“My sister, Chloe’s mom? She’s bi. Every time she dates a man who pisses her off, she ends up dating nothing but women for like twelve months. She’s my hero. Makes me wish I didn’t like penis so much.”
Joel set a Bloody Mary with a floating stick of bacon in front of Sloane and didn’t bat an eye at the word penis.
I winced. “Please don’t say penis.”
“My experience with Knox’s equipment is almost twenty years old. So I can only imagine how much better he’s gotten with age,” Lina said with sympathy.
“You know, with this whole guardianship, maybe it’s just better to focus on being a parent figure and forget about being a woman with…”
“Sexual needs?” Sloane filled in.
I picked up my wine. “How many glasses would it take to forget about sex?”
“Usually around one and a half bottles. But that comes with a hangover that cuts you off at the knees for three days, so I wouldn’t recommend,” Lina said.
“He really made me believe,” I whispered.
Joel lined up the shots in front of us, and I stared at mine.
“I know he said things wouldn’t go anywhere. But he made me believe. He kept showing up. Not just for me, but for Waylay too.”
“Back the truck up. Knox Morgan? Spent time with your kid? Willingly?”
“He took her shopping. He showed up at her soccer game and got her to stop swearing. He told her that strong people stand up for the ones who can’t stand up for themselves. He picked her up at a sleepover. Watched football with her.”
Lina shook her head. “He’s so fucked up.”
“All men are,” Sloane said.
Joel stopped and gave her the eye.
“Except you, Joel. You’re a hero among villains,” she amended.
With a nod, he handed over a fresh glass of wine for me and vanished again.
Sloane attached herself to the straw of her drink like it was a protein shake after a body building competition.
“Okay, seriously. What’s going on with you?” I asked. “Does this have something to do with Lucian last night?”
“Lucian? Now, that’s a sexy name,” Lina said.
Sloane snorted.
“A sexy name to go with a sexy man,” I agreed.
“There is nothing sexy about Lucian Rollins,” Sloane said when she came up for air.
“Okay. You’re definitely lying. Either that or an entire section of the Dewey Decimal System fell on your head.”
She shook her head and picked up her shot. “I’m not talking about Lucian. None of us are talking about Lucian. We’re talking about Knox.”
“Can we stop talking about him?” I asked. It felt like an X-Acto knife to the heart every time I heard his name.
“Of course,” Lina said.
“Cheers,” Sloane said, lifting her shot glass.
We clinked glasses and knocked back the whiskey.
A man with a toothpick dangling precariously from his mouth wandered up and leaned an elbow on the bar, crowding Lina. His t-shirt didn’t quite cover the belly that peeked out over the top of his black jeans.
“Which one of you ladies wants to come check out the back of my bike?”
Joel lined up another round of shots in front of us.
Lina picked up her shot. Sloane and I followed suit and knocked them back. She put the glass down on the bar, and before Toothpick knew what was happening, she had the stiletto of her boot digging into his chest.
“Go away before I make you bleed in front of your friends,” she said.
“I like her and her shoes,” Sloane whispered next to me.
“Christ, Python, leave ’em alone before your old lady shows up and cuts off your balls.”
“Listen to the nice man, Python,” Lina said, giving him a shove with her foot. He slid down the bar a foot, then put his hands up.
“Just askin’。 Didn’t know you were lesbos.”
“Because that’s the only reason we wouldn’t want to fuck you, right?” Sloane said.
Sloane was a lightweight, and she’d already had two shots and a very strong Bloody Mary.
“Can we maybe get some water?” I asked Joel.
He nodded, then cupped his hands. “Listen up, assholes. The ladies aren’t lookin’ for a ride or a good time. Next idiot who bothers them is gettin’ thrown out.”
There was a general muttering around us, and then everyone went back to what they were doing.
“Joel, are you married?” I asked.
He held up his left hand to show me a gold band.