Gigi: You bitches coming?
Lily: Almost there.
Tamara: Parking.
Jo: Nick’s driving like a snail.
Gigi: You got Arlo?
Lily: No. She said she didn’t feel well.
I stop moving, having found out what I needed to know.
Arlo didn’t go with them and is at home…alone.
A second later, I open a new text, shooting off one to her.
Me: Hey, Ar. How’re your ribs?
Arlo: Better.
I wait for more, but nothing comes.
Me: You pissed at me?
Arlo: No.
Another one-word answer. She’s pissed. I’ve been around enough women in my life to know the difference.
Me: Sorry I left before you woke up. Had to get home and ready for work.
Arlo: No big deal. You don’t owe me an explanation.
Me: Want me to come over?
Arlo: Not tonight.
So, “no big deal” is a lie. It is a big deal to her, and although she says I don’t owe her an explanation, the one I gave her isn’t good enough.
Me: Tomorrow?
Arlo: I’ll let you know.
Yep. Pissed.
Me: Got it. Sleep well. Talk soon, babe.
Arlo: Night.
I immediately close that text and open back up the group text with my cousins, having missed dozens of texts in the last few minutes.
Me: Where are you assholes?
Gigi: Neon Cowboy.
I roll my eyes. Not my typical haunt, but it is good in a pinch. The women are…different from my normal taste.
But pussy is pussy, and they serve a cold beer.
Me: On my way.
Mammoth: Someone got cockblocked.
Pike: Totally shutdown.
Me: Can’t shut down what isn’t real, jagoffs.
Gigi: Oh boy. Someone’s butthurt.
I grab my keys, pull on my boots, ignoring their bullshit. They’re going to talk shit about me until I get there, so there’s no use in replying.
The roads are empty as I make my way to the little bar in the middle of nowhere. The entire ride, I only think about Arlo and how I have fucked up. But I’m not going to let myself feel guilty about leaving her place without saying goodbye. We are nothing to each other, not even friends. We are an arrangement with no promises.
“Fuckin’ A,” Mammoth says as I make my way through the crowded bar, heading straight to the back where they always sit. “’Bout time, brother.”
“I wasn’t planning on coming,” I tell him, grabbing a chair and spinning it around before straddling the back.
“You were, but not here,” Rocco adds, giving me a chin lift, laughing his ass off at my expense.
“Fuck off,” I tell him.
“You need this more than me,” he says, pushing a fresh beer in front of me.
“I thought for sure you’d be with Arlo tonight and not here since you made such a stink at work earlier,” Gigi tells me, snuggling up to Pike’s side.
“She’s sick, babe. Lily put that in the text.”
“That’s what she said, but is she really?” Gigi stares at me, her lips flat. “You go to her place one night, and the next, she’s sick.”
“Happens,” I mutter, lifting the bottle to my lips.
“What did you do to her?” Lily asks me.
I shrug, beer to my lips. “Why did I have to do something?”
Lily leans forward, elbows on the table and hands clasped. “You stayed overnight at her place, and tonight she’s still weird. Are you sure you didn’t take things too far?”
“Can’t believe you’re asking me that shit, babe,” I mumble against the rim.
She crosses her arms and stares right back. “When was the last time you slept at a woman’s house?”
“Never.”
She cocks her head to the side and raises an eyebrow. “But you slept at Arlo’s?”
I guzzle half the beer before wiping my lips with the back of my hand and grunt, “Yep.”
“Wait.” Mammoth shifts, moving Tamara back in his embrace and turning to face me fully. “So, you slept at the chick’s house and didn’t bang her?”
“We’ve been over this,” I tell him before downing the rest of my beer.
“Some of us don’t work at Inked, bro. I hear everything hours later and secondhand.”
“Didn’t kiss her either,” Gigi adds, making a face when she says that too.
Mammoth slides his eyes from me to her. “No shit?”
“No shit,” she replies.
He slides his eyes back to me. “No action at all and you slept over. What the fuck, man? Your shit broke?”
“Nope,” I growl.
“Head’s fucked up, though,” Nick tells him. “She’s got him all twisted.”
“Sounds like you not too long ago,” Mammoth says to Nick, smiling. “Told ya, and you didn’t see the light until you were sunburned.”
“Have you hit your head recently?” I stare at Mammoth, blinking a few times.
Mammoth’s jaw ticks as he moves a toothpick around his mouth. “No. You?”
Nick runs his hand down his face, peering at Mammoth over his palm. “No, but you keep talking like you’ve been reading riddles all of a sudden, and it’s weird as fuck, man.”
Mammoth laughs. “Sounds better than saying I told you so, but I told you so.”
Nick nods. “True that.”
“But you,” Mammoth says, pointing at me with a beer in his hand. “You’re fucked, brother.”
I jerk my head back, furrowing my brows. “How am I fucked?”
“A chick already got you acting like another person.”
“No,” I snap.
“Yeah, he is,” Gigi says, laughing.
He keeps that finger pointed at me when he says, “Just lock that shit down and move the fuck on with life.”
“Lock it down?” I ask.
Pike nods. “Yep. It’s easier if you come to terms with it now. Accept your fate and then move forward.”
“I’ve literally known the woman a few days,” I argue. “I’m not locking shit down. It’s not even a real relationship or friendship. I’m a test subject.”
“Whatever,” Pike mutters. “I saw the way you two looked at each other.”
“Means nothing,” is my only answer.
“I still can’t figure out how Arlo went from piping-hot to ice-cold in a flash, Mello. What really happened?” Lily presses me.
“Lily, swear to God, I didn’t do shit. We fell asleep, and then I hustled my ass out of there before she woke up.”
Lily makes a face, sucking in air between her teeth. “You just left?”
I nod. “What the fuck else was I supposed to do?”
“Idiot,” Lily whispers.
“Total dumb-ass move,” Gigi adds.
“Fucking moronic,” Tamara says.
Rebel nods. “Fucked up big, brother.”
“Men are so clueless.” Jo throws in with the other insults being hurled my way.
I glare at them as they sit in judgment, but their men remain silent. “What was I supposed to do? Wake her up and tell her thanks for the movie?”
“Did you at least leave a note?” Jett asks, suddenly finding feelings and adding something to the conversation.