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“You roleplaying something kinky?” Vero pressed on. “Like the whole stranger in a bar thing? If so, I’m cool with it. Maybe I can help.”
Lola laughed, shaking her head. “Well, we’re not really supposed to talk about it, but you’re impossible to shut up.”
Vero set the pitcher on the bar and turned to face Lola. “This sounds real kinky. Lay it on me.”
“No, it’s not that.” Lola lowered her voice. “Johnny and I are buying Hey Joe.” Lola grinned at Vero’s expression. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Vero’s mouth open with nothing coming out.
“Are you messing with me?” Veronica asked.
“Nope. We’re doing it. Soon it’ll be ours.”
Vero slapped the bar with one hand. “Holy shit, girl—are you kidding me?”
“Not messing, not kidding. You happy?”
“Happy? Haven’t been this excited since nasty cousin Herb fell face first into a pile of mud at the family reunion. This is cause for celebration.”
Lola smiled harder. “Thanks, V.”
“How’d you pull it off? This got something to do with that cousin of yours who died?”
“Great uncle,” Lola corrected.
“Uncle? I could’ve sworn Johnny said…” She narrowed her eyes. A couple seconds passed. Lola’s hands went clammy as Vero’s expression morphed and she tilted her head back, shaking it. “No. Something’s off here.”
“Nothing is off. Seriously.”
“Lola. Oh, fuck. What did you do?”
“Nothing—”
“You slept with that man.” She tiptoed closer. “You slept with…? Oh, honey, I wasn’t serious when I said—I didn’t think you’d go through with it.”
The room was too hot. Vero was too close. Lola hopelessly fanned herself with her hand. She’d never been a good liar. “It-it’s complicated. Even if I thought I could explain, it wouldn’t make any sense.”
Vero looked across the room. “Johnny let you do this?”
“He didn’t ‘let’ me do anything,” Lola said. “We made a decision. Together.”
“Hell, no.” She shook her head like her mass of frizzy curls was on fire. “No, no, no. My man ever asked me to have sex with someone else, he’d see the business end of my fist before he got the words out. Don’t matter how much money’s involved.”
“Vero,” Lola said. “There’s so much more to the situation than you think. Just let it be.”
“Let it be? I can’t. This is not cool.”
“Johnny and I have been through hell these past few weeks,” Lola said. “There’s no way you could understand.”
“What I understand is that you just took a very wrong turn down a dangerous path.”
“Veronica,” Lola said, shocked. “You’re judging me? Have I ever once judged your choices? Didn’t I support your decision to stay with Freddy after the way he treated you? Didn’t Johnny and I take you in for weeks when you finally cut him loose?”
“That’s different. That was between me and Freddy. But this isn’t between you and Johnny because you brought a third person into your relationship, and now he’ll never go away. Promise you that.”
Lola frowned. It wasn’t that Vero was necessarily wrong, but Lola couldn’t handle her on top of Johnny on top of Hey Joe. She didn’t need anyone to tell her what they’d done was wrong.
“What I need right now is a friend, Vero,” Lola said.
Vero abruptly reached out and hugged Lola. Hard. It took Lola a moment to reciprocate. “You and I go back,” Vero said softly. “When you came here, I thought you were just another chick. But knowing you has changed my life. You need me, I’m here.”
“You’re the one who changed mine,” Lola said. “You and Johnny straightened me out.”
Vero drew back a little to look Lola in the face. “Because it didn’t take me long to see that you’re better than this shit. And now I hear this.” She shook her head sadly. “It’s Johnny I’m pissed at, babe. Not you. But I’ll keep it to myself because you asked me to. I’m just sorry you felt the need to do it. I-I hope it was, you know, worth it.”
“It will be when we all get Hey Joe back to what it should be.”
“If anyone can, it’s you two. You’ll survive this. Strong as an ox, girl.”
; Was she? Was Lola strong enough? She wasn’t so sure. Now that they’d decided not to take Beau’s offer, the weight of reality was growing heavier. Every hour she was in the bar, she thought of how soon it would all be theirs. It was more responsibility than she’d ever had in her life.
Vero finally let go of her. “What was it like?”
“With Beau?” Lola bit her bottom lip. “Like a wild dream stuck on fast forward. I think I went to another world for a few hours—like it wasn’t even real.”
Vero looked around the bar and held her palms face up toward the ceiling. “And now you guys get everything you wanted.”
“Mostly,” Lola said. “Turns out running a bar’s expensive.”
“I could’ve told you that. But we’ll make this work. Even if I got to show up on time, I’m with you guys.”
Lola half smiled. “Thanks. Means a lot.”
Vero was suddenly even closer. “So, all right. We know it was fucked up, but sometimes that’s the best kind. I bet that tall drink of water stripped off his designer suit to reveal all kinds of kinky. Tell me about the sex.”
Lola blushed furiously, waving her off with a rag. “Stop it.”
“That good?” Vero’s eyes got big. “You enjoyed it?”
“Quiet,” Lola said. “That’s the last thing Johnny needs to hear.”
“So you did,” she stated as if that proved anything.
Lola looked at her hands. It hadn’t been kinky to Lola. It’d been more natural, just—right. He’d done new things to her, like commanding her to her hands and knees, and she’d liked them. He’d done normal things and made them worthy of fireworks. The sixteenth floor of the Four Seasons was a private space for her to be completely herself and to experience Beau without guilt. “It was different,” she said carefully. “Completely and utterly different than anything I’ve ever experienced.” Lola looked up. “Just different.”
“Lola. It’s sex. It’s okay if you enjoyed it. That’s kind of what’s supposed to happen.”
“Let me put it this way. He’s everything you’d think by looking at him and more.”
“More?”
