THE CRAZY GOOD SERIES - Rachel Robinson Page 0,284

doing I’ll call Dax. You already know what you’re doing, I say to myself.

I plug my phone in to charge in the kitchen so I’m not tempted to use it and head back to my bedroom. The pillows smell like Dax’s soap. My shower is still wet from his shower, and you know what else is there? Probably the sand from this morning’s beach date.

Now is the time to dwell with my quite unusual life choices and feel badly for destroying one man’s life.

It’s just not the man you think.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lainey

I TOSSED AND turned in my bed for seven hours. Seven. During that time I compiled a list of pros and cons to Dax’s proposition. After a while all the points I came up with could be lumped into the same category, not one or the other. A text from Cody sits on my cell phone. It says one word. Ten.

It’s six o-clock in the morning and I decide to wake up my friend Chloe because she is the least judgmental friend I have to my name and because she’s permanently single and will have a completely different perspective. She yells at me for a few seconds, unintelligible, sleepy slurs, but I interrupt her with my very real, very terrible predicament spilling into around seven sentences, and that shuts her up real quick.

“How can this be real life? Who are you? I think you have the wrong number,” Chloe growls, her rough voice punctuated by sleep. She has the type of tenor that most porn stars have. I can’t copy it even if I try. “I’ll be over in ten,” she says, ending the call before I can tell her I have somewhere to be at ten. I disarm my security system so she can enter without fuss.

Talking to myself while I make a pot of coffee helps me feel better. Chloe rings the doorbell and I yell for her to come in. She’s wearing pajamas and her hair in a top knot so high it’s waving to God.

As she approaches me in the kitchen, she says, “You’re going to need something a lot stronger than coffee.”

I breathe out a deep breath. “I know. Hell, do I know. What am I doing?”

Chloe slings her bag onto a barstool next to her and sits down. She nods to the coffee pot and I pour her a cup and fix it how she likes it. “How much of a whore do you want to be?” she asks after I hand her the mug. “On a scale from prostitute to slutty, cheating bitch, where are you at? I need to get a feel of what I’m dealing with right now,” she rasps, eyeing me over the rim of her cup. Her eyebrows are perfect.

I shrug. “I’m not even on the scale. I don’t think I can go through with it. Spend time with Cody, sure. That’s it, though. Dax has been so good to me. After all this time, he just loves me. He’s there for me. I’m surprised he even brought this up to begin with. I’m not sure why.” Why did he offer this option to me? Surely it can’t be solely for my happiness. Am I missing something? Selfless, sure, but like Cody said…it’s foolish.

Chloe digs through her purse and pulls out her oversized cell phone. “Do you love him?” Her finger scrolls wildly across the screen.

I close my eyes. “Yes,” I reply. “What type of question is that?”

She stops scrolling and points her laser gaze at me. “Who were you thinking of when you answered that question?”

Him. I was thinking of him. I shake my head. “What would you do?” I counter.

Chloe smiles. “I’d do exactly what you want to do. When the cat’s away the mouse will play.” This is why I called her. I knew she would give me the answer I wanted to hear. She looks behind her, trailing her gaze over the expanse of my huge house. It’s the product of a lot of hard work and a very small social life. I worked hard, earning every client the old-fashioned way: doing a good job and relying on word of mouth. I’ve lived here alone for many years, so being here by myself doesn’t bother me that much. The reason why Dax is gone bothers me the most. “This house sure is big and lonely when Dax isn’t here, isn’t it?” she asks.

Her eyes grow big and round. “The wedding,” she exclaims at the realization