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“Nothing,” I said.
“Everyone owes Cameron a round. He called it that this dick would avoid the topic,” Alex said, eying me as if to challenge me for more.
“I’ll buy Cameron a drink for knowing me well enough to call that truth,” I said.
“Actually,” Cameron said, “since Jim was a wealth of information while helping bust open the case in my problems with Jessa, I should be offering you the same advice.”
“What, dipshit?” I asked, wishing I hadn’t.
“Slow, no, and go,” he said.
I watched Jim practically spit his drink back into his glass while the rest of the table erupted into laughter.
“Laugh it up, chumps,” I said with a smile of my own. “However, that’s not where I’m at in this relationship, so it doesn’t apply to me.”
“Well, if you’d speak up, we’d know where you were and could advise you accordingly,” Alex said.
“I don’t need advice. That’s not why I’m here,” I said with my eyebrows raised and a laugh of disbelief that these idiots all thought I’d come to cry into my glass over a woman. “I thought I was meeting Jim after a string of emails went sideways on my flight back. Having drinks should help me sleep to get rid of this jet lag faster.”
Jesus, at least there was still some piece of me left that I hadn’t offered up for Nat to take, stomp on, and walk away with.
“Yeah, well, you look like shit,” Jake said. “So, spill it. I have kids at home who will be pissed if their dad misses bedtime stories.”
“It’s nothing, really,” I said. It was better to get straight to the point than tiptoe around this shit all night with jokes from these clowns. “Nat and I decided we saw something more in each other on our trip and have decided to try it out. Who knows where it goes from here.”
Jim scratched his head, sat back, and crossed his arms. “If it were easy as that, I’d believe you. But it’s not. You’re holding back because of your vulnerability, which I didn’t know you possessed until now.”
“Fuck that,” I said.
“No,” Jim was sterner, “that will fuck me if you don’t air it out. If I lose my best guy because you’re in denial and unprepared, then I will be fucking pissed.”
“Ignore all of us dipfuckers. We’re just giving you a hard time,” Collin spoke, using his favorite made-up word. “Just tell us what the fuck is going on. We’re honestly here for you.”
“Not without me saying that you had to know this could go either way, man,” Cameron added. “I mean, it’s Natalia fucking Hoover you’ve chosen to be in a relationship with. Of all the available women, you picked the one who has damn near made a blood oath never to settle down. This shit could get tricky to navigate for you.”
“Thanks for that reminder,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Well, that’s basically the issue. I didn’t think it would be this challenging, given she and I both shared the same idea of relationships. But I’m fucked, I think.”
“That foreign feeling inside is what the rest of the world calls emotions,” Alex said.
“Very funny,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m aware of what emotions feel like, prick. I’m just not used to being pushed around by them.”
“Well, we’ve all been in your shoes, dude,” Collin said. “I’ll go on record and say that if a woman doesn’t shake you up a little and make you feel that heart of yours, she ain’t fucking worth it.”
Jake nodded and grinned, “If she doesn’t make you fight for it, she’s not for you.”
“And for one who was chasing ghosts for over a year with my lady,” Cameron said, “I’ll tell you, it’s worth the fight in the end. You learn a lot about yourself. Trust me, I did.”
“You also learn to appreciate the fuck out of her, knowing how close you were to not having her,” Alex added.
“I don’t think we’re that deep into a relationship yet,” I said. “Though I did think she should come home with me and stay with me tonight.”
“Moving in together already?” Jim asked.
“Why not? We lived together at my place in London.”
“You were on fucking vacation,” Alex reconfirmed what I already knew.
“What’s the difference? We were both working and shit, just like we will be doing out here.”
