Page 101 of Whirlwind

Angel said goodbye and slipped the phone back into her purse.

Nina. Nina.

She tested the name out on her tongue. “Nina.” It had all of the right shapes, melodic and sweet. “Nina.”

What would she be like?

Ben had only said that she might be there tonight. Would Nina even remember her?

She drove to Whirlwind in a daze, grateful to her phone for handing all the navigation because she certainly couldn’t concentrate right now.

Nina.

* * *

“Angel, over here!”

Angel turned toward the sound, her eyes still adjusting to the dark interior of Whirlwind. Ben and his friends were sitting around a couple sturdy wooden tables with two pitchers of beer. She caught a few waves from familiar faces.

Nina wasn’t there.

She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed about that. What would she even say to her after all this time?

While Angel made her way across the room, a waitress stopped by with an appetizer platter. She stopped to chat for a moment, setting off a round of laughter.

Angel was still too far away to hear what they were saying but she couldn't help but smile, pushing thoughts of Nina to the back of her mind. Had she ever smiled this much in New York?

Probably not. Her life there was all late nights at the office, lunch with clients, and fights with Tamika at home. She hadn’t even realized how stressed she was until she’d moved here and felt that suffocating pressure slowly start to ease.

Ben’s circle of friends, who had started to become her circle of friends over the past couple of weeks, were genuine in a way that she’d never experienced in New York. You could clearly see that they liked and trusted each other. They accepted that Eric and his boy Micah were a little quieter. They didn’t get too riled up when Parker and Dakota were over the top.

Most importantly, they represented a whole range of gender expressions, and while Angel was the only woman, she wasn’t the only one who was transgender, and that easy acceptance was like a warm summer rain on her soul.

She and Ben were the only black people—an observation that she made every time that she walked into a room—but Julio was Latino and Dakota had a mixed ancestry. And it wasn’t like she and Ben hadn’t spent most of their lives in mostly white spaces.

The group was also all kinky, and they casually let that seep into their lives around each other. The group had no boundaries for oversharing, a fact that was reaffirmed the moment she reached the table. Ben, Parker, and Dakota were trying to out-do each other for extreme places they’d had sex, though it sounded like it was rapidly turning into a to-do list.

They were discussing the empty patio behind the bar… when Julio trumped them with a “done that.” Which led to Taylor sharing the story of how they started dating. It was adorable, and Taylor just relayed the whole thing with a glowing expression, turning his adoring eyes to Julio whenever he mentioned being pushed around or tied up.

These were totally her people.

And then they started talking about who had the biggest cock—Taylor apparently, unless Parker was wearing a bigger strap-on—and Micah gave a running commentary on performance with just a little snark thrown in. Had he fucked all of them?

“Group scene,” muttered Ben. So, yes then.

When the waitress came over, Angel still had her head buried in the menu. She was debating between barbeque sauce with caramelized onions or mango salsa for her burger, so she watched as the group went around and ordered.

Julio ordered for Taylor, and he gave a little smile that said, see how lucky I am?

Angel missed having someone to order for. Like she’d been able to do before things went so wrong with Tamika. But that wasn’t where her mind needed to go right now.

Eric raised an eyebrow at Micah, who shrugged back. Eric placed the order for him with a wink. Micah gave another shrug, this time in Angel’s direction. “I get the same thing every time.”

Of course, when the waitress got around to Dakota they gave both of their men the stink eye and declared that no one had better dare order for them… which immediately resulted in Ben and Parker trying to rapidly place orders. Everyone laughed, even the waitress.

Angel hadn’t really looked up at the waitress, but she’d gotten the impression of tattoos, a clingy black shirt, and shoulder-length hair. Her low chuckle, melodious and genuine, caught Angel’s attention and a shiver went down her spine.

She reminded herself that she wasn’t looking for a partner, or even a hook up, right now. But she still stole a little peek of those slim hips framed by a short skirt that flared with every small twist. Her body language was relaxed, with that hint of unconscious sensuality that always got Angel going.