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After he was asleep, I met Ben and Mason in the living room with a beer. Sitting across from them, I groaned as my muscles ached. “I don’t remember homecomings being so painful.”
Ben stretched his legs out. “Well, I’ve been dying to know what you talked about with Violet.”
Mason rubbed his hands over his face. “If I never see her cry like that again, it’ll be too soon. We hurt her. More than we were willing to acknowledge.”
I drained my beer. “Spit it out.”
“She loves us. She talked to Angel, who we owe a big conversation with, and she tried calling the office. She thought we were dead.” He shook his head. “She’s scared of what losing us would do to her.”
Ben sighed. “I was an asshole. I just couldn’t handle the idea of her shutting down on us. I was panicking about losing her and I treated her poorly. Then I outed the news to Forrest before she was ready.”
“We were all assholes. We promised we wouldn’t leave her like that and before the words even left our mouths, we did it for a month. Why should she trust us? Because we have major fucking chemistry? Because we tell her she has to? We fucking took her son.” Mason stood up and paced behind the couch. “I’ll never not see the pain on her face when she handed him off to us. That woman is too good for us.”
I rubbed my jaw. “We haven’t made things easy for her.”
Mason scowled. “She’s the best mother any of us have ever seen and we made her son treat her like shit. She’s home alone right now, without him, and you heard Forrest. She cries every night.”
“Why couldn’t she just come with us?” I felt like throwing up. “None of us wants to take him from her.”
“Even though she looked like it was ripping her to shreds, she wanted to give him time alone with us. She thinks he needs us and doesn’t want to get in the way.” Mason looked like he was speeding towards an explosion. “I’m not going overseas for another rescue. I don’t fucking care.”
“None of us are. We’ll take care of it.” Ben rested his head back on the couch and blew out a deep sigh. “This isn’t how I thought this night would end.”
I studied Mason. “She said she loves us?”
He stopped pacing to smirk at me. “She said she loves me.”
“I’m going to fucking bed.” Ben stood up and was almost out of the room when he spun around. “If she loves you, then she loves all of us. That’s a given.”
“I don’t know. She didn’t mention either one of you.”
I could tell they were heading for a fight so I moved between them. “We’ve already had enough of a hard time explaining our bruises and shit to Forrest. New ones can’t happen.”
CHAPTER 42
Violet
“Turns out that coward Mayor Stevens had to have an emergency colonoscopy. He’s saying he won’t be able to prepare for the battle so we have to push it back. I told him women have been getting things stuck up their butts for thousands of years and it’s never slowed us down but that didn’t stop him.” Margaret crossed her arms over her chest and looked around at all the Dolls. “It’s fine. It just gives us more time to prepare. Because of his postponement, I made him increase the bet. Winner takes all.”
I looked over at Joanie and then to my other side at Billie. “What the hell is all?”
Joanie shuddered. “After all the butt talk, I’m terrified to ask.”
We didn’t need to wait long, though. Brenda appeared at Margaret’s side with a poster. She turned it around to face us and we all just stared at it in silence. There was no way…
“That’s right. If the women win the First Annual Battle of the Sexes, we win bragging rights, the right to choose the new town motto, and I will be mayor until the men can beat us in battle.” Margaret grinned like she’d eaten the cat and the canary. “Our shops will be safe and when I’m mayor, this town will go pink for women’s month. We’re going to rule this town!”
Everyone seemed excited about it and they cheered along with Margaret, but I wasn’t feeling it. I was sure it would be great if we won, but I couldn’t make myself care that afternoon. I’d made it through my first night without Forrest and I hadn’t slept at all. It was somehow different from the times he stayed with my parents.
“The new battle date will be decided at next week’s town meeting. Be there! We also propose our battle ideas that night. This should be fun. I can’t wait to see Mayor Steven’s face when we announce that one of the battles will be pin the vibrator on the clit.” Maraget clapped her hands together and then focused on me. “Alright, now I’ve got a little birdie to interrogate. Remember, the samples of the new peach lube are by the door. Grab them and go nuts.”
“I’ve got a toy boyfriend who just loves peach.” Billie grinned. “I’ll see you ladies later.”
I inched towards the door but Joanie hooked my arm and pulled me down on the couch with her. She smiled at me and reached up to tap the bags under my eyes. “I wouldn’t normally subject you to Margaret’s torture when you’re clearly barely hanging on by a thread, but I think you need this.”
I needed nothing more than to go home and pass out. Since Joanie had become obsessed with making sure I was okay, I knew I wasn’t moving, though. “I’m fine.”
Margaret pulled a pink fuzzy ottoman closer and sat in front of me. “That’s a lie and we all know it. Everyone with eyes can see you’re miserable. The guys called me demanding to know where you were last night. I expected to see you sleepless and ruffled today, but this isn’t from sex. This is from sadness. What happened?”
