Chapter 2
“Sorry I’m late.” Stephanie Bexley slipped onto the barstool next to Jordan, her best friend and business partner had been saving it for her at the bar.
After work, she had gone home quickly to change and had almost just stayed there, not really all that interested in being at the Button at all. Gay bars really weren’t her thing.
“Thank you for coming out with me, Stephanie.” Jordan clinked her half-empty glass of dark liquid with her own before adding, “I would like to say that you are better off without Christopher. We’re all better off without him.”
They had been working all day together, and only when they were saddled up to the bar did Jordan let her true feelings show.
This morning, when she had finally admitted she had been dumped the night before, her friend had just given her a comforting hug on her way to class.
Now, it seemed she had something to say.
Not that having this conversation this morning would have helped.
She still would have spent the day feeling like a failure.
Questioning what she had done wrong? What could she have done better?
Could she have been everything he wanted if she had put more effort into the relationship like he had told her?
Why did she have such a hard time holding onto love?
Pushing down her doubts as she took a drink of the cold drink, she looked at her oldest friend.
They had been friends since high school, and she was always very vocal about who Stephanie dated until Christopher.
Jordan had been nothing but nice to him, never saying anything bad about him.
This reaction confused her. “You didn’t like him? ”
“Not for a minute.” Jordan stated succinctly.
Turning to her friend, Stephanie was surprised by the answer. “I dated him for five months. You didn’t say anything.”
Months, but now suddenly he’d felt she hadn’t put enough time into their relationship?
How much time did he need? She gave him everything over the months they were together.
More than everything. She had actively worked to adjust her schedule to make him happy when he complained about her being too busy for him.
Not once had he taken into account that she was a business owner who couldn’t just work nine to five like he did.
Even if he had known from day one that wasn’t the case.
For a while, she had thought he was the one and that if she tried hard enough, they could and would make it last. That they were on their way to forever.
Sure, he did things that annoyed her, but everyone does.
You just have to take the good with the bad to see if the mix was something you could put up with forever.
Christopher had seemed like a good mix. Now in retrospect, she felt she had been settling.
“I was trying to be a supportive friend. I thought he would grow on me. But it didn’t happen until after you dumped him.” Jordan turned away from the bar and looked out at the ever growing crowd.
“He dumped me.” She admitted, not turning, because she wasn’t interested in anyone in the room, not so recently after a breakup.
“In the retelling, you were the dumper, Stephanie. You’re always the dumper in your story.”
“Who am I going to tell?”
“Well, your mom for one, because I’m pretty sure she’s been nothing but ecstatic since you’re were dating men again. Your phase is over!” Jordan said in a voice that was eerily similar to Stephanie’s mom’s voice.
Jordan hit the nail on the head with that one.
The woman had been nothing but excited that Stephanie was, in her words, no longer in that phase.
She had heard it many times from her mom’s own lips over the years.
The phase came and went since Stephanie dated both men and women over the years.
More men than women long term, because she didn’t want to deal with her mom over that situation. Men were just easier.
Not that they were easier to actually date beyond her parents’ approval.
In the beginning, Christopher had been impressed that she owned her own business, but he had been annoyed when she had to actually put time and effort into that business.
He hadn’t been the first either. And yet, not one of the women she dated felt that way.
“I haven’t told her. I decided this weekend will be soon enough to drop that on her.
At least I had already told her Christopher wouldn’t be coming for the big family weekend.
Which I had been disappointed about, since no Christopher would mean that I’ll end up sleeping on the couch again.
I hate that stupid couch.” Stephanie smiled a thanks to the bartender as she set fresh drinks down by them.
This weekend was a must attend event in the Bexley family.
Her mom had called her the week before to tell her to come home, that everyone else was coming home.
Her dad had a cancer scare recently and needed the family to come to gather around him.
For the first time in years, all of her siblings were able to get the time off to make that happen.
But who would say no, since the man had been the father her own hadn’t wanted to be?
Just as the weekend was taking shape, he had gotten word back that it wasn’t cancer, but everyone was already coming.
Mostly because plane tickets were already purchased for two of her four siblings.
That meant they were coming anyway. But since then, her mom’s daily calls had stopped.
And their relationship was back to the normal a few times a week calls.
Except now she had to tell her that Christopher was not only not coming, but not her boyfriend anymore.
Turning back to the dance floor, Jordan grinned and waved at someone across the room. “This all smells like he was already planning on dumping you. Very suspicious that he was already busy for a family event.”
“He had to work. It was planned only recently. We can’t all work for ourselves and have their amazing partner take over for a few days when they need it.
” She nudged her friend to get her attention back.
Their dream for years had been to open an all women’s gym, and they had worked hard and made it happen.
Now they were working even harder to keep it open.
“Yet he managed to dump you before the weekend. Like days before, why not last week? Month? Very suspicious if you ask me.” She twisted away from the crowd, and her demeanor turned protective. “Micah’s here.”
“And?” Turning to see if she could see her, Stephanie could, because everyone could see her.
She was in old sweats and a tank top that wasn’t purchased because it was cute, more for the color factor since her entire outfit was heather gray.
Not exactly what you'd wear to a club. Especially this one that was higher end than others Stephanie had been to, but it wasn’t what she was wearing that drew attention, it was how she wore it.
Micah Fox was a walking lesbian wet dream, and she had just walked into the viper’s nest of The Button, and everyone noticed.
Not that Micah couldn’t handle herself in any situation. She was a cop who taught self-defense classes on the side for fun and a free gym membership. Though she was small, she was very butch with short, spiky black hair that she hid under a baseball cap tonight.
With her on staff, they shouldn’t have an issue getting anyone to take her self-defense classes, except word had gotten out she was nice to look at, but her classes weren’t for the faint of heart.
Which meant the current members were showing no interest in being able to fight back if need be.
It might be because they were located in an upscale area and most of the clients weren’t from the mean streets or even knew where to find one.
“Nobody has signed up.” Jordan turned even further from the woman, as if she wouldn’t see her if she wasn’t looking her way.
Stephanie enjoyed having the class offered.
As an all women’s gym, she wanted her clients to not only be able to hold a yoga pose, but to be able to defend themselves if need be.
She let Micah have her membership, even if she wasn’t doing enough classes to justify it just yet.
She knew in time it would become a must take.
“Raina said you two would be up here.” Micah leaned into the bar beside her.
Their receptionist was too nosy for her own good and seemed to know what everyone was up to at all times. Which was a nice feature in the middle of the day, but not when they didn’t want to talk about low-class numbers with their only employee, who wasn’t actually an employee at all.
“You wanted to talk to us?” Stephanie asked, knowing exactly what she wanted, and not knowing what to say.
“Sorry, Micah, I should’ve called to tell you that nobody signed up this week.” Jordan admitted.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she hated she had a hard time with Micah. She wasn’t an easy person to get along with, and so far, she hadn’t opened up to either of them. Not that she wasn’t nice, she just wasn’t a big talker, something that both Jordan and Stephanie were.
“Next week, we have a few signed up.” Jumping in, Stephanie lied, because she didn’t want to lose Micah as an instructor.
One day, when their gym had more members, they would need an instructor like Micah.
Until then, she’d let the woman work out whenever she wanted to.
Which was often and showed up in the abs that were hinted at by her outfit tonight.
“Monday or Thursday?” Micah asked, happier than she had been not ten seconds before. She enjoyed showing off her skills and helping others. Which was why she was probably a great cop. Luckily, Stephanie had never seen her in action.
“Thursday.” Both women stated at the same time. Each knowing they needed to push back the date as much as possible to actually find takers for the class.
“Can I still work out this month?” Shifting her duffel bag she was holding, Micah waved off the bartender. Her eyes swept the room again as they always did.
“Yes, of course. It’s our fault you don’t have anyone here for your class.
We’re in charge of getting sign ups and we dropped the ball this week.
” Stephanie hated that this wasn’t the first week she had to say that.
She just hoped that next week she’d be able to find enough women to make it worth losing the money for a gym membership for Micah.
Jordan reached across Stephanie and touched Micah’s arm. “Hey, Micah, before you go, what did you think of the guy Stephanie had been dating?”
“I don’t think I met him.” Micah seemed uncomfortable with the question, or maybe it was the touch, because she just looked at her hand on the arm until Jordan pulled it away.
“Blonde guy, tall, muscular, was at In Motion a lot to pick her up for dates.” Jordan went on. It seemed she had enough liquor in her to ask stupid questions.
Micah shifted uncomfortably. “The one who sometimes hung out at the reception desk and leered at anyone who came in?”
“I think that would be him.” Jordan nudged Stephanie, as if that information had ever been brought up before.
“I have no opinion about it.” Pushing away from the bar, Micah turned towards the door to leave. Only to be stopped by three women on her way out. Each one was deflected with ease before she slipped out of the bar.
The woman could have had anyone in the room she wanted and was going to the gym. There was just something she’d never understand about Micah Fox. Did she not notice she was hot, or didn’t she care?
“I think you were the only one who thought he was a great guy.” Jordan was still watching people on the dance floor. “Micah, you should really try her out. I bet she’d be something all naked, sweaty and hot.”
Stephanie nearly choked on her drink. “Seriously, you didn’t just say that! Micah is basically our employee.”
Jordan waved at someone again as she told her, “Barely, and you can’t say you have never thought about it.”
“Not once. She’s not my type.” She argued Micah wasn’t someone she felt she’d have anything in common with.
And that was what she found attractive, someone whose life was running on the same track as hers.
Familiar. The last thing she needed was someone who had baggage and a past that she couldn’t understand.
Jordan nudged her hard. “Yes, she is. You love yourself a butch.”
Ignoring what she was saying because she did, but Micah just never turned her on, so Stephanie changed the subject, because she needed to.
“I think I just want to focus on me for a while right now. Not get involved with the first person I see. Or an employee, for that matter. I’ve been single for almost twenty-four hours.
I need time to get over the heartbreak and spend some time being me, with me. ”
“How about we focus on getting you a one-night stand?”
“No, I’m just here for a drink or two, and I think I’ve hit my limit.” She said instantly. A one-night stand was the last thing she needed. Sex wasn’t something she could do with a stranger. Never could, and that wasn’t going to change tonight. “You go and have fun.”
“No, no, I’ll stay with my heartbroken friend. She needs me tonight.” Jordan sat down on the stool beside her. “Christopher, what a putz!”
“Nobody said anything about him being creepy.” She couldn’t get that out of her mind.
“We are nice people, and nice people don’t speak ill of others.”
“Except you do, all the time. What happened this time?”
“I was trying to be a better person.” Jordan said, not taking her eyes off someone across the room.
“You can go talk to her. I was going to leave once I was done with my drink, anyway.” She lifted her glass.
“You’re sure? I mean, I think she’s an athlete. I like athletes.”
“Completely,” Stephanie said, but knew Jordan didn’t hear her. Her entire being was focused on the woman she was pursuing, and she wished her luck. At least one of them would end the night not alone.
Not that Stephanie didn’t like being alone, she did. And she’d be enjoying it for a while. She wasn’t ready to risk her heart again right now. She was still tender. Right now, she was going to focus on work, her love life was being put on pause.