“And the answer is?” I say.
“I’m with Mick. You need to come clean,” Dean says. “Honesty is the best policy.”
Logan shakes his head. “Sharing things with people that aren’t meant to be shared only results in hurt feelings. Keep it to yourself but don’t buy more art unless absolutely necessary.”
I figured that Logan would come down on my side. After all, he’s kept his feelings toward Renoir to himself for years because she has a boyfriend, and he never wanted to be the kind of guy who would ruin someone’s life for his own pleasure. Had Renoir ever shown one sign of being unhappy, he would have rushed in and swooped her up without hesitation.
“Logan and Tommy say no while Dean and Mick say yes on confessing.” I tally up the votes.
“You’re the tie-breaker,” Tommy points out. He leans forward, elbows on knees, the beer bottle dangling between his fingers. The rest of the guys eye me speculatively.
“If I knew, would you all be here having pizza and beer?” I scrub my hands down my face.
“Yes? Because you love us and pizza and beer is your way of showing your feelings,” Tommy declares.
“And strippers!” Dean chirps. “Strippers are the way you should always express your thanks for us being great friends.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Dean.” I slam my beer bottle on the table. “Enough with the strippers. I’ll make sure Dad hires them for your birthday, but I won’t be there.”
“I wouldn’t want you there anyway. You’re not a hot young thing taking your clothes off and grinding in my lap.”
“Hey, don’t cut down ol’ Book like that.” Mick smirks. “He can take off his clothes and grind on your lap if that’s what you really want.”
“I will not, you asshole.” I throw my empty bottle at his head. The catcher has no problem snatching it out of the air.
“I wonder how the market is for male strippers,” Dean muses. “I don’t think I’d mind taking off my clothes for women in exchange for money. It seems like some easy coin. I could get that Celica and have it wrapped in electric blue vinyl with a white wing on the side.” He stretches his hand across an imaginary door panel. “How many gigs would I have to book?”
“Isn’t that a question you should ask Sherry and Nina and not us?” suggests Mick.
“I’m changing my mind,” Logan says suddenly.
“About what? Strippers?” Dean says.
“No.” Logan shakes his head. He turns to me, a serious expression on his face. “Tell Carrie. Be honest with her; otherwise you might lose her, and that would be worse than coming clean.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Carrie
I sit outside of some fancy condos wondering why Booker is here. He turned down freaking sex to rush over here, so there must be something special inside this place. Oh, this place actually does look like somewhere he’d really be helping his mom. I pull out my cell phone and give her a call. She answers after one ring.
“Hey, sweetheart. Will you be here for dinner tonight?” I can hear the smile in her voice. Why can’t my mom be like her sometimes?
“Oh, I’m not sure. I was calling because Booker forgot his phone and he mentioned he was helping you so—”
“Helping me?” she repeats. “No. I’m not sure where he’s off to, but if I see him before you, I’ll let him know about his phone.”
“Thanks,” I say before I hang up.
I hate the guilt that gnaws at me for lying to her. She’s so nice. I blame Booker. This is clearly all his fault. I check the time again, wondering how long he’s going to be in there. My mind races with thoughts of what exactly it is he’s doing inside that place. Why would he lie to me about helping his mom?
This is bullshit. I toss my crap into the passenger seat before getting out of the car. I’m over this. Booker went and made me fall in love with him, and now he’s playing these weird games with me. I hate that whatever is going on is making me second-guess myself.
When we left the hotel last weekend, Booker had bitched and moaned about that fact that we weren’t going to be together every night. So much so that he had talked me into staying at his place that first night. I’d gotten a pass to come and go from Grams, so there had been no reason to stop. Except clearly there had been.
It doesn't take me too long to locate which condo Booker is most likely inside of. I recognize the voices of the rest of the baseball team instantly. Why the hell would he lie about hanging out with his friends? That’s beyond stupid. All he had to do was tell me he wanted to hang with the boys. I would have been fine with it. I bang on the door because I didn’t come this far to turn back now. I’m going to find out what the heck is going on.