“Hey, hooker. It’s about time you called. I was debating calling the police.”
“Shut up, I texted you from breakfast.” Juliette grinned as she sank into the chair.
“Was it in bed?”
She snorted. “No. Listen, I’m ready to come clean. I’ve been hiding it for long enough.”
“Wow,
so this just got serious?” Joey asked.
“Very.”
“Hang on. Let me get the other girls in on this call. They’ll never forgive us if I get all the details first.” Joey’s voice faded. Juliette relaxed while she called and connected the other girls.
“Okay, are we all here?” Joey asked a few minutes later.
“Yes,” Evonne and Hilary replied.
“I have a confession to make. You remember the guy I met at the bar, Shooter?”
Hilary snickered. “Like we could forget him.”
“Right,” Evonne said.
“Well, I saw him again.”
“What?” Evonne asked.
“You’ve been keeping secrets,” Hilary said.
“I didn’t want to say anything, in case it all crashed and burned.”
“Joey’s quiet, so she knew,” Hilary said. The hurt in her voice made Juliette wince. She never meant to hurt anyone.
“Hey, I’m the least judgmental of us. Someone had to keep tabs and be ready to give me the emergency, get-me-out-of-this-date-now call,” Joey said.
“True,” Evonne said.
“All right, if you’re telling us now, that means this is serious,” Hilary said.
“After last night, it very much is,” Juliette said.
“Okay, they’re all caught up. Now give us the goods. You know we’re all living vicariously through you. I about died when you picked the baddest motherfucker in the place to go sinning with.” Joey’s amusement read over the phone loud and clear.
“Go sinning? Really?” Juliette giggled. The image of Shooter’s dark head buried between her legs made her bite her bottom lip. She pressed her thighs together and refocused on the conversation.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Joey countered.
The vulnerability she’d glimpsed in his eyes made her smile. Beneath the larger-than-life persona was a man who’d been hurt. “You’re not wrong. Shooter is amazing. Everything you’d think he’d be. There’s more to him than meets the eye, though. I don’t know that I’d call it a sensitive side but less than cocky for sure.”
“Wait, is this going to be a repeating thing?” Evonne asked. A hushed silence fell.
“I think so. He made it pretty clear if I was looking for a one-night stand he wasn’t interested.”
“What?” The echoed statement exploded out of the speaker, making her wince.
“Tell me exactly what he said. I speak M.C.,” Joey said.