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“Good to meet you, Lucky. I’ve heard mostly good things,” she chirped.
Lucky looked momentarily taken aback until Barrett chuckled, telling him, “That’s Vander’s wife.”
Lucky laughed, and Ruby scowled. “Do you guys gossip about us at BOXXX?”
BOXXX was a private gym Gus and Vander attended with some of the other husbands. I wondered if Lucky went there, his next statement answered that question and I marveled at the intersections in all our lives.
Lucky waved away her concerns. “No, but anybody who can stand up to Vander has got to be a bit of a ballbuster. Like Junie, here,” he teased.
“My balls are in perfectly good hands,” Lenny protested.
“Yes, and if you want them to stay that way you’ll mind your step,” Junie quipped, earning a delighted look from Ruby.
Our server greeted all the guys by name, dropping waters and a few beers on the table.
“Where’s Bax?”
“He’s hanging out in the back. That guy makes me look sociable,” Barrett grumbled.
By the end of the break, Lucky succeeded in completely charming Amber and Ruby, convincing them to bring Gus and Vander out to a show before the end of the summer.
Patting me on the ass to get me off his lap, he stood, cupped my face in his hands, and kissed the tip of my nose. “Lenny’s going with Junie after this, and you’re coming with me. We can stay at your place if you want. I packed an overnight bag. Or we can drop by your place to pick up your stuff and you can stay at mine. But I want to wake up with you tomorrow morning.”
My mouth fell open.
He laughed as he pressed a finger beneath my chin and gently closed it. “You’ll be okay.”
I watched him as he headed back to the stage but turned away before he walked through the beehive.
“Things are good?” Amber asked as soon as he left the table.
“Very. For now, at least.”
A sleepover? We’ve never had a sleepover.
Her sharp eyes pinned me. “Why just for now?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted.Is a sleepover moving too far into non-expiration date territory?“I’ve never let a man get as close to me as he has. And we have an expiration date. I’m just not sure I’m going to escape unscathed.”
“An expiration date you insisted on,” she reminded me.
“For good reason,” I retorted.
I can let him come inside me with no condom but can’t wake up with him in the morning? How does that make sense?
“You sure about that? Remember what we decided? Rows to hoe, mountains to climb, and all that? Unmaking decisions that no longer served us?”
After a particularly sauced Bookstagram night, back when Ruby and Amber were working through their issues with their men, we all admitted we had made decisions meant to protect which in reality were only hurting us.
“It’s a big mountain, Amber. The age difference, my OCD, his child…” I petered off.
I was only starting to get comfortable having him in my home. Why does that seem like a greater intimacy than having him bare inside me?
“I want to understand your hesitations. I’m trying to understand, but I feel like I’m missing pieces of the puzzle.”
So do I.
Barrett welcomed everybody back from the break.
