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Is he crazy? No way am I going to that party. Blake will be there for sure. “Oh, thanks for the invite, but Shannon will still be here.”
He grins and gives me a wink. “Great, bring her too. I’ll have Kallie text you the address.”
He has got to be kidding. No way, not going to happen.
“Oh, and London…bring a bathing suit.”
That’s it?he walks out of the aisle, not even giving me a chance to decline again. Well, I hope he doesn’t hold his breath, because that’s never going to happen.
I quickly grab the rest of the stuff I need, luckily not running into Jax again, and check out. I pack it all in my white Chevy Malibu and head home. I hate, and I mean hate, carrying in shopping bags. I try to get as many on my arms as possible to limit it to one trip into the house, but sometimes it’s not possible. I finally get it all inside and put away, and I could freaking fall to the ground. What a chore, but I’m glad it’s done.
I make myself a sandwich and go into my office to read over what I wrote last night. I never got to do it earlier. I get so into the story that it takes me a minute to realize my doorbell is ringing. I jump up and rush over because I know it will be Shannon. I open the door and she’s leaning against the doorway with her sunglasses pushed up into her red hair. She holds a small bag and her suitcase is by her feet. “Well, finally. Damn. What the hell were you doing, giving the batteries in your vibrator a workout?”
I roll my eyes and pull her in for a hug. “No, you ass, I was reading through my work.”
She pulls her suitcase in and looks around. “Sure you were. Anyway, I’m here.” We both laugh and she pulls me in for another hug. “Damn, I missed you.”
“I missed you too. I’m so excited you’re here.” We spend the next couple of hours talking and laughing. She has to be one of the funniest people I know. She is such a damn perv, and I love every second of it.
“So my thoughts are, we get all sexy, go have dinner, then head to the club. What do you think?”
I smile, loving the idea. “Sounds perfect.”
She tucks her legs under her and leans her head on her arm. “Before we go out and get our drink on, let’s talk serious for a minute.”
I should have known she wouldn’t just let it go. She makes me dig deep and talk about shit I don’t want to talk about. I don’t say anything. I just look at her and raise my eyebrows.
“Come on, London. You can’t live in this bubble you have created.”
“Actually, it’s working out just fine for me.” She shakes her head and flicks me in the boob. “Ouch, you bitch, that hurt.”
She laughs while I rub the sting out of it. “Stop being such a puss. Listen, I know you have a lot of demons because of Axel, but sweetie, you are never going to be able to move on if you keep pushing everyone away. This guy, Blake, he sounds like a great guy. Yet instead of answering his call and texting something back that didn’t make you sound like an eighty-year-old man, you change your damn number. You have no idea what he wanted and you won’t now. Don’t you think it’s time to just let someone in…anyone? Who are your friends?” I go to talk and she interrupts. “Besides me?”
“I talk to plenty of people. Just this morning I was talking to my street team—” Once again, she interrupts me.
“Friends that you can look in the eye while talking to them.”
I just stare at her, because I never thought of it like that. I have a few friends I get together with, maybe once every two months, but the rest are online. I close my eyes and shake my head. “Okay, you’re right. I don’t have many friends that I hang out with. I’m guarded, what else can I say?”
She reaches over and holds onto my hand. “You can say that you will stop hiding, give people a chance to get to know you. Let a guy take you out for more than one date, and for the love of all things, have sex.” I start laughing and she joins in.
“I had sex.” I give her a smug smile, and she bursts out laughing.
“And you don’t remember it. That hardly counts. I’m talking about having sex while you’re conscious.”
We both laugh, but I am so embarrassed that I don’t remember. I feel lik
e such a slut, and believe me, I am the furthest thing from one. The definition of slut is” a woman who has many casual sexual partners.” In order for that to be true, well, I’d have to have sex and lots of it. It still doesn’t help with the fact I feel like one.
“Honestly, Shannon, I knew when I opened my eyes and saw him it was going to be a huge mistake. It’s better I just walk away.”
“You see, there is a difference between walking away and hiding. You are hiding.” She’s right. I am hiding, but the risk of getting hurt is minimal this way. “How about this? If you happen to run into Blake, instead of hiding from him, you actually talk to him?”
“Shannon, I appreciate you trying to pull me out of my comfort zone, I really do, but who’s to say Blake would even want to talk to me again? I’m willing to bet there aren’t many women that walk out on him then ignore his phone call, only to then change their number entirely.” I groan and cover my face. “I really am pathetic. Saying it out loud makes it sound so much worse.” I pull my hands from my face and look at her. “He’s a goddamn model. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. We had one drunken night together. I don’t even know why the hell we’re still talking about him.”
“First of all, yes, you are pathetic, but I’m here to fix that.” She winks at me and continues. “Secondly, he’d be lucky to have you. You don’t realize just how beautiful and amazing you are, again, good thing I’m here. And why don’t you tell me why we’re still talking about him?” She raises her eyebrows and I feel my face flush.
She’s right. I’m the one that won’t stop talking about him. I don’t know if it’s the dreams, the connection he has to Kallie, or if it’s something else entirely.
