When we made it to the building that housed the Alpha Omega offices and turned the corner, I noticed something that hadn’t been there earlier. “Gertrude!” I cried at the sight of my beat-up car parked in front of the huge plate glass windows that made up the front of the building.
“Who?” Sage asked, looking around in confusion.
“My car. Gertrude. How did she get here?” I skip-walked over to her and spread my arms wide, leaning down to splay my upper body across the roof in a hug. “I’ve missed you, baby,” I whispered to the inanimate object like it could hear me.
“You named your car?” Sage asked, still looking just as confused as she had a second ago.
“Well, yeah. A lot of people do. It’s not that uncommon.”
“Oh, I know. I have a baby of my own.” She pointed to the classic Mustang parked two spots from Gertrude. The thing was Fine with a capital F. “But usually, people name their cars when those cars are”—she hesitated, taking in my lemon and failing to suppress the curl in her top lip—“nice.”
“Shh,” I whispered, patting Gertrude lovingly. “She didn’t mean it, sweetheart. Ignore the mean lady. She just doesn’t understand.”
Sage shook her head on a laugh as I coddled my car.
“Gertrude’s a piece of shit—” I lowered my voice on those four words, speaking behind my hand, “no doubt about it. But we have history. She’s puttered along with me through some major life events. She didn’t break down on me when I had to cart a box of my belongings home after a particularly nasty breakup. She didn’t break down on me when my sister and I took her across the state for a music festival. She didn’t break down on me when I let Billy Colfax feel me up in the back seat junior year.”
She held up her hand in acquiescence. “I get it. I meant no offense, Gertrude.”
“I wonder how she got here.” I gave my car one last loving stroke before stepping back up on the sidewalk and continuing on inside.
“Oh, I’m sure West had a hand in it. It’s that voodoo I was talking about earlier,” she stated seriously.
We pushed through the doors that led into the front lobby, and my eyes immediately began searching for the man in question. As soon as they landed on him, an unexpected warmth bloomed in my chest, and a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. However, before I could utter a word or clear the space between us, I was bum-rushed by a gaggle of women.
The one at the very front, a petite woman with curves for days and long, silky hair that fell somewhere between brown and blonde, but was an eye-catching combination of both, seemed to be the ring leader, and didn’t hesitate to grab me by the shoulders and yank me into a hug.
“It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Eden.” She quickly rattled off the names of the women standing around us, forming a half circle, but everything was happening so fast I couldn’t keep up. The names went in one ear and out the other. “We’ve been trying to set West up for ages, but he wasn’t having any of it. Guess we know why now.” She shot me a wink on that bewildering proclamation. “And look at you. You’re gorgeous!”
“Um . . .”
“Don’t mind her,” a buxom redhead said as she came up and pushed Eden out of the way. “She gets a little too excited, and sometimes it bursts out of her like a glitter bomb of happiness and joy. You’ll get used to it. I’m Wynona, but please never ever call me that. It’s just Nona.”
“H-hi,” I stammered, my poor brain still trying to catch up with what was happening. “I’m—”
“Stella,” the exuberant Eden filled in before I could. “We know. That’s why we’re here. Roxanne told us all about you.” Well, that explained the ambush, I guess. “There’s something I have to know,” Eden continued, but before she could get the question out, West was shoving through the crowd and stopping at my side, looping a protective arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. It felt nice. Too nice. Damn he smelled good.
“Eden,” he said in a low, warning tone, causing her to roll her eyes.
“Oh, will you relax? It’s not like I was going to ask her what your penis looks like.”
I choked on my tongue.
A blonde with legs for days held up her hand. “I was.” I thought I recalled her name being Gypsy.
“They aren’t to that part yet,” Sage announced. “She’s still in the denial phase.”
That was met with a bunch of head nods and murmurs of understanding.
At West’s grumbled curse, I twisted my neck to look up at him, whispering, “What’s happening right now?”
His only response was to shake his head and mutter, “I’m so sorry.”
“No, what I’m curious to know is if he’s a slob at home as well.”
Eden’s question threw me off balance for a second. I couldn’t think of a reason for her to know how messy West was. Unless . . . My stomach sank, but I did my best to keep my expression neutral as I asked, “Were you two together?”
Her face twisted up like she’d just smelled something gross. “Oh, God no.” I wasn’t about to examine why her denial made me feel so much relief. “No, I’m married to Linc. The big blond one.” She lifted her arm all the way above her to indicate her husband’s height.
“The one who looks like he should have been cast as the lead in Vikings,” I supplied.
“That’s the one.” She giggled. “I only ask because, a few years back, when my brother had stolen from some super bad guys, and they were after me to get to him, Linc put a security detail on me.”
“For fuck’s sake,” West grunted.
“And when it was West’s turn, he left my house looking like a pit.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” he argued.
I curled my lips between my teeth and bit down to hide my smile. There was so much to unpack from those few, short sentences, but I decided that was for another time, and focused only on the main topic at hand. “Ah, I see.”
“So is he as messy at home?”
I didn’t bother suppressing my giggle then. “He’s trying to be better,” I said, somewhat in defense of him. “He’s been picking up after himself the past few days, and I’ve almost got him trained on the dishwasher.”
The women gathered around us started to laugh as West rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“But,” I continued, wanting these women to see him for the incredible, thoughtful, wonderful man he truly was, “he’s an excellent cook, so that makes up for it.”
One of the women in the back, I couldn’t recall her name, gave me a wide, awed look. “He cooks for you?”
“Every meal, and it’s all delicious.”
West leaned in just then, his breath whispering across my ear as he spoke in a quiet voice, “You know neither of us are going to live this down now, baby.”
I pulled in a sharp inhale. That was the first baby I’d gotten from him, and the pleasure at hearing that one simple word shot through me like a bolt of lightning. But what nearly had my knees giving out was the gentle kiss he pressed to my temple right after. It reminded me of the one I’d seen Sage’s husband give her. And I couldn’t help but wonder if West wore an expression just as tender.