I sat up. “What did she say I was?”
“She said you were funny and smart and sexy as hell, and all those things were true. But you were so much more.”
“That’s why you stayed away? Because you had feelings for me that went beyond sex?” My heart started to gallop in my chest.
“Yes. I had feelings for you. Coming back again wouldn’t have been fair to Lynn.” Her eyes darted around the room and then came back to land on me again. “Did you have feelings for me too?” she asked quietly. “You know what…” she suddenly blurted, “…don’t answer that.” She got up and went back to the bathroom. When she came out, I was still in the same place.
“I did,” I said succinctly. “I did have feelings for you. I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I did. Of course I did.” I flopped back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I didn’t want to. But I couldn’t stop it.”
“You like me?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“I more than like you,” I admitted just as quietly.
“How many women have you had sex with?”
I closed my eyes tightly. “Four,” I admitted.
“So there’s Lynn, and me, and…two more?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Silence descended on the room. “During your whole lifetime, there have only been four?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
I covered my eyes with my forearms. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“The other two, they were after you met Lynn?”
“Yes.”
“One of them was Ash, right?”
I nodded, but couldn’t say the words.
“Jesus, Mason,” she cried. “Fuck! You’ve gone through her entire friend list.”
“Not the whole list.”
“You fucked Jamie, too.”
“Yes.”
“And Shelly?”
“No. Never.” I uncovered my eyes. “I have never fucked Shelly. Ever.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “No wonder she hates your guts,” she muttered.
I lifted my head to stare at her. “What?”
“Shelly’s a vain bitch, Mason. She’s the only one of us you’ve turned down.”
“I never turned her down. I just never had any desire to.”
She snorted. “Why not? Shelly’s hot.”