposes.
“Sex?” Rooster answers for me. “Use your big boy words.”
“Yes,” I grit my teeth. “I warned her multiple times not to catch feelings…and that I don’t do relationships.”