My Alexa speaker overrode my playlist, and my best friend’s voice boomed through the room.
“Hello?” I squeaked out my reply.
“Lu?” Ryan asked.
“Yeah. Just a second.” I waved at Caleb, who shook his head at me.
“No,” he mouthed. He gestured for me to call her back.
I quickly rushed over to him and kissed him. “You know that saying bros before hoes?” I whispered against his mouth. “Same applies for girls. Out you go.”
“Are you serious?” He looked down at his straining hard-on.
“Did I interrupt something?” Ryan questioned.
“What? No. Nothing. I was just dancing.” I shooed him out of the seat. “I’ll make it up to you,” I purred before brushing my knuckles down the impressive erection he was sporting.
“You fucking better,” he growled against my ear. He palmed my ass and gripped hard enough that I wavered for a split second.
“Oh,” Ryan said. “Sorry. I’d call back, but it’s kind of important.”
The tone of her voice told me there was no way I could tell her to call back. “Yeah, totally. No problem at all, girl.” There was a touch of regret sitting in my chest as the door closed behind Caleb. “Okay, you have my undivided attention.”
“Was someone there? Oh, man, were you…”
“Nope. All good. Nothing to see here. Was just my neighbor.”
I winced at the blurted half-confession. I still hadn’t told Ry about Caleb. I kept assuming things would just fizzle out, but somehow they only got more tangled between us. Not the bad kind of tangled. More like the twisted sheets and long summer days kind.
“I thought you were dancing.”
“I was.” Abort! “Anyway, it’s not important. You sound stressed, girl. What’s up?”
Man, I sounded like a flake, but she seemed too distracted to notice. I sidestepped the kitchen island and almost turned my ankle.
Being a seductive pole dancer was dangerous work.
“Hurricane Rainbow showed up.”
I bent over to undo my Mary Janes with a wince. Well, that explained Ryan’s frazzled tone. My bestie never enjoyed her motherly visits. That was one thing we had in common. Luckily, mine didn’t actually want to see me.
“Oh, shit. Are you okay?” I stepped out of the heels with a sigh, then went to the fridge. This was not the conversation to have with Patron Silver swimming through my veins. At least Caleb had brought the good stuff this time.
A smile twitched on my lips. No more questionable coconut rum.
I grabbed my pitcher of filtered water and filled a glass. “How much did she want this time?”
“Oh, if it was only just money.” I heard a clunk through the speaker. “So much other stuff is going on.”
I paused with the glass at my lips. “Do you want me to come over?”
“No. I’m heading out with Rainbow.”
“Wait, what?” I took a big swallow of water so I would
n’t start swearing. What the hell was going on? Ryan would never go anywhere willingly with her mother. Mostly because it usually cost her too much money. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”
“She wants to do this road trip thing, and I kinda need to get out of here.”