She flashes me a knowing smile and nudges my knee with hers. “I’ll give you a blow job if you do.”
Christ.
“So we’re exchanging sexual favors for services now?”
She slowly shakes her head. “No. I’m going to give you a blow job anyway, but if you call him, I’ll swallow.”
“Nora.”
Her gaze holds a challenge I can’t refuse, so I pull up Bradley Ruche’s information and tapcallon the app.
To my horror, a video window pops up, and before I can instantly close it, Bradley Ruche answers. He’s wearing a sweaty tank top, and he looks like he could probably crush me as easily as an empty soda can. Racks of weights are visible behind him.
“What the fuck, yo?” he asks.
A reasonable question. I realize my camera is reversed, and it is currently broadcasting the crotch of my workout shorts. Worse, there’s a noticeable bulge, thanks to Nora, who just toldme she was going to give me a blow job.Of courseI have a partial hard-on.
I flinch and immediately reverse the camera, giving him a view of me and Nora, who is silently laughing, her hand pressed over her mouth.
“Sorry. I’m sorry,” I blurt. “I wasn’t trying to?—”
“Are you some kind of pervert?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t know it would be a video call, and the camera…” Nothing can make this better, so I change course. “I’m Cormac, and this is Nora. She’s the one whose friend is marrying Pansy.”
A few seconds ago, he looked like he wanted to soda-can crush me, but he gives Nora an admiring smile that makes me want to soda-can crush him. Obviously, I could not. But the caveman brain knows no logic.
“Well,hello, Nora,” he says, flashing his teeth, which are unnaturally square and white.
She waves. “Hi, Bradley. Sorry to contact you out of the blue, but we’re concerned my friend might be making a mistake with Pansy. We were hoping you could give us more information.”
I’m prepared for him to ask how we found out about him—any logical person would. But he just heaves a long, deep sigh and shakes his head. “So you’re friends with that Micah guy?”
“Who’s Micah?” I ask.
He frowns. “He’s the guy she ditched me for.”
I exchange a glance with Nora, whose lips have parted.
“No,” I say. “She’s engaged to a guy named José Cruz now. Do you know him?”
He swears, shaking his head. “Never heard of him. But nothing that woman could do would surprise me. You know, my therapist warned me. He said I should be prepared to lose herthe same way I got her. Wasn’t that the truth. She was engaged when we met.”
“To Dean Whitaker?” I ask.
He gives me a suspicious look. “How do you know that?”
“I did a search to see if she’d taken out any previous marriage licenses. Both of your names popped up.”
He nods, clenching his jaw. “I’m not proud of it, but she came on to me. She asked if I could bench-press her, and one thing led to another. I thought I was in love, man. We even got matching tattoos.”
Nora’s eyes light up. “Are you a big fan of Bon Jovi?”
“So she still has the tattoo, huh?” he asks, his gaze suddenly far off. “I’ve wondered.”
“She left you before the wedding?” I press.
“She left me the day of the wedding, bro. The gym was full, decorated exactly to her specifications, but she didn’t show. Most of her friends were no-shows too, and she didn’t answer her phone. Not even for my meemaw. I worried she’d been hit by a big rig. My daddy drove me around to all the hospitals within an hour’s drive. When I finally got home, I found a Post-it note she’d left me on the fridge. I’ll never forget what it said:I’m sorry. I can’t. Don’t hate me.You can imagine how I felt.”
