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In a split-second, our friend Annie—our best friend, who any one of us would have sworn we knew inside and out—had become this mysterious, adventurous, sexy woman.
This woman with a harem of men, for God’s sake.
It was almost too much to believe.
But there it was, on paper in black and white—and with photos to back it up.
Annie’s harem.
* * *
Idon’t know how much time passed between finding out about the guys and the knock on the door. All I know is that one second, we were all huddled on the bed, theorizing and fantasizing about what it might have been like for Annie with that many guys. The next second, we were jumping up, clutching four glasses of upset wine, and scrambling toward the living room like a bunch of teenagers who had just been caught looking at dirty magazines.
“Who is it?” Harper called out, her voice taking on an authoritative tone that she normally reserved for rowdy patients.
“Um, pizza?” came the reply that sounded almost like a question from the other side of the door.
The four of us were visibly relieved as we exchanged glances.
“I forgot about the damn pizza,” Marley whispered, barely holding in a laugh.
“Scared the hell out of me,” Kendall said, her tall frame looking surprisingly compact as she peeked from behind Marley’s towering hair.
I started laughing. I couldn’t help myself. The knock on the door had scared the hell out of me, too. Between the emotions, the nerves, and the wine, we were a hot mess. I almost felt sorry for the guy on the other side of the door, waiting patiently to deliver a pizza to four giggling, half-hysterical women.
Then another thought hit me.
I wondered if he had ever been here to deliver food to Annie.
And to Annie’s men.
Thankfully, Harper opened the door before my thoughts got too far out of hand.
“Sorry for the commotion,” she said, giving the man a sweet smile as she took the pizza from him. “Come on inside for a second while I set this down and grab my purse.”
“No worries, ma’am,” he answered, slowly taking a step inside from the dark porch. He looked around warily, but didn’t really make eye contact with any of us—at least not as far as I could tell.
He seemed to be looking at the room. The boxes. The things we had been packing.
“Here you go,” Harper said, holding out a wad of cash as she walked back toward him. “It should all be there—plus a tip, of course—but you might want to double-check. It’s been… sort of a long night and—”
“Holy shit,” Marley said, interrupting whatever Harper had been about to say.
We all turned to look at her, but her eyes were fixed on the pizza delivery guy.
“You’re… one of them,” Marley continued, her voice shaking slightly. “One of Annie’s… men.”
I felt every hair on my body stand on end as my eyes shifted back to the man. Around me, the other women gasped as they, too, recognized him.
Even though I had barely glanced at the photos that had fallen out of the journal, there really was no mistaking it.
This man was one of the guys.
One of the harem.
“I am,” he said, swallowing hard as he looked around again, meeting each of our stares this time. “Or… Iwas. I still can’t believe she’s gone, to be honest.” He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, they were suspiciously bright with emotion. “I assume you’re all friends of Annie’s? Not that it’s really any of my business, I guess, but…”
“Oh, sweetie,” Harper said, throwing her arms around the man. “I’m sorry. Of course, it’s your business. You were one of… of Annie’s…” She stumbled over the words, no doubt searching for the right term before changing course completely. “I’m Harper Devlin, the executor for Annie’s estate. And this is Lacey, Marley, and Kendall. We all worked with Annie, and we were all good friends.”
