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“It’s like a housewarming,” Callum not so helpfully added.
Rhett stepped back and my hand fell away. My palm started itching so I rubbed it across my shorts, making it look as if I were trying to wipe away some imaginary germs, I’d contracted just by touching him. His eyes slightly narrowed, a coolness washing over his features.
I was completely bombing this first impression. He probably thought I was like half the population in town—a snobbish bitch. Maybe that was a good thing, though.
I wasn’t sure what he wanted with me and I had no desire to find out.
“It’s nothing personal. We just don’t do get togethers.”
“Usually,” Emery inserted, suddenly finding her voice.
She meant ever.
“Text me all the good stuff and we’ll be there,” Annika seconded.
Text her? They were beyond an exchanging numbers level?
Rhett turned entirely then, engaging her in conversation. With slightly pursed lips I opened my door and got in the car, shutting myself inside. It was times such as these that I was reminded why I never left the goddamn house.
CHAPTER TWO
NOVA
Her phone vibrated for the sixth time in ten minutes. I stared her down from behind the rim of my glass, loudly sucking on a Tequila flavored ice-cube.
“Don’t give me that look,” Annika reprimanded.
“What look?”
“The one of betrayal,” Emery laughed.
“I can’t believe you stood there and accepted his invite.”
She quirked a brow. “You jealous, NoNo?”
“So jealous.” I rolled my eyes and sat my drink on a coaster before flopping down onto the couch.
“By the way you two were eye-fucking one another I’m surprised you didn’t get his number your dang self.”
“That’s not what we were doing. I’m pretty sure we were silently telling each other to go straight to hell. I was rude and he was…” The word intense floated to the forefront of my mind but saying that would only encourage them. I left the sentence dangling.
Annika flipped her blonde waves over her shoulder and sat taller in the Lay-Z-Boy. “And you’re wrong. He apologized for coming on to strong and re-invited us to his party tomorrow night.”
“For one, they said it was a housewarming thing not a party. And two, he’s apologizing through a middle-man?”
She huffed and stood up. “Nova, you can’t live like a damn hermit the rest of your life. You’re twenty-two not eighty.”
“Which one of those two do you think is wiser?”
“Nova!”
I grabbed one of my throw pillows and placed it over my face. Childish, yes. But it was impossible to hold a buzz around this girl. I loved her, but if she could occasionally shut the fuck up, I might love her more. When she forced herself onto the small section of couch beside me, I knew that was wishful thinking.
“Don’t try to block me out.” She grabbed the pillow and tossed it across the room.
“Why don’t you just go without her? Like you have every other party this year?” Emery questioned.
“Exactly!” I held my palm outward to emphasize Em’s logic.
“Because, Rhett specifically said to have Nova come, and we go with her. So, technically it’s her invite. And don’t act like you don’t wanna go Em. I saw the way you were looking at Callum.”
Emery propped herself up on the ottoman part of my sectional and downed the rest of her drink, trading her empty glass for a bowl of nachos.
“What sane female wouldn’t stare at Callum? Or Rhett? Hell, the guy by that pick-up truck too. Did you see how big he looked. Dude was like a tree. One I would love to climb.”
“Yes, girl!” Annika sang, holding her hand out for a high-five.
Em leaned closer, stopping at the last second. “Wait. I thought you only liked older men. Committed older men.”
“Bitch,” Annika breathed, marching back to the Lay-Z-Boy. She slammed her ass down onto the cushion and resumed texting with exaggerated keystrokes.
“Committed?”
Her fooling around with older guys wasn’t a secret between the three of us, but this was the first time I’d heard of one of them being in a relationship.
She looked away from her phone to glare at both of us. “Why is it we can never talk about your total lack of male interaction and the way you hide away in this freaking tomb, or Emery’s shitty boyfriend, who–.”
“Is the real reason we’re even here. To discuss a course of action. She was just joking Nika. Don’t take it to heart.”
I didn’t believe a word of what I’d just said, I was simply trying to prevent a fight between the two of them. This was the ugly side of our ‘Tequila Talks’. The liquor went down and the truth came out.
“There isn’t a course of action needed. He’s an ex-boyfriend now,” Emery corrected. “And you know I didn’t mean anything by that, Nika. I don’t care how many old men you let in your snatch.”
Oh, god. I groaned. “You guys, stooop.” I swung my legs over the side of the couch and sat up, reaching for my glass so I could go get a refill.
