“What were you wondering?” she asks. She’s getting her voice back, but she’s still staring at me.
“Would you like to come home with me right now?” I ask.
One of her girlfriends gasps and claps a hand over her mouth. Another says, “Jessica!”
She holds my eyes for a long moment, but I don’t flinch. I don’t look away. I show her in my gaze, in the heat of my hand on hers, that I’m completely serious.
Slowly, she stands.
“Jessica, you can’t leave with him,” one of her friends says.
She doesn’t take her eyes off me. “You bet I can.”
“Come on, you’re only doing this because of Jordan.”
Aha, now I see. They’re out in solidarity with their recently-made-single friend. This is perfect. Revenge sex is usually fantastic.
I lean close to her so I can brush my lips close to hear ear. “After tonight,” I say, pitching my voice low, “Jordan won’t exist.”
Her hand twitches and her mouth curls in a little smile.
“Don’t worry, ladies, I’ll take very good care of her,” I say.
“Holy shit,” one of them says under their breath.
I hold my arm out and Jessica tucks her hand in the crook of my elbow. I lead her outside, turning down the street toward my condo.
I’m well aware of what I’m doing. I don’t intend to get Jessica’s phone number, or be her rebound relationship after Jordan, whoever the fuck he is. I’ll give her a night she’ll always remember, and she’ll help fill the hole in my chest—even if only for tonight.
I have to circle the block three damn times to find a parking space. I don’t know why the streets around Selene’s house are so clogged with cars, but it’s frustrating as hell. I haven’t seen her for a few weeks, but she texted me out of the blue twenty minutes ago with our code for an emergency, asking me to meet at her place. I was just leaving work, so instead of heading home I drove straight here.
I finally find a spot two blocks away and park my little Honda Civic. It’s uphill to her house, and I’m in heels, so that definitely sucks. When I get to the door, I don’t bother knocking, just use my key.
“Selene,” I call out as I walk in the door, “where are you?”
Her muffled reply comes from the back of the house. “Couch.”
I find her in the corner of the L-shaped sectional, wrapped in a thick blue blanket. Her eyes are bloodshot, her cheeks wet with tears.
“What happened?” I ask. I sink down on the couch next to her and she tips over to lay her head in my lap.
She sniffs. “Nathan…” She stops and sobs into my legs.
I run my fingers through her hair and shush her. “Oh, honey. It’s okay. Tell me when you’re ready.”
I’m seething inside. What the hell did Nathan do to her? They seemed so happy together.
Selene sits up and wipes under her eyes. I swear, even the woman’s ugly cry is pretty. She takes a deep breath. “You know how Nathan travels a lot for work?”
“Yeah.”
She takes another shaky breath. “He wasn’t spending those trips alone.”
“What?”
“He has a woman in every city he goes to. They’re, like, trip mistresses or something.”
“Oh my god, Selene,” I say. “What an absolute asshole.”
“I know,” she says.
“How did you find out?”
“He was out of town earlier this week, and he texted me something really strange, something about meeting me in the lobby,” she says. “I knew, the second I got the text, that he sent it to me by mistake. Work has been so busy, I didn’t think about it much for the next couple days. But he got back today, and I went over to his place so I could ask him.”
“What did he say?”
Selene pulls the blanket tighter around herself. “He tried to deny it, but not very hard. At first he played it off like it was meant for a colleague, but I could tell he was lying. I asked to see his phone and he got really angry. He yelled at me, Ky—saying I was paranoid, and if I didn’t trust him, maybe we shouldn’t be together. I said he needed to prove I could trust him by showing me his phone. He tried to put his phone away, but I grabbed it out of his hand. For a second I thought he was going to take it back, but he just slumped down in a chair and put his face in his hands.”
“Caught red-fucking-handed,” I say.
“Yep,” she says. “He had phone numbers, and photos … and the texts. Fuck, Ky, he was dirty texting them on days when he and I were together.”
“Oh my god,” I say. “What did you do?”
“I broke his phone,” she says. I see the slightest hint of a smile.
“Good girl,” I say. “You should have broken his face, too.”
I wrap my arms around her shoulders and draw her to me. We snuggle in on the couch, and Selene sniffs a few more times.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “So what are we doing? Are we badmouthing him?”
“Definitely badmouthing.”
“Fuck him, then,” I say. “Dirty bastard. He should fucking die. I hope one of those bitches gives him a disease.”
Selene laughs. We sit for a few minutes in silence.
“What do you need, babe?” I ask. “You hungry?”