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ChapterNine
DILDO COLLECTION
Kenzie
Ella had beenout of touch, and given I hadn’t seen her since before I found out about my new job, I’d run out of patience. Which is how I ended up walking into her house to find Bentley sitting at her dinner table.
Clearly, the universe isn’t going to let me get away from Bentley Abbott. That is, unless he kills me first. That would do the trick.
Maybe I shouldn’t have told Owen and Ella that I fucked his boss as soon as I walked in. That was possibly the wrong move, but sometimes my lips work faster than my brain and I can’t help what leaves my mouth.
Now, though, watching Bentley glare daggers at me, I realize that might be something I should work on. At some point.
Ella gets up from the table and pushes Owen back. Yeah, he’s also giving me nasty looks. Not surprising when he refused to hook me up with any of his co-workers before.
Ella grabs my hand. “Come with me, Kenzie.”
Her tone is even, not boding well for me.
She drags me out the front door and down to my car. “Unlock the doors.”
I raise a brow. “Are you sending me away?”
Her head shakes. “No, I want to yell at you without Owen’s boss hearing me sound like a banshee.”
My fingers dig my keys out of my purse. “Makes sense.”
I move around to the driver’s seat, and before I even have my door closed, I try to explain. “First, I didn’t know who Bentley was when I hit on him at the bar. Secondly, he’s a prick. You shouldn’t care what he thinks. That bastard kicked me out after we had sex. Thirdly, this all could have been avoided if you’d responded to my texts and calls with a little more than ‘I’m busy’ or ‘Sorry, can’t talk’ for the last three days.”
She barks out a dark laugh. “You’re blaming your dick confession outburst on me? That’s rich, Kenz. I know you don’t like to hold back, but this dinner is important to Owen. I worked really hard on it, and I’d also promised to call you tomorrow. Are you that hung up on Bentley that you couldn’t wait to tell me what happened until then?”
Shit. Her tone is too serious. Ella is never mad at me. Not truly. I don’t like the knot twisting in my chest, knowing that I’ve disappointed her.
“I’m sorry, Ella. I didn’t mean to screw up your evening. I just needed…I don’t even know. It’s not important. This week has just been insane and, well, that’s no excuse. I’ll go home.”
I move to put the keys in the ignition, but Ella grabs my wrist. “Thank you for apologizing sincerely. I know I haven’t been around much. You got that promotion, and then I didn’t realize so much else had happened. So, I’m sorry as well. Why don’t we go for a drive, and you can tell me all about it?”
I nibble on my lip. My guilt hasn’t gone away just because she’s not yelling at me. “It’s okay. You go finish your evening with your guest.”
Ella chuckles, but the sound is soft and tired. “I think the evening is over. Honestly, I’m glad. I suggested the dinner idea to Owen because, thanks to a few errant comments from me, he started to worry that his new boss was going to be just another dick. Then, when he told me his boss actually said yes to the invitation, I felt so much pressure to make the evening perfect. Blake had never let me help with anything like this, and all my other exes, well, they sucked at life. This evening became a bigger deal in my mind than it should have.”
I lean over the center console of my car and rest my head on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Ella. Being excited to do ‘wifely things’ with your soon-to-be husband is nothing to sweep under the rug. You had every reason to make a big deal.”
She gives my hand a squeeze, and I look up to find her grinning. “Owen’s boss is really the guy you went home with the other night?”
My smirk grows while I move back to my own seat. “Yep.”
“And? I know you said you weren’t bow-legged, but now I’m beginning to think you just weren’t ready to dish on the real details. How was it?”
I groan and nod. “The ‘details’ were great until he kicked me out.”
She gasps and turns further in her seat to face me. “He did not.”
“Oh, he did. Then, two days later? I show up at this volunteer thing that I’m required to do for my new position, and guess who is there for the same thing?”
Ella’s head is shaking, and her eyes widen. “No way. It was Bentley?”
I nod. “Unfortunately. He acted like he didn’t know me, so I did the same thing. And afterward, we agreed to pretend that night never happened, and I fully wanted to do that, but the more I thought about this fucked-up situation, the more I needed to talk it out. I saw Piper the other night, and that helped, but when I saw him again, I figured it was your turn to tell me I’m crazy. Plus, it’s not the same without both of you in my head.”
