Arranged love

ALEXA

“GOOD AFTERNOON,” I sing, falling into my seat at the booth for lunch at Empire, downing what’s left of my second Monster.

“Afternoon.” Emilee is the first to greet me. Haven gives me a smile, and Jasmine didn’t hear me because she is too wrapped up typing out a text.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your bar,” Emilee tells me, giving me a sympathetic look with her amber eyes.

“Do they know who did it?” Haven asks curiously.

I’ve never really spoken to her, but she’s the girl’s best friend, and now that I know who she’s married to, it makes me a little nervous to even be around her. What if she goes home, tells her husband she hates me, and he offs me? The guy has some major pull in this town. I bet he’d make it look like an accident. Like I slipped and just happened to fall on a knife to the chest. Or maybe my car would conveniently lose a wheel while I’m driving down the highway. I mean …

“Alexa?”

“Hmm?” I blink, looking up at Emilee.

“Do they know who did it?” she asks what Haven had, and I realize that I never answered.

“I believe so.” I keep it vague. I’m not sure what Cross would want me to say. I guess we should have had the discussion last night instead of fucking multiple times. So many things needed to be discussed, but I craved that connection with him more than answers. Or maybe I just really don’t want to know. Love does make you stupid.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” April states, falling down next to me.

“You’re just in time. We were about to order mimosas,” Jasmine tells her.

“I’m not drinking.” Haven waves her off.

“What? Why not?” Jasmine snorts.

“Because Luca and I are trying for a baby,” Haven answers with a smile on her face, but it quickly drops when she looks at April. “I’m so sorry,” she rushes out. “I didn’t think …”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she says, giving her a kind smile in return.

“Yeah, I’m fucking a lot too,” Jasmine jokes, trying to lighten the mood, and I snort while trying to take a drink of my water.

“Jasmine …” Haven shrieks. She always seems to be the most proper of the girls. A little more uptight than the rest.

“What?” She shrugs. “It’s the same thing.”

“I’m married,” Haven says, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Us single girls can fuck too, ya know?” Jasmine rolls her eyes.

“Are you still seeing Nite?” April jumps into the conversation, looking at Jasmine.

Emilee and I look over at the redhead. Both of us wide-eyed. That is … surprising. And what’s even more is that Emilee didn’t seem to know about it. We need to have these get-togethers more often. I learn so much about these girls.

“We had plans to fuck tonight, but he sent me a text earlier informing me that he had to cancel.” Jasmine looks around, trying to catch the eye of a waiter to order those mimosas.

“He’s out of town. Luca had to send him to Italy …” Haven quickly stops speaking and averts her amber eyes to the table like she just told us all a secret that none of us were supposed to know. The way she starts nibbling on her thumbnail makes me think it’s a big one.

“For what?” Emilee digs, placing her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jasmine states, and Haven’s shoulders literally sag as if she just dodged a bullet. Damn, now I really want to know what the hell is going on there. “We don’t explain anything to each other. It’s just sex.” She laughs it off.

“Speaking of sex, Emilee, are you still fucking Bones and Titan?” Haven wonders, making sure to change the subject to anyone else other than Nite and Italy.

Not going to lie. When I first heard she was sleeping with both of them, I choked on my popcorn that I was eating while up at Roses. It was one hell of a shock. I guess she dated Bones through high school and college. Not sure what the details on that were. But she didn’t get with Titan until last year.

“No.” Emilee shakes her head once. “It was fun. Actually, it was awesome, but I got married. And my body is for my husband. If I wanted to fuck multiple guys, I would have stayed single.” She goes on. “Plus, Bones will find a woman and settle down one day. It just wasn’t something that was meant for forever.”

Haven snorts. “Bones settle down? That’s hilarious. That man will never find someone to tie him down.”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“I don’t know. I believe there’s someone for everyone. It just takes time to find them,” Jasmine offers. “Not everyone marries the only person they’ve ever fucked.” She looks over at Haven.

“Wait a minute.” I hold up a finger. “You’ve only ever been with Luca?”

“Yeah.” She chews on a chip from the bowl that sits in the middle of the table. “I was young when we got together. We had a breakup after college, but I never got with anyone else. I’m glad I didn’t, although there was one time I hated him so much that I wish I had because he knew he was the only guy I had been with.”

“I wish Grave was my only,” April adds, sighing. “I mean, when you find your someone, the others never seem to have existed, ya know?”

“Not me.” Jasmine shakes her head. “I like sex too much to limit myself to one man.” She shudders at that thought, making us all laugh. “Plus, I’ve slept with some men who had no fucking clue what they were doing. I couldn’t imagine being stuck with either one of them forever. I’d never know what a good fuck really is.”

The woman does have a point.