“Hey!” came immediately from the other side of the door, telling Toni that Sophia likely had her ear pressed up against it.
For some reason, that made Toni giggle. Like her life wasn’t ridiculous enough as it was. She took the offered shirt from Jasmine and quickly donned it. “Thanks.”
“We can let you be,” Jasmine offered. “I’ll even blackmail Sophia into leaving behind the donuts and coffee. The dirt I have on that girl is endless. But I do hope you’ll let us stay and we can catch up. A lot’s happened since high school. We see each other around town, but that’s it.”
Toni hesitated. Jasmine’s offer seemed sweet, and she claimed she didn’t know why Toni was here. Was there an alternative? Could she be lying to try to get more information out of Toni? She didn’t think so. If Jasmine was anything like she was in high school, the woman couldn’t lie for shit. And while she hadn’t beenfriendswith Sophia and Jasmine, she did trust them. Sophia might be eccentric and wild, and slightly unhinged, while Jasmine was levelheaded and the clearlysaneone of the two of them, but Toni was good at reading people. It was a hazard of her career, and her gut was saying that she could trust them. Plus, they might inadvertently give away something about the club, or perhaps, their ruggedly handsome enforcer.
“Stay,” Toni encouraged. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Jasmine smiled at her and then headed back out the door.
* * *
It had beena long time since Toni had reminisced about high school. She hadn’t even gone to her tenth reunion. High school hadn’t been a bad experience for her, like it was for so many. By the time she reached tenth grade, her grandma and she had already come up with her plan to get her out of this small town and make something of herself. What few friends she’d had became secondary to her studies. She attended no parties or proms or school events that did not help to accelerate her chances of getting into a four-year college. By the time she graduated, the person she knew best was likely the school’s librarian, Mrs. Hardy.
But that didn’t mean she was oblivious to the good times or the accomplishments, pranks, and drama of her peers.
It didn’t take long, though, for the three women to move past high school and into their college years. Jasmine’s journey through vet school was similar to Toni’s through law school, but unlike Toni who had her grandmother to keep her on track, Jasmine had Sophia to keep her life…interesting.
“Wait, you did what?” Toni asked, biting into what had to be her third donut. She normally didn’t eat sweets like this, but after the night she’d had, fuck it.
“The guy deserved it,” Sophia said in all seriousness. There wasn’t a defensive bone in that woman’s body. She completely and unapologetically believed that breaking into Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend’s car to pee on his seat after he dumped Jasmine on Valentine’s Day was entirely justified.
Personally, Toni was having a hard time defending otherwise, too. Professionally, her mind was trying very hard toforgetSophia’s confession. The woman was certifiable! But also hilarious. Sophia and Jasmine had clearly been through alot together, both good and bad, and Toni knew that they were specifically telling the upbeat tales of their ride-or-die friendship to help keep Toni’s mind off whatever had happened to her.
Which she appreciated more than she could express. Neither one even hinted at asking, keeping their conversation lighthearted and humorous. The only time it turned heavy was when Toni informed them about her grandma’s death, since they knew she’d been raised by her grandparents, and then grandparent, during her youth. Toni wasn’t sure what the town gossips knew about her parents’ drug usage, but she also knew that the circumstances of her birth was more blasphemous to some than her parents being potential druggies.
By the time they’d all moved back to Mount Grove, her parents had been sober for two years, and had gotten their lives together as much as two high-school dropouts could. Likely that did a lot to squash any rumors of drugs. They didn’t attend AA in town, and instead traveled outside of town to various NA meetings in the area.
Toni needed to contact their sponsors. There was honestly a lot that she had to do that she simply didn’t have the energy for.
What bothered her the most, though, was the fact that she didn’t have a single missed call or text message from her mother. Wherewasshe? Was she high? Sick? Hurt? Before leaving the bedroom, Toni had put her phone on a charger—because this super-secret, magic trailer in the middle of the club’s property had every charging cable known to man, including some charging cradles she hadn’t seen in nearly two decades.
Susie had called her at eight. Toni felt awful that her friend had gone all the way up the mountain to pick up Toni since she hadn’t heard otherwise from her. The club must have left her house in a tidy enough order that Susie hadn’t seen anything suspicious or alarming, which also bode well if the police showed up to her house. By the time Toni had called Susie back, herfriend was already at work, and Toni made up an excuse about how she couldn’t sleep and had called a ride service to take her down the mountain and she was only just now able to get her phone and purse back.
Toni felt awful for lying, but she was in a big enough mess as it was. She was not willing to drag Susie down with her.
“So,” Sophia said knowingly as she picked up another donut. “There’s a rumor going around that you rode in on the back of a motorcycle last night.”
Toni blinked, shocked at the subject change. “What? No, you’re not done telling me about turning Jasmine’s ex’s truck into a toilet.” But from the pointed look Sophia was giving her, that story wasnotthe one she wanted told next. “Please don’t be done,” Toni begged, eyes flicking to Jasmine for help. Unfortunately, Jasmine’s blue eyes looked just as curious as Sophia’s. Just slightly less intrusive.
Toni let out a long sigh. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, I’ve narrowed it down to three possible candidates,” Sophia said. She shoved the donut into her mouth, speaking around the pastry as she ticked off on her fingers. “‘oots, Liglaw, nor Picker.”
Thankfully, Jasmine translated for her. “Boots, Jigsaw, or Poker.”
Toni tried to keep her face neutral. She didn’t know who any of those people,men, were. She found it both suspicious and concerning that Ranger wasn’t mentioned. Was that because he wasn’t single? But, if Rangerwasn’tavailable, why would he bring her to the club property where it would easily be discovered or proven that he was being unfaithful? Unless he thought he could keep her back here like a little fuck secret? Or maybe he was still in mourning, if Susie’s theory was accurate about the waitress who had died in the bar explosion?
Fuck, there was so much going on in her life right now that she didn’t need to add boy drama to it. Part of the reason Toni’s past relationships all failed was due to a lack of communication. Not that she and Ranger wereina relationship, but they were something. More specifically,shewanted them to be something. She liked how she felt in his arms, liked how he looked at her and made her feel like she was the only woman in his world. But he still was a stranger to her. A—cringe—fuck buddy.
And here were two people who could tell her about Ranger.
Lifting her chin, she did not blink as she looked across the dinette table at Sophia and Jasmine. “Ooo,” she fake winced. “Oh-for-three, Sophia. It was Ranger.”
Toni said it that way for a few reasons, but the biggest was to judge their immediate reaction. Not their words, not their masked expressions, but those few precious seconds following her reveal that would truly tell her their unguarded responses.
Except, it lasted longer than a few seconds.Bothwomen sat frozen with their jaws hanging open for severalminutes, not even trying to hide their reactions.
