confrontational. “You mean, like Nick or Lawrence?”
It was Ginny’s mouth that dropped at Kimmy’s spurt of anger. “I was talking more like someone who works in the nightclub or one of the regulars who comes to the shows.”
“Good,” Kimmy snapped. “Because I can tell you for a fact that it wasn’t Nick or Lawrence. Nick was in the meeting before I came in, and Lawrence doesn’t even like you. He told me about the time you asked him out and he turned you down.”
“I didn’t.”
“He says you did.”
“Then he’s lying, or he has me confused with someone else.”
“Maybe I heard him wrong. I’m sorry.”
Kimmy might have apologized, but Ginny saw the doubt in her eyes.
“I’ve never asked Lawrence out, not even on a friendly date. Ask anyone on the band’s staff or the nightclub’s if I’ve ever asked anyone out on a date. I just don’t do that.”
Ginny sent another emoji.
“I can vouch for that,” Nate broke in from where he was standing.
“Me, too.” Sin amusedly corroborated.
Flushing, Ginny swung her head in Nate’s then Sin’s directions.
“I thought we were friends.” Kimmy didn’t try to hide her hurt feelings. “I tell you everything. You didn’t mention you had a stalker or that you were dating someone.”
“We are friends.” Ginny broke off to text another emoji before continuing. “I explained about why I didn’t tell you about the stalker, and I’m not dating anyone.”
“Then I don’t—”
Ginny jumped in her chair when Kimmy suddenly jumped up.
“You’re sneaking behind my back, seeing Lawrence, aren’t you?”
“What? No!” Flabbergasted at Kimmy’s assumption, Ginny wanted to shake some sense into her illogically thinking friend.
“Then why wouldn’t you date? Unless ….”
She had never seen this side of Kimmy before, and the sudden change in her behavior was scaring Ginny.
“You are sneaking around with Lawrence. You come across as a Goody Two-shoes, yet you’re banging him behind—”
“No! I haven’t!” Kimmy’s whack-a-mole reasoning was totally out of the realm from her normal behavior .
“Then who? You spend most of your time with Lawrence before the shows—”
“That’s because he is constantly missing my intro.”
“The only other ones around you are Shade, who’s married, and Rider, who has a girlfriend.”
Ginny’s nerves were already strung up with her room being destroyed and a man missing, so Kimmy’s wild assumptions were sending her over the edge.
“Those aren’t the only men I’ve been around!”
Ginny’s stomach dropped when Kimmy’s face broke into a broad smile.
“It’s Gavin, isn’t it? That’s why you told me he’s attached.”
Ginny wasn’t able to compose her guilty face before Kimmy saw it and misinterpreted the expression as hitting on the truth.
“You’re with Gavin! Wow! You sure nothing is going between you and Lawrence?”
“I’m sure.” Ginny’s concern for her friend’s irrational behavior was replaced by a wave of temper. “And what’s so shocking about me and Gavin?”
Kimmy stared at her as if she had never seen her before. Ginny felt the same toward her. Being locked in the room was dissolving their friendship fast.
“I just imagined him with someone more ….” Kimmy broke off when she realized she was about to put her foot in her mouth again.
“What?” Hurt that Kimmy was right had Ginny sliding to the edge of her chair. “Prettier?”
“Ladies …,” Sin interrupted the budding argument. “Perhaps this isn’t the time—”
“Sexier? Thinner?” Jealousy had Ginny talking before her commonsense could catch up with her. “You’re so worried about Lawrence and me when nothing is there, but it didn’t stop you from asking me if Gavin was attached!”
The Kimmy that Ginny was more familiar with made an appearance. “So, you and Gavin are a couple! You should have just said so! It’s no big deal. I’m so happy!”
At that point, Ginny was about to jinx Kimmy with a wart the size of Pluto on her upper lip when a sound from the doorway had Ginny turning, then wanting to sink to the floor at the sight of Gavin standing there.
“Uh … I …” Ginny had never been so embarrassed in her life. She had unintentionally proven to him that she did live in an alternate universe. “I can explain.” And she would, as soon as she came up with something that made any sense.
“It’s doesn’t matter. I understand. I told you it wouldn’t be an easy secret to keep.”
What secret? Had she missed something? Maybe she drank the same Kool-Aid that Kimmy had?
“Did you find Mason?” Nate asked.
“Yes.” Gavin came to a stop in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “We found him in a freezer in the