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“Maybe. But…”
“What happened when you were forced to see him again?” Violet asked.
“It hurt,” I admitted.
“Suspicious, don’t you think? After not seeing him for so long.”
“Maybe.”
“And before we wrap this up and you hear my full opinions about it, let’s circle back. To nothing happened? But maybe did?”
“Well, ah, Dezi abandoned Rowe at my place to do something with the club, I had a class.”
“Oh, boy. Which class? Not the whole ‘let’s all look at our vaginas with mirrors then paint their likeness on canvas’ class, right?”
“I did that class one time!” I squeaked. “You guys will never let me live it down, will you?”
“Bills, you have a life-size replica of your vag in your living room. We expected nothing different from you. We rib you about it out of love.”
“Well, anyway, no. It was actually a couples tantric sex workshop.”
“Oh. Ohhh,” she said, pressing her lips together to prevent the smile from spreading.
“I have this one… difficult guy in class. And he had an issue with Rowe being there ‘watching’.”
“Rowe doesn’t strike me as a creep.”
“He’s not. And he wasn’t watching. But the student was just being a pain. He decided that I needed to instruct the exercises with Rowe.”
“Oh, boy. This is getting spicy,” she said, eyebrows wiggling.
“Vi, if you think this is spicy, you need to get laid,” I said, getting a laugh out of her.
“You’re not wrong. Anyway, you were breathing into your vagina with Rowe.”
“That sounds… awful,” I declared, laughing. Only Vi could make me laugh when I was discussing this whole Rowe situation. “But yeah. I had to straddle him,” I admitted, watching as Vi mimed fanning herself. “No contact,” I added, ignoring the Boo! from Vi. “Then we had to start doing this rocking thing. And he was allowed to play with my hair.”
“Oh, that is the best foreplay.”
“I know,” I agreed. “And, well, you know how tantric breathing can get really intense…”
“You didn’t. You did not have an orgasm with him during that class.”
“I did,” I admitted, squeezing my eyes shut.
“What did he say?”
“I, ah, I got right off of him and pretended to focus on the class. Then asked Malc to come pick him up. I ran off. And conned the girls into taking care of him for a few days.”
“And then he showed up today?” Vi guessed.
“It was supposed to just be Cary, but yeah. And then there was the box fiasco. And that’s it.”
“Then I interrupted what was likely going to be a confrontation about the whole situation.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“So, you’re welcome. But also, I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“It’s okay. I don’t think I was ready to have that conversation. Or will ever be ready to have that conversation.”
“See, that’s what I don’t like about the whole situation. You’re always the ‘You have to confront your feelings and talk it out even if it is uncomfortable’ person. Avoidance is my thing. It’s Hope’s thing. It isn’t your thing.”
“I know. I need to figure it out. I don’t like feeling as off as I have been since all this happened.”
“If anyone can work through their convoluted feelings, it’s you,” Vi said, tapping a hand on my knee. Which was about as touchy-feely as you could expect from her.
“Anyway, enough about me. How are your parents? How is your brother? Shouldn’t he be back in town soon if he is going to prospect?”
“He’s been pretty incommunicado since he took off. I know he texts Mom so she doesn’t worry. And he must have been in contact with Dad since he said he was heading back to prospect finally. But I don’t hear from him much. We both end up playing phone tag until one of us gives up.”
“He doesn’t say anything about what he’s been up to?”
“Other than all the continental states. I don’t know if he has read too much Kerouac or what. Or even how he is managing to fund the trip. My Mom says they’ve tried to send him money, but he won’t take it.”
“Maybe he inherited your Dad’s wanderlust gene,” I said, knowing my uncle Adler had been all over not only the country, but the world, before he decided to settle down and call Navesink Bank his home. “And, really, you kind of do too, if you think about it. You have no real home base. You’re always off on a job.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. It’s a good thing my Mom isn’t the helicopter sort. She wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, never knowing where the two of us were.”
“Well, she will know where Valen is soon enough.”
As it would turn out, much sooner than anticipated.
Only I wouldn’t be there to greet him.
What with the whole being kidnapped thing and all.
CHAPTER TEN
Rowe
I didn’t resent my back issue quite as much as I did on the days following everyone learning that Billie had a possibly violent stalker.
