the bed. There. Now it looks like home, if I can ignore the cat in my windowsill and the smell of cigarette smoke.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Becca inquires, coming in and drying her hair with a towel. “What’s wrong now?”
I imagine my face is pinched. “Kent got arrested. Sophie, the good friend she is, informed me thus.”
“Do I even want to know what for?”
“No, but I can guarantee you I don’t have a job anymore.”
“What did he do? Go there looking for you? He told me to get you away from him. What could he possibly want?”
Can’t be me. I’m not different. “Who knows with him?” I want to know. I want to know everything Kent Nicholson has to say.
Becca purses her lips. “What are we going to do? You need to talk to your boss.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow.” I’d rather not face him after Kent. Embarrassment moves through me. I can picture him on one of his rampages, roughing everyone up to get to me. And for what? He doesn’t need me. He wants me. He’s a spoiled brat who wants something he can’t have. “Jackass,” I mutter. “We’ll figure it out. Maybe you can get your old job back?”
“I’ll check.” She sits on the floor and grabs my purse, coming away with my hairbrush. “You look like shit.”
“Thank you. That makes me feel so much better. What would I do without your kind words?”
“You’re always such a smart ass.”
My heart twinges. “You know what? I will go out. I’m going to get shitfaced and forget he ever existed.”
Becca smiles at herself in my compact. “Not too shitfaced.”
I am determined to forget Kent tonight. Tomorrow night is a different story. I’ll probably have to do it all over again. The idea exhausts me, but I don’t see another choice at this point. Is this what Kent did as he tried to forget Willow?
Becca’s applying the final touches to her face when I close the door behind me, showered and damp. She’s stunning, with green rimming her eyes and bright red lips. She looks beautiful and dangerous.
“Do my makeup too?” I ask, sitting down with my towel wrapped around me. She makes me beautiful and dangerous too. “Are you going home with anyone tonight?”
She smirks. “I don’t know. We’ll see how the night goes.”
“How do you give a man a piece of you knowing he doesn’t care about it?”
“I’m not giving him anything. He’s giving a piece of him. It’s really not that serious. You’re not giving men anything unless you want to.”
“It’s unsafe.” I gave so much to Kent when we had sex. I couldn’t imagine giving that to another man.
“That’s why you always have condoms. Don’t fall for their shit.” She starts mimicking male voices. “It feels better without it. I’m too big. It’s not going to fit. I’ll pull out, I promise. Never fall for that last one. They never pull out.”
I laugh at her. “How could you?”
“Trust me, some women do. Did you and Kent use protection?”
I look down at my hands. “Yes.”
“Condoms?” she checks.
“Yes.”
“Every time?”
“Mhm.”
“Good. At least he had enough sense to do that. Now get dressed. You can’t even tell you’ve been crying for the last twenty four hours.”
I stick my tongue out and pick through my clothes. My phone starts to ring on the bed. Becca looks at me and I look down. It rings again while I’m putting on a pair of shorts. I put on a cute white top and then rummage through my stuff for my pair of wedges. I comb my hair and tie in a ponytail. The entire time we ignore my ringing phone.
“Leave it here,” Becca orders when I reach for it. “We’ll stick together tonight. You won’t even need it.”
I peek at it. Ten missed calls. Ten new messages. I can’t see who they’re from on my way out but those ten missed calls haunt me. We meet Claire in the living room.
“Taxi’s almost here,” she announces. “Let’s pregame. I don’t have money to waste on ten dollar shots.”
I raise my eyebrows but take the proffered shot of tequila.
“That’s why you get men to pay for it for you,” Becca points out. “I’m sure Max won’t mind.”
“Max won’t mind what?” a deep male voice wonders.
I turn around and spot a large muscled mass of a man. My jaw drops at his size. He’s huge. His buzz cut and kind brown eyes offset his strong jaw and handsome face. He smiles at my