“You’re asking if this is just about me wanting to fuck her?” Incredulity rang from my voice so strongly that even I heard it. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” she replied without taking a breath to think about it. “Let’s face it. You don’t have the best track record with her, Tanner. You keep hurting her, and I swear to everything that is holy, if that’s what this is about or if you’re going to fuck around with her, I’m blocking your number on her phone as soon as I hang up. She’ll never even know I did it. My husband is in cybersecurity. He can help me hide my tracks.”
“Hey, leave me out of it,” I heard a masculine voice objecting in the background, and I grinned. At least it didn’t sound like he wanted my balls served up on a silver platter for hurting his wife’s bestie.
Even so, there was something else that she’d said that required my attention before I asked about her husband. “What do you mean I keep hurting her? I’ve never hurt her.”
She snorted so loudly, I heard it above the pulsating music. “Well, then I guess you’ll be going to the blocked list. Goodbye, Ta—“
“No, just wait,” I yelled, jumping up. I glanced down at my sweatpants and T-shirt. “What club are you at? I need to talk to her, Brit. Please? If I hurt her, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, and apart from that incident in the park months ago, I really don’t know what I did that could’ve hurt her. Whatever it was, I’m pretty sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”
If it hadn’t been for the fact that I could still hear the music, I’d have thought she’d hung up on me. “A misunderstanding, huh? That would make a lot more sense. So are you going to tell me about these feelings? If they’re not just about getting back in her pants, what are they?”
I cursed under my breath and shoved my hand into my hair. “I’d really rather be having this conversation with her, but sure. Why not talk to you about it when I haven’t even told her yet? They’re real, okay?”
“Be an asshole about it, why don’t you?” she muttered, but it was still loud enough to hear. “I just had to make sure before I told you where we were. I can’t be responsible for bringing you here if you’re only going to hurt her again.”
“I won’t,” I promised. “Where are you?”
She sighed. “Club Tee. We’ve only just gotten here, so we’ll be here for a while. Bring your remorse, okay?”
“You got it.” I turned in my tracks and jogged upstairs. “Just stay there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
After she hung up, I scrambled to find something to wear that was more appropriate for clubbing than my hangover clothes. I couldn’t wait to see Larisa again, but I also couldn’t show up there smelling like an old distillery.
Yeah, I definitely needed to shower, too. After I found some clothing, I raced to my bathroom and had the world’s fastest shower. Once I’d gotten dressed and I was on my way, I thought back to my conversation with Brit.
The fact that she’d told me where they were and that she seemed supportive of me going if I had real feelings for Larisa had to be a good sign. Right?
Right. It had to be, but that didn’t mean that I was in the clear just yet. There was a long way to go before I would be, and I didn’t even know if I’d ever get there.