Jesus. GG may text like a pro, but she still can’t get the name right. ‘Touchin’ with the ladies’ as she calls it means she has been texting with the town gossips.
“This cannot be happening, GG!” I yell, knowing full well that she doesn’t filter her messages, and that means my mother has been getting updates on my plans for a one-night stand. Groaning, I place my face in my hands. “After everything that went down with Erick, the only thing I want is to get laid in peace, is that so much to ask for?”
“Don’t you go GG-ing me. I am all up to date on these one-nighters. That floozy Jillian Carter taught us all about them last night at card group. How it goes is, you don’t need no roses, just…”
Lanie and I burst out laughing.
“GG, Jillian Carter aside, that is a country song… listen,” Lanie says while pulling up Apple music, “it’s called One Night Standards by Ashley McBryde.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. I wondered why I was singin’ it. Must have heard it on the radio. Anyway, it is all decided. We got you some of these,” GG throws an entire pack of condoms on my kitchen table and I about die right there. “We also decided that you’d better get practicing that secret code you girls used to write in so you can email Lanes to get you out of trouble if there are any issues.”
Whack. Whack. Whack. “That’s my head hitting the kitchen table.”
“Well, of course, it is. I can see that, you silly child, now knock that shit off.”
GG has never understood when it was my inner dialogue escaping me.
“You know, that might not be a terrible idea, Jules,” Lanie chimes in. “We could use that old email address you created in college, the one for the fake business.”
In college, I had created an elaborate rescue plan in case one of Lanie’s dates turned out to be a serial killer. What? It was a totally responsible thing to do. It was better than a fake phone call. We had an entire system worked out. She would text me in full view of the guy if he was a creeper, letting me know she had arrived safely, and that would be my cue to send the work message. A few minutes later, she would get an email that came with alarms and buzzing, alerting her to a work emergency. She would open the message, and he would see the company logo front and center. I know what you’re thinking. A phone call from a sick friend would have been faster, but whatever, this is what worked for us.
“Lanie, are you serious? We are adults now; we don’t need to be making up bullshit.”
“It’s this or I’ll come with you,” GG informs me, knowing full well that would put an end to my one-night stand mission.
“Ugh, fine! Fine. Lanie, do you remember how to decipher the code if I have to write it?” We had also come up with our own secret coding language years before, and I knew tossing that out there would get GG off my back for a while.
“I’ve got my cheat sheet at home,” Lanie says, laughing and bouncing on her toes like a sugared-up toddler.
“Good, I reckon I’ve done my bit then. You girls get to eatin’ before it gets cold.” GG stands and gives me a swat to the head—her version of a hug. “Be safe out there, Jules, and Lanie, I’ll expect some touchin’ updates.”
“Texts,” Lanie and I both yell after her. She just raises her hand and shuffles out the door.
There is always a sense of what the hell just happened after an encounter with GG, but this one might go down in the record books. Sitting across from Lanie at the table, neither of us move. We are both a little shell-shocked, but then she grins.
“Back to the one-night stands,” she sing-songs. “So, the rules. No actual names. Never leave the bar unless you are one-hundred percent sure you want the guy. Never go back to your own room and sneak out as soon as you possibly can.”
“You know a lot about one-night stands for someone who’s never had one,” I say skeptically.
“I’ve been doing my research. If you are hell-bent on having a little fun while you’re down there, we will do it right.” Lanie is grinning so broadly now, it makes me nervous. “Let’s get moving, it’s almost time for you to hit the road.”
Chapter 3
-The Wolf, Mumford & Sons
Trevor
Looking up one last time at the house that had once been my heaven and my hell, I put the car in reverse and back out. My knuckles are white as I grip the steering wheel, but I just need to get the fuck out of here. The shitstorm in my head is threatening to take over and I can’t let it. Not yet. I know the monster thinks he has won, but I know differently.
“He will get what’s coming to him,” Loki says, stirring me from my thoughts. Glancing over, I notice he is already on the phone. “Magnet phi, I need ears on target alpha. We’re expediting this package.”
Truthfully, I don’t really know what any of that meant, but I know Loki. He has been my friend since middle school. He, Dexter, Preston, and I have been a tight unit ever since. After college, he went to work in intelligence but has never really explained what he does. I’m not sure he can. These days, we just get a text from him saying he is ‘going dark’ for a while, and he will be in touch when he can. When we don’t hear from him for weeks on end, it’s a fucking nightmare. I often wonder if he knows how much we worry about him.
This last time, Loki had been gone for about three months when he showed up on my doorstep.
“Dude! You’re back,” I say, opening the door and embracing my friend. The worry I’d been carrying around while he was away vanishing instantly. “Why didn’t you let us know? Should I call Dex? Get him and Pres over here for a beer?”
“It’s good to see you, Trev, but I think we had better talk before we reach out to the guys,” he tells me.
Something in Loki’s demeanor tells me I won’t like what he has to say, and I’m on edge immediately. Waving him in, I take a deep breath and steel myself for what's to come.
“Trevor?” Loki questions and I realize I’ve yet to pull out onto the main road. Nodding once, I pull into traffic and know that, from this day forward, my only goal in life will be to bring an end to my very own father.
“I’m good,” I tell him. “I have to get to Dexter’s. I promised to stay with Tate so he could get the papers processed with the attorney. You want to come?”
Loki speaks, his voice full of disgust, “Had I known how badly Bitchzilla would fuck our man up, I would have been more of a dick to her from the start.”
Meeting him over the center console for a fist bump, I nod in silent agreement.
“Who the hell can walk away from their kids like that? What is she thinking?” Loki asks.
“I don’t know, man.” I say, shaking my head, trying to focus on my friend and the nightmare he has brewing now that his soon-to-be ex-wife dropped the bombshell of wanting a divorce, ten-thousand dollars, and no contact with her own kids.
“Dex will be even more messed up because this is what his mother did to him,” Loki says, speaking a truth we know all too well.
The four of us are all close, but Dex and I have been there for each other since we were barely walking. My mother treated him like her own until they took her from us. Now it’s Preston’s mom who has adopted us all.