Thunder - Willow Summers Page 0,58
key, though, or she’ll be pissed. If that happens, patience, grasshopper. Your moment will come around again.”
“I hope I’m never in this situation.” Noah stared down at the table. “I would do something wrong.”
“You will be at some point.” Ethan sipped his beer. “The art to keeping a good woman happy is knowing three things: when to console, when to lend an ear without offering a solution to the problem, and when to hand off wine and chocolate while backing away slowly.”
“That last one will fix most things,” Dave said, and started laughing.
“What do I do?” Colton asked, clutching his phone. “I hardly know this girl and she didn’t invite me. She said she’d have to take care of her friend for the next few days and figure out how to help her. After that, she’d love to meet up.”
“That. There.” Ethan pointed at the phone. “‘Figure out how to help her.’ That is an invitation.”
Dave started nodding. “That’s a plea for help.”
“Or else we’re way off, and she is not going to be happy to see him.” Noah grimaced and looked down at his hands. The other guys tilted their heads.
“What does your gut tell you?” Ethan asked.
“I’m gone.” Colton hopped up from the chair.
“Wait, should he bring a friend?” Dave turned to Ethan with raised eyebrows. “You know, so it’s not so pushy?”
“Too much,” Noah said. Ethan nodded as Noah continued, “It would seem like you’re not taking the situation seriously. No, go yourself. Then, when you get back to her house or whatever, maybe call a friend to, like, help cook or clean or something. You would be revered, man.”
“Who wants that call?” Colton asked, stepping toward the door.
All the guys pointed at one another.
“What are you willing to pay?” Ethan asked, his arm back to its lounging position now that the crisis of decision making was over.
“I will not turn your illegal-as-shit company into the cops, how’s that?” Colton started to leave.
“Low blow, dude,” Ethan called.
“We could take him down—”
Colton didn’t hear the end of Noah’s sentence. He was already out the door.
Seventeen
“These pain meds are something special.” Janie lay on the hospital bed with her eyes closed. “I need to get out of here, though. The longer I stay, the more it’ll cost.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Madison sat in the visitor’s chair of the small room, looking at her friend’s bruised and puffy face. The doctor had said there’d be no lasting damage— nothing was broken, including her nose. Janie would get pain meds and salve and be sent on her way.
“You’re going to live with me, right?” Madison asked, because Janie being sent on her way was a recipe for trouble. She’d been with that asshole off and on for nearly three years. That was a long time to twist someone’s mind, as he’d clearly done.
“Yes, if that’s okay?” Janie sounded so vulnerable. It wasn’t like her.
Madison’s heart broke for the millionth time since picking her friend up. “Obviously. I have two rooms, one me, and no bartender. I need you.”
A smile curved Janie’s lips.
“But, like, stay living with me,” Madison said hesitantly. “That ass Atticus will probably do time, but it’s between one and twenty-five years. Before the hearing, he can post bail. If he does post bail, he’ll be back, especially if he doesn’t get a heavy sentence. Guys like him are crazy. They don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
“He’s really handsome. He’ll find someone else, easy enough.”
“He already could have, but he kept with you.”
Janie let her hands flop down. “He’s going to be so pissed,” she said in a small voice. “I can’t go back, because he’ll drink, and the next time it’ll be worse. I know that. The logic in me says to steer clear.”
“Hasn’t it always?”
“No. It has said probably a terrible idea, but then he’d be all handsome and lovely for a while and I’d forget. When he was good, he could be really good.”
“Let’s hire you one of those Big Dick guys for a few days to break the spell.”
“I need a break from guys.”
“These aren’t guys, they are employees. Good sex, they say all the right things, they take you where you want, and they are super hot. Think of them as sex robots that you can turn off or send home whenever you want. This is a winning idea. I’ll sponsor your trip into male prostitution.”
The nurse froze in the doorway, her eyes wide.
“No! That didn’t mean what it sounded like