Page 75 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“You too.”

The rest of the day went by quickly. I hadn’t talked to Stephen again, and I did my best to ignore him behind me. When five o’clock rolled around, I was out the door. This weekend was the start of my whole new life. I could feel it.

I waved when I saw Christa and bounded over to her car. No sense sticking around. She was out of there just as quickly before Stephen or Adam came out.

“So.” She slapped my thigh. “Whatcha in the mood for tonight?”

“A movie sounds good, but I’m not really up for going out. How about we stay in and watch one? We can order some takeout from A.J.’s.”

She smiled wide. “I was going to suggest the same thing.”

“Now that you have time, what was up with Adam? Since I’m friends with the guy and I have to work with him, it was a little weird seeing him sneaking out this morning.”

“Sorry about that. We tried going back to his place but”—she shrugged—“I don’t know. I couldn’t get comfortable or something. He has this freaky neighbor who was eyeballing me from the yard over. I ended up asking him to come here. I figured you were already sleeping by that point.”

“I was. I didn’t hear a thing. He must’ve sucked in bed.”

She laughed. “No, he was pretty damn great. No complaints there.”

Good. At least his ego was well-deserved. “Please tell me you were safe, though.”

She gave me a sideways look. “What does that mean?”

“You know what it means. Adam was your first guy back after the pregnancy scare. I don’t want you to ever have to go through that again.”

“I messed up one time, Perry. It won’t happen again. You don’t think I’m capable of learning my lesson?”

She sounded annoyed, and that wasn’t my objective. “That’s not what I meant. I was just checking in on my best friend, okay? And I care about Adam too, so—”

“What, Stephen’s not enough to keep on the side? You also need Adam?”

What?What. The. Fuck? She was staring straight ahead, mouth tight.What the hell just happened here?

“What is your problem, Christa?”

“All right, maybe the ‘Adam’ comment was out of line. I know you only see him as a friend, but what about Stephen, huh?”

“What about Stephen? I’m not fucking keeping anyone on the side.” She snorted. I was seriously wondering who this personality was sitting beside me. “In fact, you were the one who was pushing me to sleep with him when you knew damn well I’m in a relationship with Dre.”

“Yeah, right. The only thing you’re in is denial. Don’t you realize what you’re doing here? Stephen’s the one you want, yet you continue to lead Dre on. Do you think it’s okay to just do whatever you want? You can’t have everyone, Perry.”

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I was fucking speechless. I lay my head back on the seat and stared at the ceiling. Christa was… I didn’t know what the hell she was. It was almost as if she was defending Dre when only a week ago she couldn’t even say his name without wanting to kill him and then spit on his grave.

Neither of us spoke the rest of the way. She pulled into our lot and parked. Then she slumped over the wheel, shaking her head. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Perry.”

I touched her arm. “Explain to me what just happened here.”

“Let’s go inside.”

Once we were in the kitchen and she’d poured a glass of wine, she said, “I may have overreacted a bit. About Dre.”

“Overreacted about what?”

“Well, I found out that Miss Skank Trainer was working at the gym last weekend when Dre was gone. So I guess they weren’t together.”

“What! Are you shitting me?”

“I’m not saying that I’m no longer suspicious of his ability to be faithful, but he might have been telling the truth this time.”

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