“Talk to me.”
“Yeah, okay. Work. I need more help. But I think I may have found someone. The interview is Friday. Then there’s Trevor. I don’t really want to see him.” I have to stop and pant for a moment. “There’s this thing … this, I don’t know. I don’t trust him for reals. And the no feels thing is bugging me.”
“I get that. And?”
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
“Uh huh.”
“Ben effing Rhoades.”
“I pretty much thought so,” she huffs. “Jesus, it’s hot.”
“So is he.”
“All right already. I get that. But so is our Chris Hemsworth look alike. So tomorrow we’ll have some liquid therapy and set Sam straight on all that pertains to men. Quit stressing over that. The work thing will iron itself out once you get that new hire up and running. Anything else?”
“Yep. My decision. Laney called today. I have an appointment coming up.”
“It’s important. You need to do it, Sam.”
“I know. I know I do.”
“You know we all have your back on this.”
I nod.
“And there’s something else. Hear this, Samantha Calhoun.” She takes a breather. “I am so fucking proud of you. Look at you and your business. You have arrived, girl!” The she comes to a screeching halt so I have to backtrack. I look at her and she holds out her fist. I give her a fist bump and we laugh. She is great at distracting me.
Tuesday night we all meet at The Macintosh. Lauren and I walk in and Berkeley, Britt, Carrie, and Hayley are already seated. We join them to find they’ve already ordered drinks for us. Thank you, Jesus, for sending me such awesome friends.
Without giving me a chance to say a word, Lauren jumps right in and says, “Sam is in need of counseling. She has a dilemma. She likes Ben but after he wanted to bang her against the wall and she wouldn’t let him, now he won’t even kiss her and says he doesn’t deserve her. And Trevor is in hot pursuit but he got a little handsy on their date and confessed that he slept around while they dated, so she doesn’t trust him at all.”
By the time she finishes, all the girls have their mouths hanging open. No one says a word, until finally Berkeley begins, “So let me make sure I have this right. Ben is playing hard to get after you gave him a set of purple balls, and supposedly he doesn’t deserve you. And Trevor is really the ultimate manwhore.”
“That’s about right,” I say.
“Not all of it because I found out some juicy news today,” Lauren adds.
“What?” everyone, including me, asks at once.
Lauren leans in and we all do the same. Right as she gets ready to talk, the waiter comes to take our order. Damn waiters. Why can’t they keep their noses out of our business?
We all tell him what we want and he keeps asking us stuff when all I want is for him to get the hell away from the table so I can hear what news Lauren has.
When he finally does, I say, “Go on!”
“Okay. So do you know the girl that works in the cubicle right outside of my office?”
“The one who is sometimes your assistant?” I ask.
“The very same. Well, we got on the Ben topic somehow,” and now her eyes dart around the room.
“Hold up. Are you talking about me at work?”
“Okay, I may have mentioned you a little. But that’s not what’s important here.”
“I’ll give you a pass this time, but seriously, Lauren, you can’t be doing that.” My tone is a bit on the scolding side.
“I know. I’m sorry. But listen to this. So Melanie starts telling me about Ben. Apparently he is this major manslut. I mean serious slut of epic status. He has screwed every woman in her gym. She works out over in Mt. Pleasant at Get Fit. You know the place?”
We all nod.
“He has quite the reputation there. And then she has this friend, Karen.”
“Karen?” I interrupt her. I remember that name from his client dinner.
“Yeah, why?”
“Just go on,” I say.
“From what Melanie told me, they dated for like six months or something, and he was brutal to her. In the end, he acted like she was a piece of dirt. Even his mother thought they were getting married.”
“Oh, God.” I put my head in my hands.
“What?” everyone asks.
“The client dinner I went to with him. His parents were there, along with that client couple. The woman said she thought Ben was bringing his fiancée, Karen, and thought I was her. When I asked Ben about it later, he only said his mom has a habit of hearing wedding bells when she shouldn’t, or something like that. I brushed it off as nothing. I guess he’s a real heartbreaker, then. So maybe that’s why he said he didn’t deserve me.”
Lauren nods and says, “Maybe.”
Then I add, “But that makes no sense. It’s totally out of line with his behavior, if he is a heartbreaker.”