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“Coming right up!”
It’s too early for someone to be that cheery. Suddenly, I’m reminded of the café I sometimes frequented on the South Side.Bean Appetit. I think it’s a play on a French saying. It was a cute, cozy place. They did mouthwatering pastries. One of the young women who worked there, Lucie Davis, was sunshine personified. She made the bubbly waitress here seem like Miss Doom and Gloom.
I smile at this waitress –Shay, her nametag reads – as she sets my coffee down, along with a menu. Sure enough, it’s in a massive cup. I inhale, letting the lovely coffee smell wrap around my senses.
Ordering a breakfast roll, I text Shelley on the off chance she’s awake at the early hour on Saturday. I didn’t bother to set the alarm for the weekend, but I was never a late sleeper. Years of being up with Mama at the crack of dawn cured me of that.
I devour my delicious bacon and egg roll and am on my second ginormous cup of coffee when Shelley strolls in, looking well-rested and much edgier than I’m used to seeing her. She wears shorts and T-shirts at the clubhouse, but right now, she’s in a tutu-like black skirt, motorcycle boots, and a tight, stretchy black singlet top, her thick, long, dark hair spilling over her shoulders.
Sliding into the booth across from me, she gestures for a coffee and turns her eyes on me, running them assessingly over my face.
“Who did you fuck?” she asks cheerfully.
My cheeks heat up. Oh hell. Is it that obvious? Shelley waggles her eyebrows and grins.
“You look…satisfied. So I’m guessing it was a good night? Did you go out in Downtown?”
That’s where San Remo’s three nightclubs are.
“No, I was at home.”
Shelley’s eyebrows shoot up. “Viper finally acted on his lusting, huh?”
Lusting? What the hell is she talking about? “I don’t know what you mean. I… what lusting?”
Shelley laughs, accepting her coffee and rolling her eyes at me.
“The man watches your ass like he wants to eat it.”
“We had sex, but he didn’t eat myass.” My nose wrinkles at the thought. Shelley snorts, sipping her coffee.
“You’re missing out then.”
“No one is eating my ass.”
“You know, for a Southie, you sure are a prude.”
It’s not the first time such an accusation has been thrown at me. I did grow up in a house with Joey.
“You know, for a Pinedale preppie, you sure have a potty mouth.”
“Touché.” Smirking, Shelley takes another sip of coffee. “But how was the sex? I’m assuming mouths were involved, even if there was a disappointing lack of ass-eating.”
My cheeks burn again. How was the sex? Ah-mazing. Shelley’s eyes light up at the sight of my burning face.
“That good, huh?”
Nodding, I take a deep drink of my coffee to buy myself a moment. Setting my cup down, I run my fingers around the rim, staring at it.
“It was mind-blowing. But then he was all… hands-off.”
“Ugh.” Shelley shrugs as I look up at her. “Merch was so hot and cold when we first started sleeping together. Don’t even worry about that. If he keeps coming back for more, he’s interested, even if he’s trying to seem all macho and hide it.”
She waves her hand dismissively, but I’m more fixated on his words, not that he wandered off and didn’t cuddle me. Viper doesn’t strike me as a cuddler, so I’m not particularly upset about that.
“We had sex because he caught me looking at apartment rentals. He saidnot happening. You live here,” I mock his deep tone. “But I have no idea what that means.”
Shelley giggles, covering her mouth with a hand. “When Merch finally manned up and decided he was keeping me, he locked me in his apartment until I decided to stay on my own.”
