“No. He won’t be there.” Lily smiles, waggling her eyebrows at me. “He has other plans.”
I roll my eyes.
“You still game?” she asks Arlo and pauses, the room quiet, waiting for the reply. “Perfect. I’ll text you where and when later today.”
“I’m not telling you where I’m going,” I tell Gigi immediately, letting her know their scheme isn’t going to go as planned.
“Whatever,” she says, looking smug. “I want to see Arlo, not spend time with you.”
The sad thing is, I want to see Arlo too, and I hate myself for it.
12
Gigi: You bitches coming?
Lily: Almost there.
Tamara: Parking.
Jo: Nick’s driving like a snail.
Gigi: You got Arlo?
Lily: No. She said she didn’t feel well.
I stop moving, having found out what I needed to know.
Arlo didn’t go with them and is at home…alone.
A second later, I open a new text, shooting off one to her.
Me: Hey, Ar. How’re your ribs?
Arlo: Better.
I wait for more, but nothing comes.
Me: You pissed at me?
Arlo: No.
Another one-word answer. She’s pissed. I’ve been around enough women in my life to know the difference.
Me: Sorry I left before you woke up. Had to get home and ready for work.
Arlo: No big deal. You don’t owe me an explanation.
Me: Want me to come over?
Arlo: Not tonight.
So, “no big deal” is a lie. It is a big deal to her, and although she says I don’t owe her an explanation, the one I gave her isn’t good enough.
Me: Tomorrow?
Arlo: I’ll let you know.
Yep. Pissed.
Me: Got it. Sleep well. Talk soon, babe.
Arlo: Night.
I immediately close that text and open back up the group text with my cousins, having missed dozens of texts in the last few minutes.
Me: Where are you assholes?
Gigi: Neon Cowboy.
I roll my eyes. Not my typical haunt, but it is good in a pinch. The women are…different from my normal taste.
But pussy is pussy, and they serve a cold beer.
Me: On my way.
Mammoth: Someone got cockblocked.
Pike: Totally shutdown.
Me: Can’t shut down what isn’t real, jagoffs.
Gigi: Oh boy. Someone’s butthurt.
I grab my keys, pull on my boots, ignoring their bullshit. They’re going to talk shit about me until I get there, so there’s no use in replying.
The roads are empty as I make my way to the little bar in the middle of nowhere. The entire ride, I only think about Arlo and how I have fucked up. But I’m not going to let myself feel guilty about leaving her place without saying goodbye. We are nothing to each other, not even friends. We are an arrangement with no promises.
“Fuckin’ A,” Mammoth says as I make my way through the crowded bar, heading straight to the back where they always sit. “’Bout time, brother.”
“I wasn’t planning on coming,” I tell him, grabbing a chair and spinning it around before straddling the back.
“You were, but not here,” Rocco adds, giving me a chin lift, laughing his ass off at my expense.
“Fuck off,” I tell him.
“You need this more than me,” he says, pushing a fresh beer in front of me.
“I thought for sure you’d be with Arlo tonight and not here since you made such a stink at work earlier,” Gigi tells me, snuggling up to Pike’s side.
“She’s sick, babe. Lily put that in the text.”
“That’s what she said, but is she really?” Gigi stares at me, her lips flat. “You go to her place one night, and the next, she’s sick.”
“Happens,” I mutter, lifting the bottle to my lips.
“What did you do to her?” Lily asks me.
I shrug, beer to my lips. “Why did I have to do something?”
Lily leans forward, elbows on the table and hands clasped. “You stayed overnight at her place, and tonight she’s still weird. Are you sure you didn’t take things too far?”
“Can’t believe you’re asking me that shit, babe,” I mumble against the rim.
She crosses her arms and stares right back. “When was the last time you slept at a woman’s house?”
“Never.”
She cocks her head to the side and raises an eyebrow. “But you slept at Arlo’s?”
I guzzle half the beer before wiping my lips with the back of my hand and grunt, “Yep.”
“Wait.” Mammoth shifts, moving Tamara back in his embrace and turning to face me fully. “So, you slept at the chick’s house and didn’t bang her?”
“We’ve been over this,” I tell him before downing the rest of my beer.
“Some of us don’t work at Inked, bro. I hear everything hours later and secondhand.”
“Didn’t kiss her either,” Gigi adds, making a face when she says that too.