Page 55 of Stone

His arm dropped, and he visibly gulped before murmuring, “Baby, I—”

“Hi,” I said brightly, eyes slashing toward the girl. “I’m Elise, John’sgirlfriend.”

“Oh,” she murmured, shifting away from him uncomfortably. “I’m Tammi.”

“Nice to meet you.” My eyes slid back to John, my lip curling distastefully. “I see you’re busy, so I’ll leave you to your hard work.” Turning my back, I strutted toward the exit, ignoring John when he called after me.

Pushing the door open, I stepped into the sunshine, dazed by what had just happened.

I loved John, and I knew he loved me, but lately, he’d taken me for granted. Not one part of me suspected he was cheating, or ever would, but when did it become okay for him to put his hands on another woman that way? Was this a one-off, or something he always did when I wasn’t around? Was this normal for him?

Pulling Bessie’s door open, I went to climb into the driver’s seat but was stopped.

“Leave me alone, John,” I said, my voice husky with tears. “We can talk later.”

“Why you mad, Duchess?” he demanded, pulling my arm to turn me to face him. “Nothin’s goin’ on between Tammi and me.”

“I know,” I retorted heatedly. “But when I walk into a building—our building—and see you with your arm around another girl, it hurts me.”

He looked to the heavens and heaved out a breath. “It’s nothin’. I’m just bein’ friendly, is all. It’s the way we are with the club girls; there’s nothing in it.”

My heart jerked painfully. “You do that all the time?”

“Well, yeah.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if touching a half-dressed woman who wasn’t me was the most normal thing in the world.

“Right,” I muttered.

His eyebrows snapped together. “Right?”

It was my turn to shrug nonchalantly. “If it’s okay for you to get touchy-feely with half-dressed women, I’ll go change into my daisy dukes, find a willing man, and put my arms around him.”

His face paled.

“See you later,” I sang breezily, turning back toward Bessie.

“Elise,” John barked.

I turned my head to peer at him over my shoulder. “Yes, John?”

He scraped an exasperated hand down his face. “It won’t happen again. I’ll go back inside now and tell the girls to leave.”

My lips curved into a satisfied smile. I turned around and leaned back against Bessie, folding my arms across my chest. “I’ll wait here for them to go. You know, just in case you wanna get friendly again and kiss one of them goodbye.”

John’s eyes narrowed on me. “No need to get on my case, Elise.”

I cocked a knowing eyebrow and muttered, “You ain’t seen nothing yet, Stone.”

He sighed, turned, and stomped toward the building, disappearing through the door for a few minutes until he appeared again, followed by the girls and one of the brothers. One by one, they got into the back of the van, calling their goodbyes to John.

Tammi went to follow but stopped, turned, and gave me a wave.Sorry,she mouthed, then climbed in with the other girls, flashing the majority of her ass.

John closed the doors and watched the van slowly drive away before making his way toward me with a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry,” he muttered, taking my hands in his. “I was an asshole.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been cozying up to the club girls while you’ve been with me,” I berated gently. “I know there’snothing in it, but you must have known it would make me uncomfortable.”

“It’s just the way we are with ‘em,” he argued. “Like a way of life.”

“Does your dad do it?” I asked.

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