I stared at the closed door.
The Rock Chicks stared at it too.
Slowly, Shirleen turned to me.
“Shirleen’s not thinkin’ good thoughts,” she announced.
“You got that right, sister,” Jet muttered.
Effing hel .
Chapter Fourteen
Maybe in a Towel
Stella
I wrapped the sheet around my body and then shuffled on my bottom to the edge of the bed.
“You okay?” Al y asked.
“I’l make coffee,” Ava muttered and headed into the kitchen.
My feet hit the floor and I headed toward my robe. “I think something bad just happened,” I said softly, not certain I wanted to share but too scared at what I was feeling to keep it inside.
“You think?” Shirleen asked. “Air was so heavy you could cut it with a knife.”
I looked at her as I struggled to put the robe on over the sheet. Her eyes were sharp but her face was soft and that combo eloquently showed her concern.
I felt the tears hit the backs of my eyes again. I pul ed breath in through my nose and decided maybe I shouldn’t share.
“What was in the paper?” I asked, changing the subject and dropping the sheet.
“Unh-unh, girl, what just happened?” Daisy was standing, hands on her slim, faded denim-covered hips.
I took a moment to peruse Daisy’s ensemble which was faded denim from head-to-toe, literal y. She was wearing a bil ed, slouchy, denim cap on her platinum blonde head, pigtails peeking out from under it at the back, wispy bangs at her forehead. She had on a tight, faded, buttoned up, denim vest, so much cle**age bulging forth from the v-neck that she was forced to leave one button undone taking the vest from indecent to mildly p**n ographic. Completing her look, she wore jeans, skintight al the way down to her ankles, and denim covered, pointed toed, spike heeled mules.
I al owed myself another moment to marvel at her ability to pul off this ridiculous outfit as if it was the height of couture before she snapped, “Wel ?”
I grabbed my sky-blue lace undies and pul ed them on while saying, “I think I just did something stupid.”
“More stupid than not just lettin’ Mace back into your life without this idiotic rigmarole? Bul ets flyin’, Hot Bunch boys puttin’ their asses on the line, threats against al you al …” Shirleen whirled her finger around to take in al the Rock Chicks. “Stil , you al act like getting a booty cal from one of the Hot Bunch was like being tortured. I just don’t get it.”
“It’s hardly a booty cal , Shirleen. They get in your head, move into your house, push you around, tel you what to do, so damn bossy,” Indy sprang to my defense heatedly as I walked toward the kitchen. In fact, Indy’s words were so heated it seemed she was having a flashback.
Shirleen put a hand to her chest and reared back. “Oh is that it? Wel excuse me! You poor child!” Then she made a snorting sound. “Shee-it, any one of those boys wanted to push me around, I’d say bring it on. Hel , I’d pay for one of
‘em to move into my house. They don’t even have to do me; just walk around so I can watch. Maybe in a towel.” Jules looked at me and rol ed her eyes.
“You don’t understand,” Roxie put in.
“Nope. That’s right, girl, Shirleen does not understand.
So what trauma are we up against now?” Shirleen’s eyes moved to me. “You havin’ too many orgasms or what?”
“Is there such a thing as too many orgasms?” Annette asked before I could answer. Even though I barely knew her and she’d never been to my house in her life, she was opening and closing my cupboard doors, searching for I didn’t know what.
“No, child, that’s the point,” Shirleen replied with barely restrained patience.