Katie rolled cornflower-colored eyes. “You guys are no fun.” She twisted toward Calla. “When is Teresa coming back up? She wanted to learn how to shake it until she breaks it.”
“I think she and Jase are coming up in a few weekends with me.” Calla smiled as the waitress returned with two coffees and a fresh soda for me. Then she pinned me with a look. “Did you and Reece
hook up?”
“What?”
At the same time, Katie answered, “Yes.”
I shot her a baleful look. “How do you know if we hooked up? Were you hiding in my house?”
“I know things,” she replied. “I know lots of things. And you totally just assumed that I’d be hiding in your house, which means something of the fleshy kind went down in your house.”
Calla propped her elbows on the table. “And Jax told me Reece came in on his night off and waited for you to get off. That you drove him home.”
“Jax gossips like a thirteen-year-old girl,” I retorted, but I wasn’t upset with the line of questioning. I was glad both girls could do breakfast this morning, because I really, really needed to talk to them.
A moment passed and then I leaned forward, unable to keep quiet about it a second longer. “Okay. We kind of did hook up Friday night. We didn’t have sex, but . . .” I trailed off, pulled back to those early-morning hours. I could see him then, his hand wrapped around—
“All right, you guys definitely did something of the fun and naughty kind based on the way you suddenly look like you just took a hit of ecstasy,” Katie said.
Calla clapped as she bounced in her seat. “For real? Okay, girl, I’m happy for you, because Katie is right, you look like you just slipped into a sex coma.”
“Something you know a lot about,” I said under my breath.
She itched her nose with her middle finger. “But you wouldn’t even talk to him just a few weeks ago. Every time he walked in or even looked in your direction, you bailed. I’ve always known something was up between you two, but I’m confused as to what is going on here.”
I gave a wobbly smile. “Well, it’s a long story.”
“Since I ordered half a pig, we have time,” Katie replied.
“And you guys are going to think I’m a terrible person.”
“Doubtful,” Calla reassured me.
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I hadn’t told a soul except Charlie about what had gone down between Reece and me, including the huge misunderstanding. I took a deep breath and then I told them everything about the night with Reece, pausing long enough for our food to be delivered.
“So, yeah, that’s . . . that’s where I’m at with everything,” I finished as I cut the rest of my syrup with a side of waffle into tiny squares.
Calla stared at me, a piece of extra-crispy bacon dangling from her fingertips.
Even Katie gaped at me, which was saying something, if I managed to shock her into any realm of silence. I shrunk back against the booth, feeling sheepish and crappy. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I?”
“No,” Calla said immediately. “You’re not a terrible person.”
“Wait.” Katie held up one hand. Somehow a thick piece of sausage had made it to her fingers. “So, let me make sure I have this correct. You’ve basically been in love with Reece since you were fifteen.”
“I wouldn’t say in love,” I muttered, but my heart thumped.
“Whatever. I’ve known you’ve been in love with him,” she insisted, and I didn’t protest it, because I figured it would end up with a discussion about her super-stripper powers. “Anyway, you’ve been in love with him, but he always treated you like the annoying kid next door.”
My eyes narrowed on her. “I wouldn’t say he treated me like the annoying kid next door either.”
She ignored me. “He finally starts treating you like the hot chick that you are, he comes to the bar one night, gets shitfaced, but because you’re madly, deeply, and irrevocably in love with him and because you’re a girl, you don’t realize he’s shitfaced.”
My eyes narrowed further on her.
“You two go to his house, because he asked for a ride for his drunk ass, things get hot and heavy. You see his sausage.” She waved the sausage she held, and Calla made a choking sound as she reached for her coffee. “You guys make out all the way back to his bedroom, where he passes out. Am I following this so far?”
“Yeah.” I folded my arms. “Kind of.”
Katie nodded sagely, and I had no idea what she was being sage about. “First off, that’s lame of him to get that freaking drunk, so he gets a cool point taken from him.”
“Cool point?” Calla turned wide eyes on her. “We’re still adding and taking away cool points?”
I snickered.
“In my world, we are,” she replied, and then she bit into the sausage, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. “So he passes out, you stay with him, and then he wakes up, thinks you guys had sex and is apologetic and regretful?”
Nodding, I popped a piece of waffle into my mouth.
“And you thought he regretted having sex with you,” Calla tossed in. “But he regretted getting so drunk and having sex with you?”
“Yep.”
Katie shook her head as she picked up the salt and dumped it on her half-eaten sausage. “But you two didn’t have sex.”
“No. And I started to tell him that when he first made the assumption, but he was so damn sorry about it all that I thought he was talking about the actual sex.”
“And that hurt your feelings,” Calla said gently. “That’s understandable. I probably would’ve thought the same thing.”
“But you could’ve cleared it up right then,” Katie pointed out.
“No shit,” I replied. “But I didn’t. I was so embarrassed and . . . yeah, my feelings were hurt, so I left his place and just so much time passed, and I was still all butt sore about it that I never cleared it up.”
Katie finished off the sausage and then moved onto the smaller links. “And Reece has this thing with lying? That’s not good.”
I pinned her with a bland look.
She leaned forward, waving the link around like a wand. “Look, I totally get why you haven’t said anything. It’s like telling one little lie and then telling another little lie to cover that one and so on. Then it all builds up. I get that. A lot of time has passed and how would you explain what really happened? Hey Reece, would you like to play with my tits? Oh, by the way, we never had sex.”
Calla almost choked again. “That . . . that sounds like an awkward conversation.”
I sighed as I pushed my plate away from me. “I do feel terrible. I wish I’d pulled my head out of my ass long enough to give him a chance to explain why he reacted that way, and I wish I’d just told him the truth.”
“He ain’t completely innocent in all of this,” Katie argued. “Remember, he was so drunk he thought he had sex. I’ve drunk a lot in my day. A lot. Like so much, I’m pretty sure I’ve turned into a brewery, but I’ve never been so drunk that I didn’t know if I had sex.”
Calla nodded as she poked at her scrambled eggs. “True.”
Neither had I ever drunk that much, but that was beside the point. Taking a sip of my soda, my shoulders sank as the weight of the situation settled on them. I straightened my glasses as I sighed. “I . . . I really like him, guys. I really do.”
“Duh.” Katie rolled her eyes. “You’re in love with him.”
I ignored that comment, because love . . . love was a scary four-letter word. “He’s a good guy, a really good guy. And you remember the last dude I kind of seriously dated?” I asked Katie.
She wrinkled her nose. “Before Dean the ginger?”
“Oh my God,” Calla murmured, stifling her giggle with the back of her hand.
I shook my head and then took a drink. “Yes. Remember Donnie, the—”
“The really nice guy who took you to the Eagles game and you totally got with in the parking garage, but turned out to be married?” Katie supplied happily.
My lips pressed together. “No. That was Ryan the fucker and thanks for reminding me about him. He also had a kid he never told me about. I was talking about Donnie the starving artist who stole my jewelry my grammy left me.”
Calla blinked several times. “Wow. A married guy and a thief?”
“I normally don’t attract the greatest people.” I shrugged, but I thought of Henry, and that made my skin crawl. The thing was, I knew I dated guys like that for a reason. They were safe. “But Reece is not like them, and a part of me . . .” I let out a slow breath. “I have spent years lusting after him.” And I’d probably spent years feeling something stronger than that.
Sitting there, I shook my head. What was I even doing? I just needed to tell him the truth. Let this thing between us die before I got burned big time, but I couldn’t . . . I couldn’t not try with him. Not after all these years of wanting him.
God, I sounded like I had a split personality. Go after him. Don’t go after him. Tell him the truth. Don’t say anything. I was giving myself whiplash.
“You need to tell him the truth,” Calla advised. “As soon as possible. But I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”
I arched my brows at her.
“Seriously,” she insisted. “It’s not like you lied about something major.”
“I think not telling him we didn’t have sex is pretty major.”
“Not really.” Calla smiled at me. “Trust me, there are worse lies out there. It’s not like you lied about being with someone else while with him or anything like that. He’ll understand. Right, Katie?”
She watched me, pouty lips turned down at the corners.
Calla elbowed her as she frowned. “Right, Katie?”
Frost coated my insides as Katie’s eyes clouded over. “I don’t know, Roxy. Tell the truth before he gets in those pants of yours for real. If you don’t, I think you’ve gone too far.”
Agreeing, I nodded slowly. The same dread I experienced the first time I realized I needed to tell Reece what really happened returned.
Calla cleared her throat. “It’ll be okay.”
“She’s right,” Katie agreed, stabbing her last link with her fork. “Besides, you broke Henry Williams’s window and he still gave you an orgasm. You’ll probably get an even better one out of this.”
Smacking my palm off my forehead, I groaned. “Oh God. Who doesn’t know about that?”
“No one, honey.” Katie bit off half the link. “Absolutely no one.”
Calla and I watched Katie speed out of the parking lot in her Mini Cooper, almost clipping a minivan that had a Baby On Board bumper sticker, but when the van parked, an elderly couple climbed out.
“You’re really not going to hold a séance, are you?” Calla asked.
I laughed loudly. I’d told them about the strange things happening in my apartment. Luckily neither of them thought I was crazy or that I was weird for thinking that my place may be haunted. Of course, Katie had lots of ideas of how to address the strange happenings, and one of them was by calling someone in town who supposedly communed with spirits and could host a séance.
“Ah, you know, I don’t think that will be a great idea,” I said, grinning. “If there really is a ghostie roaming around, it hasn’t tried to scare me. In a way, it’s been strangely helpful.”
Calla snorted. “I bet more people would like to have a ghost like that.”
“And the whole idea of séance or allowing a psychic in the house just—I don’t know, if that’s what it really is, I don’t want to know what’s there. As long as I don’t wake up in the middle of the night and find it staring at me, then I’m cool with it.”
“Oh my God.” She shuddered. “That’s so creepy.” There was a pause. “But what if it isn’t a ghost?”
“What else could it be? Seriously, though? Unless I have people living under my stairs like in that creepy eighties movie, it’s either a ghost or I’m losing my mind.”
“You’re not crazy.” She squinted. “But maybe you should have Reece just take a look at your place. Or Jax?”
Yeah, I could picture both of guys never letting me live it down if I told them I thought I had a ghost in my house.
“So how long are you going to be up here?” I asked, changing the subject as I leaned against my car, pulled off my glasses, and used the hem of my shirt to clean them.
“My morning class is cancelled tomorrow so I’m going to head back then.” Calla glanced up at the overcast skies. The scent of rain was thick in the air. “Which is probably a good thing, since I think they’re calling for pretty bad storms today.”
I slipped my glasses on, smiling when I didn’t see any smudges or spots. “You and Jax got anything planned for today?”
“I think we’re just going to hang out at his place.” She twisted a length of blond hair between her hands as she shrugged. “What about you and Reece?”
“I don’t think we have anything planned. It’s weird. I don’t know if we’re dating or if we’re just . . . hooking up. He texted me last night, asking me to let him know when I got home and I did that.” I folded my arms, pursing my lips. “So I really don’t know.”
“You just text him, invite him over if he doesn’t work or something. Keep it casual,” she offered, and then laughed softly. “Honestly, I’m the last person who should be giving you advice when it comes to this.”
“No.” I reached out and squeezed her arm. “You obviously know what you’re doing. You hooked a guy like Jax, so . . . ?”
Her cheeks flushed and she laughed again as she propped her hip against the passenger back door. “You know damn well I had no idea what I was doing when it came to him.”
I grinned. Calla had been pretty clueless. “True.”