“Cause they went in there for girl time,” Echo explains. “That shit is sacred or something. You don’t interrupt it without a damn good reason. It’s like female church.”
I look at Shadow, and we both burst into laughter.
“What? I’m serious. D’rose and your old lady are scary together, Shadow. You add Ruthie, and hell no, I’m not butting in,” Echo mumbled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“Luckily, I’m braver,” I say.
“No just stubborn and ignorant,” Echo teases.
“If I were you, I’d be using this time to figure out what the hell I was going to say,” Shadow suggests.
“That I’m sorry, and I didn’t realize it was out of bounds for her?”
“You’re going to have to do better than that, brother.” Shadow shakes his head.
“I’ve never had to use fancy words with her. She gets what I’m trying to say,” I defend with a scowl.
“That was before you broke her trust,” Echo reminds me.
“You come at her with that lame ass excuse, and she’s going to eat you alive and spit out your bones,” Shadow states firmly. He takes a long draw of off his beer.
I question my plan. Maybe I screwed things up worse than I thought. I’m not in the habit of filming my exploits. Part of me knew she might find it. I’ve never been a coward, but feelings make a person irrational. Damn.
“If you want that chance, they’re coming out right now,” Echo announces.
“Um, yeah.” I walk toward them still dazed by the ‘a-ha’ moment I had. I approach her, and she continues past me. I grab her wrist. “Hey, I want to talk to you.”
“Too bad, because I don’t want to speak to you. I might be irrational.”
“Look I was wrong with the way I handled what happened.”
“No, you were wrong for doing it in the first place.”
“We never set down guidelines.”
“Hah. I didn’t know I needed to do that.” She crosses her arms over her breasts.
I can’t help admiring them. I swear they’re bigger than I remember. “Look we both came into this for fun. Then things got serious. We rode the wave, letting us take it where it wanted, instead of talking about it. That’s where we went wrong.”
“We?” She narrows her gaze.
“Okay, me. I’ve never done this.”
“Done what? We never even put a name to what we were doing.”
“If that’s what you needed you should’ve told me, Ruthie. I’m not a mind reader.”
“And I’m not a pushover.” She unfolds her arms and places her hands on her hips. “You don’t get to run around doing whatever and whoever you want while I’m back at home waiting for you like an idiot.”
“I know you’re upset, but it’s not like I had sex with her.”
“Right? So, it’s okay if someone gives me head.”
“Fuck no.” The thought of another man touching her intimately makes me growl.
“Double standards don’t fly with me. We agreed we’d be honest and upfront.”
“And I have been,” I defend. I’m frustrated by her inability to see how much I changed for her.