Maybe nods. “We’ve all tried to run away at one time or another. It’s really hard to convince a good woman that she’s truly found a good man. You just meet so many people in your life that let you down, you know?”
“Guys, we’re not in a relationship,” I interject, trying to bring these women back to a semblance of reality. “I want to be in the baby’s life, and I think she wants me to be, but we didn’t build this on a foundation of friendship and love and…whatever else your relationships are built on. We slept together one night and made a baby.”
Georgia smirks. “Did you know the only reason Kline asked me out in the first place was so he wouldn’t have to go on a date with a woman his mom was trying to set him up with?”
“Kline?” I ask disbelievingly. That doesn’t seem like the kind of move the level-headed guy I know would make at all.
Georgia nods, eyes knowing. “We’d been working together for over two years with nothing more than basic professional exchanges. I was never even on his radar as someone he might want to date until I was the only one in the office building at the time he desperately needed an out.”
“Thatch and I hated each other’s guts,” Cassie states boldly with a smirk. “I mean, he always loved my tits, but he’s the last motherfluffer I expected to end up with.”
“That actually kind of explains a lot.” I laugh a little and lift my beer to my lips to take a sip.
She shrugs and looks at her nails. “I also fell asleep on his dick the first time we had sex, and hey, he didn’t let that stop him.”
I don’t even get a chance to get the beer in my mouth before I’m choking on it, coughing my way through a fit in an effort not to spray the hoppy liquid across the room.
Before I know it, all the ladies have started to smile.
“Wes and I were work enemies,” Winnie chimes in. “I kept sidelining all of his best players.” I frown and she laughs. “To be fair, they were injured.”
“Literally hated Trent,” Greer says without shame. “He was a snobby, good-looking dickhead, and I was perfect, obviously. But it really took us a while to see the other as anything more than an enemy to crush. I definitely wouldn’t say we built the beginning of our relationship on friendship and love and trust and shit.”
Georgia giggles.
“Milo is my brother Evan’s best friend, and I practically had to drag him into my life kicking and screaming,” Maybe says through an adorable giggle. “I guess his loyalty is a good thing, but man, I wanted to go full-on Slytherin when it was happening.”
Slytherin? Huh?
“Okay,” I mutter, my mind about to explode from the influx of information. “I don’t really understand half of what you just said, but I think I got the gist.”
Ruby smiles as the group turns to her, and then she shakes her head. “I’m pretty sure you know all about Cap’s and my relationship. You had a goddamn book club about it, for shit’s sake. You’re still not forgiven completely, by the way.”
Lena leans in conspiratorially. “Sometimes relationships aren’t planned, dude. If they were, I might have ended up with you or something.” She winks. “Theo and I started with one, fun passionate night too. Look at us now.”
“Yeah,” Cassie says resolutely. “So, basically, Harry, what we’re trying to beat into your brain right now is that you’ve got to fight for your girl.”
I shake my head in wonder. “How did we even get here? As I recall, I didn’t bring up trying to start a relationship with her at all.”
Georgia shrugs. “It’s all in the body language.”
Cassie snorts. “And your big ole fake pregnant body is doing a whole hell of a lot of talking.”
“Guys don’t wear fat suits to work for women they don’t care about,” Winnie says sagely.
Greer rolls her eyes. “Most men don’t even go to the trouble of putting on clean underwear. Good Lord, the dating world is a fucking disaster. Thank God for Trent Turner—ironically, a phrase I, at one time, thought I’d never say.”
“What about you, Emory?” Georgia asks. “How did you and Quince get together? I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard the story.”
Emory blushes and shakes her head, and the women spring on her like vipers.
“Oh my God, now you have to tell us!”
“Holy hell, I need a juicy story!”
“How in the fuck have I not heard this?” That one from her best friend, Greer.
“No.” Emory shakes her head. “This isn’t a story I like to let out into the light of day. Think of me and this story as vampires. We will expire.”
“Well, goddamn,” Greer growls with frustration. “Now we have to know. Especially me. I cannot believe you’ve managed to keep your Twilight meet-cute a secret for this long.”