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“Maybe it’s someone just trying to cause drama.”
They all looked at Iris, who seemed to immediately regret saying it. She ducked her head, avoiding all their gazes as she stabbed at a piece of meat on her plate with her fork. The fork skittered across the plate with a screeching sound, and they all flinched, including Iris.
“Everything okay?” Avery asked cautiously after a moment. “That seemed… pointed.”
“I don’t want to bring down the mood.” Iris sighed, still not looking up from her plate. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It just… popped into my head.”
“I think the question is why it popped into your head,” Domi said. “And you’re not bringing down the mood. But you can’t bring up or say something like that, then not spill the tea. That’s just rude.”
“If you don’t tell us, that will bring down the mood because we’ll all be making up scenarios in our head for what you could be talking about,” Rae added. Because that was exactly what would happen. “We might even blame Law.”
“It’s about Noelle.” Iris made a face as everyone groaned in response to her ex-roommate and ex-best friend’s name. “See? I didn’t want to bring down the mood.”
“It’s not your fault. We’re just tired of that bitch.” So, so freaking tired. Rae shook her head. She didn’t understand why some people just felt the need to constantly create drama around themselves and drag other people into it. Iris wanted nothing more than to be left alone to live her life, but Noelle wouldn’t allow that. She took offense at everything Iris did, which had nothing to do with her, and was constantly claiming that Iris living her own life was somehow bullying her. “What did she do now?”
“Apparently, she’s just been really insecure with Sam, insisting that I must be talking about her to Sam and saying that Sam’s pulling away from her because of me. Which I’m not.” Iris shook her head. Sam was the girlfriend of one of Law’s best friends, which meant that she and Iris had become friendly, but only after Noelle had made friends with Sam. Noelle had not handled it well. “Sam knows that, but she wanted to know if I had any tips for helping Noelle believe her since we used to be friends. Which, if I did, I would tell her, but I don’t know what she’s thinking or why she’s acting like this.”
“Because she’s obsessed with you and can’t stand the idea of you moving on without her. She wants to turn people against you because that’s the only way she can feel like a victim. Especially if she can turn friends against you. Like, I’m not saying she is a narcissist because I’m not qualified to make that call, but she really acts like one.” Rae blew out her breath. God, she hated that bitch and wished she would just go away.
If only people could be kicked out of Marquis and Stronghold for being unlikeable. But no, they could only be kicked out for breaking rules. There were plenty of rules to make the space a safe one for everyone, but there were no rules about being a bitch outside of it. Granted, if Noelle came after Iris directly, even outside of the club, that would probably get her removed, but she was too smart for that.
She just constantly played the victim, making sure to cry loudly about how mean Iris was being to her or how Iris was turning people against her instead of acknowledging how her own behavior was making people not want to be around her. Not to mention acknowledging the reason she and Iris were no longer friends was because she’d been an awful friend to Iris. She’d ended the lease on their apartment without even consulting Iris when she’d gotten mad about Iris getting involved in the kink scene and making friends other than her, then acted like it was Iris’ fault they were no longer friends.
If Noelle was a better person, she could have just made friends with Iris’ new friends, but instead, she’d spent all her time putting Iris down in front of them, then trying to get between them and Iris. Poor Iris had put up with all of it because she’d felt bad about ‘hurting Noelle’s feelings’ right up until Noelle had caused her to almost end up being homeless.
“I don’t know anything about narcissists, but the rest of that sounds right,” Domi said sympathetically. “The best thing you can do is ignore her. She’s looking for attention… don’t give it to her. All of your friends know and see what’s really going on. She feeds off of any attention, good or bad, so it’s best to just stay away from that whole situation.”
“I just feel bad for Sam being stuck in the middle.” Sighing, Iris rubbed her hands over her face. “And I hate thinking that there are people in the club who think I’m some kind of terrible bitch who bullied her.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t put Sam there. She’s in the middle because Noelle won’t let her be friends with both of you, and she’s trying to stay friends with Noelle. For some reason.” Hey, Rae had never been shy about making her feelings known, and she wasn’t going to start now.
“And if some people aren’t bothering to get both sides of the story, then that’s on them,” Avery said firmly. “It will probably come back to bite them when she does the same thing to them that she’s doing to you. She’s like a toxic ex. Don’t feed the troll.”
That got a short laugh from everyone, though it wasn’t really a ‘that’s funny’ laugh but an acknowledgment of the truth of the statement.
“I swear, I don’t want to ruin her time at Stronghold or keep others from making friends with her,” Iris said, her laugh dropping as quickly as it had come. “I just want to be able to enjoy the club and move on with my life.”
“Which is exactly what you should do. You should ask Sam not to tell you about the things Noelle is saying anymore.” Domi reached out to take Iris’ hand across the table. “And trust me, we see what she’s doing. We’ve got you.”
“Thanks.” Iris looked around at all of them as she squeezed Domi’s hand back, her eyes a little shinier than usual. “I love you all so much.”
“We love you, too. Girl hug!” Rae sang out, leaning over. They all squished around Iris, laughing for real now as they came together in support.
She loved her friends so much. They were the best.
Even if she was going to have to tell Brian he was now her masked mystery lover and not to be too surprised when he heard about it.
It was all because her friends loved her. And that was worth the bit of inconvenience when it came to having an island fling with her ‘not the mama.’
15
Brian
“Hey, maybe we should wingman Brian!”
Brian blinked at Iris, not understanding what she was saying or how he’d suddenly become the topic. He hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation after they’d rejoined the ladies, meeting them at the entrance to the Dungeon. The other guys looked as confused as he felt, but all the women’s faces had lit up—even Rae’s, though hers was lit up with amused laughter rather than excitement like the other three.
“Uh, what?” he asked.
