Chapter 9
NINE
ADDIE
Sutton Jones has been my best friend since we were eight.
Only JJ has ever known more of my secrets than her, but that changed a long time ago.
Sutton is in the middle of a Broadway run, so she’s not around, but Josie and Savannah both answered my S.O.S.
text with promises to take my mind off my problems.
Both women work for Jolie magazine, and JJ’s mother is the editor in chief. I swear the connections between the people in my circle make my head spin sometimes.
Savannah is recently engaged. Her fiancé, Camden Snow—a former notorious bachelor who played hockey with my uncles—is old enough to be her father, but I’ve never seen a man so in love with a woman.
The two of them are so damn happy. As much as I can appreciate that, what I love even more is the beautiful house they recently purchased and the guest bedroom set up exclusively for me.
Josie has one too, even though her parents’ house on the opposite side of the pond is visible from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room.
I show Vivi the third guest room, and when she’s dropped her bag on the bed, we head downstairs.
Savannah has the doors to the back deck open, letting the mild warmth of the September night in.
Damn, I wish I’d remembered to bring a swimsuit so I could do laps in the pool tomorrow morning.
“What smells so good?” I ask as I step onto the deck.
Smiling, Savannah motions to the dish on the table. “Whipped eggplant with focaccia for dipping. I’ve got garlic and oil as well if you’d prefer that.”
Not only is my friend one hell of a writer, single-handedly increasing Jolie’s readership recently, but she’s a fabulous cook.
She’s also a knockout, with pinup-girl type curves, long red hair, green eyes, and a beauty mark above her lip. One I swear God placed himself before saying “There, now you’re perfect.”
Her life hasn’t always been so luxurious. In fact, it’s been pretty tough for the most part. Until she met Camden, I don’t think she ever truly opened up to anyone, not even our close-knit group. Now that she’s confided in us about her childhood and her family, the four of us are even closer.
“Looks amazing,” Vivi says. “Thanks again for letting me tag along.”
I drape an arm over my cousin’s shoulders. It’s an odd sensation, since I tower over her. She’s tiny, with dark curly hair, big brown doe eyes, and the kind of energy that makes me think she’s constantly ready to burst.
She’s always been this way. While we’re only four years apart, she seems so damn young.
“Of course. We’re always excited to welcome new guests to girls’ night,” Savannah says.
Josie sashays through the open doorway carrying a bottle of red wine in one hand and white in the other. “Hell yeah, we are.”
She has strawberry blond hair and freckles, and she’s always wearing outfits that the rest of us could not pull off.
Yet they look incredible on her. Not because of her figure but because of her style and confidence.
Tonight’s ensemble includes a floral boho-style top with a pair of blue chinos and strappy sandals.
She sets the bottles on the table, then pushes her sunglasses into her hair. “I’m just happy this week’s get together doesn’t involve a pole or ice skates or improv.”
Vivi frowns. “Are those the things you normally do?”
“Oh yeah.” Savannah picks up the bottle of red. “You should join us at pole dancing next time. We’re up for another one in a couple of weeks.”
I groan. For years, we’ve taken turns picking an activity for girls’ night, and lately Savannah always picks pole dancing.
At least we now have more privacy for the activity, since Camden’s sister Cora kept his old house, which is outfitted with half a dozen permanent stripper poles in the basement.
Cora also teaches classes. She’s badass.
Not that I’m interested in practicing any of those moves in front of anyone but my closest friends.
“Yup.” Josie drops into a chair on the other side of the outdoor table, then scoots to one side, ensuring she’s in the shade of the umbrella. “The one after is my choice, though, and I’m picking a rom-com and board game night.”
Savannah lets out a throaty laugh. “Of course you are.”
“You love it.” Leaning back and lacing her fingers over her abdomen, Josie grins.
I nod. I certainly do.
Savannah hasn’t even set the wine bottle down after filling our glasses before she eyes me. “You requested this little get-together. Do tell, how are things now that you’re the coach instead of the goalie?”
With a sigh, I pick up my wine. “I requested this get-together specifically because I don’t want to talk about any of that.”
“Ha,” Josie coughs out loudly. “As if.”
Beside me, Vivi sips her wine, her eyes darting between the three of us. I’m pretty sure she’s just happy to be here, which means she won’t give me shit.
Too bad the two women across from us won’t extend me the same courtesy.
“I heard from a little birdie that you walked in on JJ Hanson in the shower this morning,” Josie says, wineglass dangling from her fingers.
Asshole.
Why are my friends all assholes?
Savannah sucks in a shocked breath while Vivi giggles beside me.
Eyes narrowed, I turn to her. “Glad you find my embarrassment amusing. Maybe we could trade rooms so you have to share a bathroom with JJ.”
Her eyes light up. “Have you seen how hot JJ is?”
“He’s also married,” I remind them all.
It’s annoying as hell how everyone forgets that crucial fact.
“To a woman who has disappeared,” Josie snaps.
“So? She’s Avery’s mom and still his wife,” I mutter into my drink.
I hate both of those facts equally. More than four years later, my cheeks still heat in embarrassment when I think about it.
It shouldn’t bother me this much. I should be over the way it felt that day, all those years ago, when I found out about Tabitha.
Back when I thought we were it. When I thought he was my forever.
Heat pricks the backs of my eyes, so I blink and straighten, keeping my emotions in check.
“So you saw him naked? How’d he look?” Savannah asks.
Irritation stirs to life inside me. “How do you know this?” I ask Josie, avoiding Savannah’s ridiculous question.
He looked fantastic. Obviously.
My friend breaks into a wicked smirk. “He told Bray and Bray told me.”
Assholes. Even Brayden. While I knew he had zero personality, I didn’t realize he was also an asshole.
“He looked good, didn’t he?” Savannah coos. “I could see JJ being a secret freak. God, I love my freak.”
Josie groans. “We’re so happy you’re getting boned by Daddy Camden. Promise. But for those of us who call him Uncle Cam, could you keep the details to yourself?”
Cackling, Savannah leans back in her chair and kicks her feet up on the empty one next to her, wiggling her pretty pink toes. “Sorry. I think I’ll keep it up until she tells us what JJ looks like naked. And I can go all night long. As can your Uncle Cam.”
“Oh my god,” I blurt out, slamming my eyes shut. “It was sparkly and there was ink and—”
Gasping, Josie lunges forward and smacks the table. “Are you telling me JJ Hanson has a pierced dick?”
Beside me, Vivi chokes on her wine.
“Little ears,” I warn my friend as I smack my cousin’s back. “You okay?”
She plucks a napkin from the small pile next to the food tray and wipes her mouth. “Yeah, I just didn’t see the night going this way.”
“Of course he does,” Savannah says. “All the Bolts have glitter dicks.”
“Please tell me my brother doesn’t have a pierced penis,” Josie whines, covering her face.
Savannah rubs her back. “It’s okay, baby. It’s tradition.”
Vivi lurches upright, her chair scraping on the deck. “Are you for real?”
“Not your dad.” Savannah shakes her head. “But Aiden, Brooks, Camden, Daniel, and War do. Well, and apparently, JJ,” she adds with a grin.
Josie’s head hits the table. “I hate my life.” Poor girl has heard far more about her dad’s sex life than any adult child ever should.
“Maybe Addie should survey the team. I bet eight out of ten of them are pierced,” Savannah continues, unfazed by Josie’s misery.
It’s a common occurrence, really, so it’s unsurprising.
Savannah kind of bridges the gap between our friend group and the group of women married to the Bolts’ last solid generation of players, since their husbands are Camden’s close friends.
And that group has told her many, many things about my uncles.
Things I wish I didn’t know. Like how they apparently like to pierce their appendages.
“I won’t be taking any surveys,” I promise. “Honestly, I’m considering just staying here for the rest of the season. That way I won’t run into JJ or his possibly pierced dick or his cocky smirk or his annoyingly loud laugh.”
There’s no need to mention that JJ saw me naked less than twelve hours before I walked in on him in the shower. Or how his eyes heated as he perused every inch of me, just like they did once upon a time.
I don’t like the games he’s playing. Don’t like them at all.
Savannah giggles, holding up her mostly empty glass. “You can stay here whenever you need to, shnookums.”
Eyes closed, I take another swig of wine and do my best to forget what JJ looked like wet.
“Ah.” Savannah gasps, perking up. “You know what you should do?”
My spine tingles in response to the look on her face. Dammit. I can tell already that I’m not going to like this. “What?” I whine.
“You should be our next New Romantics girl.”
“What’s a New Romantics girl?” Vivi asks before I can turn down the suggestion.
Dropping her feet to the deck, Savannah leans forward and clears her throat.
I can’t help but smile. While I don’t love where this is going, I do love that she’s found such an intense passion.