Body Shots (Masters of Pleasure 2)

She had no idea how long she’d lain there. Twenty minutes, maybe longer. When she finally stood, Crystal looked in her mirror and saw her swollen eyes and red, blotchy cheeks. She pictured Trent’s large form filling the car, anger filling his normally kind eyes.

Crystal pried her eyes away from the mirror and headed to the bathroom. When Richard had served her with the divorce papers, it’d been like she’d been handed a new lease on life. She’d invested time in the relationship. Energy. Only to have two years of her life wasted on Richard.

Trent was a far different story. Being with him made her feel like a woman. Vibrant and adventurous. Scared and happy. She’d wanted to experience things with him, the good and the bad. She’d let her defenses down. Now she was left a bleeding mess. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

An hour later, Mollie came home. When she saw Crystal on the couch scarfing down a tub of ice cream she said, “Oh no, that can’t be good.”

“Men suck.”

Mollie sighed and sat down beside her, then plucked the ice cream out of her hand. “Some men do, yes. But not all of them.”

“I’m convinced your Alex was the last good one left on this earth.”

Mollie cocked her head to the side. “Wait, are we mad at Trent or Mac? Or both?”

“Trent. Mac didn’t do anything wrong. He’s been wonderful, actually.”

“But Trent stuck his foot in it, huh?”

“He offered to have me move in with him. He seemed to think it was a good solution to my lack of a permanent home.”

“Okay, so far that doesn’t sound horrible.”

“When I told him I wanted my own space, he added the kicker. He offered to pay to keep me.”

“Oh snap, he did not,” Mollie gritted out. “What the hell was he thinking?”

“I suspect he wasn’t thinking with the right head,” Crystal replied. “The jerk.”

Mollie handed her back the ice cream. “Go ahead, you need it.”

Crystal smiled as she went to work on the double fudge. “I’m going to hate myself later, but to hell with it.”

“Crystal?”

“Yeah?” she said around a mouthful of creamy deliciousness.

“Are you in love with Trent?”

“I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’m head over heels for both of them,” she said, admitting it for the first time. “I’m sorry for being such a Grumpy Gus. I’m lucky to have a friend like you. I really mean that, Mollie.”

“We’re lucky to have each other,” Mollie said as she patted her on the shoulder. “Now, what are you going to do about this little quandary?”

Crystal frowned. “Eat myself into a sugar coma?”

She chuckled. “You could do that, but you need to think about something else before you head down that depressing road.”

“What?”

“Look, I’ve seen the way Trent looks at you. The way Mac looks at you.”

Crystal wrapped her hands around the cold cardboard carton. This was one of those moments that was sort of like ripping off a bandage: she needed to get it over with fast and with as little pain as possible. “I’ve made love to both Mac and Trent. At the same time. More than once. And it was fan-freaking-tastic. But that doesn’t mean Trent wants more than sex from me. I’m convenient, that’s all.”

Mollie blushed. “Okay, that sure does paint a picture. Still, I don’t think Trent thinks of you that way. If he only wanted a convenient sex partner, he could have his pick at Kinks.”

Crystal slumped, feeling awful as she thought of Trent moving on to someone else. “Yeah, there’d be a line of women if he snapped his fingers. Damn it.”

“So, do something about it, then. Get that man back,” Mollie said as she swatted Crystal on the thigh.