Shatter (True Believers #4)(51)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Looks like tonight is going to end on a high note for all of us, though,” Tyler said, expression pleased. “It’s the best Girls’ Night they’ve ever had, in my opinion.”

“Way better ending than I would have thought two hours ago,” I admitted. “I thought Kylie and I were done.”

“Are you pretty hot for her?” Riley asked. “Like deep feelings and shit?”

“Yeah.” I would say there were definitely deep feelings and shit.

“Then trust me on this. It’s not done until they say it is.”

“Amen to that,” Tyler said.

“We’re putty in their f**king hands, bro.” Riley saluted me with his beer.

I nodded, feeling the wisdom of that statement. I raised my glass.

I would drink to that.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“So . . .” Jessica said with a grin as we pushed into the restroom. “Things look pretty steamy out here with you and Jonathon.”

I totally didn’t have to pee. I just needed to share with my friends or I was going to burst. “He told me loves me!”

“Really? That’s awesome!” Rory grinned. “I guess you were right not to text him first. I stand corrected.”

“Ah, I know! I’m like so happy!” I couldn’t contain my excitement so I did the cabbage patch in front of the mirror. “He loves me, he loves me.” I capped it off with a few fist-pump, hip-thrust moves.

Jessica snorted. “Oh my God. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen and I have sex with my boyfriend on a waterbed, so that’s saying a lot.”

“I don’t care what you say.” I did a cupid shuffle. Two stomps. “I feel good. I look good. Though I need more lipstick. Jonathon kissed it off.”

Rory pulled out a lipstick. “Here. And I want you to know that it makes me super happy to see you happy. The last six months have been a suckfest for you.”

They had been. But maybe I could appreciate this more because things had been so hard. “Thanks, Rory Bory. That means a lot to me. It did suck.”

“The last Girls’ Night was—”

I held my free hand up to stop Jessica. “OMG! Don’t bring that up. I am still not able to forgive Nathan, but the thing is, he no longer deserves any of my attention. I don’t love him. I never loved the real him. He was someone totally different from who I thought he was so it doesn’t count.”

“I like that you’re able to use his name instead of calling him Voldemort.”

“That’s giving him too much power.” I shrugged. “The thing is, he’s just not a nice person. Jonathon is more than a nice person. He’s a good man.” Suddenly I felt tears in my eyes. “I’m really, really lucky that he was there through all of this with me. Most guys . . .” I couldn’t keep going because I was choked up.

“Oh, honey.” Jessica pulled me into her arms and Rory joined us in a group hug. “I’m sorry that you’ve been through so much.”

Rory said, “You’re right. Most guys wouldn’t have stuck by you. The right guy isn’t most guys, though. That’s how you know he’s worth keeping. He sticks.”

I nodded. “Totally. Now I need to stop or I’m going to eff up my makeup. I don’t want to be puffy and streaky.” I pulled back and wiped at my eyes, sniffling and blinking hard. I fanned myself. “Oh, shit. I think I’m done with the vodka for tonight. My buzz is wearing off and I’m okay with that. I just want to go home and climb Jonathon like a tree.”

“Hello.” Jessica laughed. “Someone’s feeling better.”

Rory said, “I have the absolute worst visuals now. Jess flopping around a waterbed, you in a lumberjack outfit climbing Jonathon . . . I’m going to need to see my boyfriend naked sooner than later to eradicate those bizarre images.”

“And now you just put the thought of your boyfriend naked into my head. Ew.”

“Hey, what do you mean ew? Tyler is—”

“Fabulously hot and hung, I know,” I laughed. “But our oversharing hour ended when we showed up here. You guys don’t mind if I go home with Jonathon, do you?”

“Of course not.” Jessica rubbed her teeth in the mirror. “I think Riley is relieved. He’s going through a bit of an insecure phase. He’s convinced every man within twenty feet of me is hitting on me.”

“What do you think that’s all about?” I asked, adjusting my hat.

“I think he is worried now that we’ve been together for nine months that I’ll decide I don’t want all the baggage he comes with—the house, the mortgage, Jayden and Easton, my dad’s disapproval, etc. So I’ve been working hard to reassure him without coming right out and saying, hey, don’t worry. Because he doesn’t have any reason to worry. I love my life and I love my life with him.”

“Okay, we really do have to get out of this restroom,” Rory said. “Or I’m going to get emotional myself. Tyler doesn’t worry about other men hitting on me. He worries that he doesn’t make enough money and that I’ll be embarrassed of him. Like I give a shit about money. What I give a shit about is that he’s a great guy.”

“The male ego. We must treat it like it’s glass.”

“Hmm.” I decided to go pee after all and as I went into the stall I wondered what Jonathon’s ego trigger was. So far I didn’t think I could pinpoint what was his real or imagined flaw. My only issue, which was more observation than issue, was that he could be very literal sometimes.

On that thought I flushed and decided I wasn’t going to think about any of that stuff tonight. I could worry about that when I was where Jessica and Rory were with their boyfriends, nine months and over a year in.

“I find it quite adorable that you are dating a genius,” Rory said as I washed my hands. “He looks at you so bewildered, like he can’t crack the equation on why you’re into him.”

I laughed. “He does not.”

When we came back out of the restroom and went up to the bar, all three guys turned to watch our approach. I didn’t bother to look and see how Tyler and Riley ogled my friends, I was too busy sticking my hands in my front pockets and putting a sway in my hips to impress Jonathon, enjoying the hungry look on his face as he stared at me.

“You took forever in there,” Riley complained.