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“Come sit with me, Angel, I need more estrogen around me to combat all this testosterone!”
“Hey!” said Olivia indignantly.
“I already asked you to sit next to me, and you moved,” Lexie said, grinning.
“Only because I didn’t want to sit so close to Truckstop.”
“Truckstop?” Angel asked as she took Chris’ place on the stool next to Lexie. Andrew was playing guard on her other side, two spaces were left between where he and Olivia were seated. Adam dragged a stool over from another table and pushed it in beside Angel’s. “And where are Jessica and Hilary?”
“They’re on their way with Justin and Liam,” Chris informed her as he pulled up another stool. “Hmm. We may have to get another table over here.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Olivia said. “Quick, before Truckstop comes back.”
“Olivia, play nice.”
“What’s Truckstop?”
“Not what, who. And you’re about to meet her.” The unfriendly glint in Olivia’s silver eyes was sharp enough to draw blood. Angel twisted around in her seat to see Jared walking towards them with an attractive submissive at his side. She was shaped similarly to Leigh, with a smaller upper body that flared out into “child birthing hips,” as Angel’s mom liked to call them. Long dark blonde hair was bobbing in a high pony-tail. The dismissive look she cast over the table of Jared’s friends didn’t endear her to Angel.
Then again, considering Olivia referred to her by a derogatory nickname, it was obvious she wasn’t part of the ‘big happy family’ vibe this group sometimes gave off. Angel wondered why. Everyone had been perfectly nice to her when she showed up, except for Adam. She glanced at him, but the expression on his face was completely neutral.
“Hey Angel, good to see you again,” Jared said, smiling down at her with pleasure as his eyes flicked over her and Adam. She was uncomfortably aware that all small conversations around the table had stopped and everyone was watching her, Adam, Jared, and the woman—Angel was so not going to call her ‘Truckstop,’ even in her head, when she didn’t even know her. “This is my girlfriend, Marissa. Marissa, this is Angel.”
“Hi.”
Immediate dislike surged, but Angel tamped it down. She couldn’t tell if it was her own reaction or just due to how everyone talked about Marissa.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Angel said, going for diplomacy. “Were you at the party here last weekend?”
“No, Jared was working and then he took me away for a romantic weekend.” Marissa snuggled up to him with an adoring look, before glancing around the group of friends challengingly.
“Aw that’s sweet, where’d you go?” Angel asked as Olivia bristled. She could sense the tension between everyone, and Marissa’s answer had increased that. There were some major undercurrents going on which she was probably stepping all over, but what else was she supposed to do?
Marissa smiled at her. It was almost a friendly smile. Almost. “New York City. We saw Once on Broadway and had dinner at the Rainbow Room.”
The answer took Angel a little bit by surprise, since she would have never expected that answer. She didn’t know Jared very well, but he didn’t seem like a big city guy. When Marissa had said a romantic weekend away, Angel had assumed a B&B or the beach or something. She looked at Jared, who was watching the interplay between her and his girlfriend with his broad shoulders slightly hunched in a defensive posture.
“That sounds nice. Once won a Tony last year didn’t it?”
“Yeah. It was okay.” As Angel coughed to cover her reaction to the lackluster review to a show she had heard was nothing short of brilliant, Marissa’s dark hazel eyes lifted past Angel’s shoulder. “Hey Adam.”
Angel suddenly understood why the others might not like Marissa so much. She could feel Adam tense behind her, see Jared’s expression close down, and the rest of the group was suddenly humming with animosity again. It wasn’t that Marissa had greeted him, it was the way she had. Flirtatious. Intimate. Completely inappropriate considering her boyfriend’s arm was still around her.
“Hi Marissa,” he said evenly, and suddenly Angel felt herself being pulled back against him. His hand spread possessively over her belly and she was suddenly glad he’d put her in a lacy black shirt rather than a corset, she liked being able to feel his very warm palm against her stomach. “Angel does some theater.”
“Just community, for fun.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re a fantastic actress,” he said warmly. Angel twisted her head back to grin at him and he planted a kiss on her lips. He tasted like the whiskey he’d been drinking.
Yum.
When she turned back to Jared and Marissa, she was surprised to see Marissa had turned her back to them and was whispering up into Jared’s ear. The big man sighed.
“I think we’re gonna head out. I’ll see you guys later.”
As everyone said goodbye, the look Marissa gave her was unfriendly. What the hell? Angel noticed most of them directed their goodbyes to Jared, without acknowledging Marissa, although it didn’t seem to bother the other woman. If she even noticed. She gave off the appearance of not being aware of the animosity directed at her.
“So that’s Truckstop,” Olivia said, waving her hand after the departing couple. “Delightful, isn’t she?”
