“You’re telling us you can’t find a guy who will have a one-night stand with you?” Sally said in disbelief. I looked at Sally and made a face. I had no idea what game Barbie was playing, but I had a feeling that I was going to end up being the loser.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Barbie said and I saw her hand on TJ’s thigh. “Every guy who meets me wants me for longer than a night. I can’t just have a one-night stand because they never want to leave once they’ve had me once.” She looked at me and her blue eyes were like ice as she smirked at me. “That’s why you’re so lucky, Mila. You can have a man for a night, give them the ride of their life with your big hips and then they walk away and you’re both happy. Me, I give them the ride of their life and they want to make me their wife.”
“Are you frigging kidding me?” Sally’s voice was pissed. “I think you are one of the biggest—”
“Barbie, that was uncalled for,” TJ said, interrupting Sally, and I watched as he moved Barbie’s hand off of his thigh.
“What?” Barbie sounded breathless. “You know it’s true. I’m too pretty for one night. Guys want to make me their trophy. For once I wish I could be average.”
“I bet,” I said snarkily. “If I had your brain, I’d be wishing for average as well. I wouldn’t even aim or hope for genius status. Just average.”
“Now, now, girls.” TJ’s voice was sharp. “Let’s play nice or this weekend will not be fun.”
“Yeah, I think we already got that phone call,” Sally said, sitting back and closing her eyes. “I can’t wait for Cody to get here.”
“Who’s Cody?” Barbie asked and looked back at me with a questioning look, as if she hadn’t just dissed me. I couldn’t believe that she thought I would answer her.
“Cody is Mila’s brother and my best friend, remember?” TJ answered her and it sounded like he was a little bit annoyed. He deserved to be annoyed. There could be nothing that Barbie was providing to him other than sex and I bet it wasn’t even good sex. I wanted to scream or tell Sally how annoyed I was, but I knew that I would just sound like a broken record if I kept complaining about Barbie.
“Eh,” Barbie said. “So is your dad coming?”
“No,” TJ said in an abrupt voice.
“TJ comes up to hang out with my family. His dad has never come,” I said, wanting Barbie to know that TJ and I had a long past and would continue to have a long future. “His dad is usually too busy with work.”
“You know him?”
“Duh,” I said and grinned at Sally. “I’ve been friends with TJ for years. Of course I know him.” I wanted to say more. I wanted to add that Hudson Walker and I were like old pals and that I had him on speed dial, but that was a lie. And I didn’t tell lies, at least not in front of the one person who could discredit me in seconds. I wanted to make Barbie jealous of me, but I knew TJ wouldn’t appreciate me pretending to be good friends with his dad when I’d barely held five conversations with him in all the years I’d known him.
“Yeah, hmph.” She made a weird noise and turned back to the front of the car. “So, what’s it like having to follow in the great Hudson Walker’s footsteps?” she asked TJ, and my jaw dropped. Barbie really had no filter. I wondered if she was deliberately trying to rile up everyone in the car or if she really had no clue? It wasn’t possible for someone to just not understand how rude they were being, was it? I mean, maybe if she was autistic or had Asperger’s or was on that spectrum. I knew that people who had Asperger’s didn’t have the same social cues, but I was pretty confident she didn’t fit in that category. Barbie was just a nosey bitch.
“I’m currently driving, so I wouldn’t know,” TJ said, his tone still slightly off. I poked Sally in the arm gently. I was hoping that Barbie would keep prodding and that TJ would go off on her. That would be epic. That would make the whole torturous evening worth it.
“I mean what’s it like working for the man who is—”
“That’s his dad,” I said, cutting her off, annoyed for TJ. Even though I wanted to see Barbie crash and burn, I didn’t want TJ to feel bad. I knew how much he hated questions about his dad, and I wanted to protect him more than I wanted to see her go down in flames. I guess that really was proof that I had deep feelings for him. “Not some random man that you think he should be impressed by because he’s famous and rich.”
“It’s okay, Mila.” TJ’s eyes glanced at mine for a few seconds in the rear-view mirror before he made a right-hand turn back up the main road to the lake house. “I don’t mind answering questions; it comes with the territory.”