Chapter 7
Cat
“Last night was awful.” Ava sighs. “I had to spend the whole night looking at you and Nick all over each other, being sickeningly in love. Then across the table I was forced to see the old nag and the young stallion.”
“I came over here to cheer you up, talking about Chris and his date isn’t going to do that. We haven’t talked about them once today, let’s continue to do that.”
“That’s because we were doing one of my favorite things. Why wouldn’t I be happy shopping and eating? What the hell was he doing with that old-ass skank anyways?”
“She’s not that much older than us, Ava.”
“In dog years.”
“I can’t believe what you said about blowing rings out of her you know what.” A fit of laughter bubbles up in me seeing it in my head. “Ewww.”
“Cilantro, what kind of name is that?” Ava rants on.
“Her name is Sage.”
“Who the hell names their kid after a spice?” Bending over, she gets up close, finger in my face, eyes wide open, looking deranged. “It’s not even one of the good spices.”
I burst into another fit of laughter. “It’s a herb, not a spice.”
“Go ahead, keep laughing at my deteriorating love life. Cat!” she whines in a high-pitched wail.
“I can’t help it, it must be the hormones. I’m sorry.”
“I know he had sex with her last night. He was probably knee deep in her. He probably fell in the deep end.”
I keep on laughing and shake my head. “Knee deep. How am I supposed to stop laughing if you keep saying things like that? You need to stop before I go into preterm labor.” I wipe the corner of my eye with the back of my hand. “Your cousin is going to kill you if I do.”
She flops down in the couch, arms folded. “I never thought I would say this. Why can’t I find a guy like Nick?”
I throw my head back in another fit of laughter. I’m laughing so hard I almost fall off the chair I’m sitting on. “Whoa! Whoa!”
Ava grabs my arms, her eyebrows going up over her hairline she’s so scared. “Cat, are you all right?”
My close call sobers me up enough to answer with less humor. “I’m fine.” I rub one hand on my stomach and rub the other one against my aching back.
“You scared the shit out of me. Nick is really going to kick my country ass if anything happens to you. It’s time for you to go home.”
“Yes, take me home to my man.”
Ava finally takes her three series out for a spin, and it’s all coming back to me.
This is the reason she shouldn’t drive; she’s a mad woman on the road.
She’s already worked up about Chris and Allspice, I mean Sage.
She cut the guy off in front of us two blocks back, and he made his way back in front of us and is now driving slowly, I’m sure on purpose for cutting him off.
Ava and her trigger-happy lead foot are about to erupt on his ass if he doesn’t move.
She’s been known to do some crazy shit like get out the car. That is a Driving 101 no-no. I’m not getting out of my car to argue with anyone. I like my ass in one piece, with only the holes the Lord intended.
“What the fuck?”
“Ava, calm down and go around.”
“No, I did that already, and his ass came back in front of me again.”
The look on her face. She slams her hand down on the horn repeatedly and flashes her high beams. Oh Lord, here we go. Rolling her window down, she sticks her head out the car yelling, “Move your ass and get the hell out the way, dipshit!”
I slump down, mortified, my hand over my face. People are looking at us, how embarrassing. I should have called Nick to get me like he told me to. I look up and the guy in front of us sticks his big hairy hand out the window, flipping Ava off just as the light turns red.
“This asshole. He’s in the wrong and he’s flipping me off.”
“Ava, let it go.”
She looks at me then back at the guy with his finger still in the air, and he yells, “Shut up!”
She goes from angry to enraged. “This motherfucker.”
“Ava, you better not get out of this car!” She’s going to get us killed in the middle of the street.
“You need to get out of the way,” she says to the guy in front of us. The guy gets out of his car, looking mean and ticked off. He does not look like the gentleman type; he looks like I’m going to beat your ass man.
“What’s your problem, lady?”
“This is the fast lane, not the slow ass lane, grandma.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’re doing fifteen in front of me. Move out the way if you’re not going to drive the fucking car.”
“Whatever, lady!” he says, muscles bulging with veins in his too-tight shirt.
The light changes, and people are honking their horns for us to get out of the way. “I swear to God, Ava, don’t say another word. I don’t want to die in the middle of the street because of your extreme case of road rage. I want to live to see another day.”
“Because you’re pregnant and I need to get you home safely, I’m not going to mess with this fool.” She sticks her head out the window and says to the guy, “You know what, I’m sorry. I’m overreacting. You have the right of way, go ahead.”
The guy in the Camaro looks at her like she’s crazy and gets back into his car muttering, “Crazy ass chicks.” He pulls off at the light but the light changes before we can go.
My heart palpitations stop, and Ava’s fixing her hair, acting as though it’s all good, as if she almost didn’t get us killed.
“Don’t tell Nick about this.”
As if I would. “Hell no, I’m not telling him. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Sorry. I lost it there for a minute,” she says, smiling at me like an angel.
“You need anger management. Between you and your cousin, I don’t know about raising this baby through the terrible twos.”
“Like I said, it all comes from a good place. You’re going to know if something jumps off, we’re the ones you want backing you. We’re passionate people, especially when we know we’re in the right.”
She puts her hand on the wheel and I double-check my seatbelt. “Ava, put the car back in the garage. Stay off the street and hire a driver. We’re all safer that way.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I know I’m right.”
“It’s always an adventure with you, Ava.”
“Yeah it is.” She looks at me, grinning.
Both of us laugh as she drives off once again to take me home and I jokingly say, “Slow down, mad woman! Baby on board.”
She gets me home in one piece, making sure I get in the house safely before she gets back in her car and leaves.
I walk into the bedroom and see Nick fully dressed, sleeping on his stomach on the bed.
He looks too cute; I don’t get to see him like this a lot.
I’m usually the one sleeping, and he’s watching me.
I run my fingers through his thick, black hair, playing with it gently, and kiss him awake.
He rolls on his back, opening his eyes with a sexy, half-asleep look and an even sexier raspy voice to match.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey,” I mimic his voice and continue playing with his hair. “You were waiting up for me?”
“Yeah. I told you to call me so I could come get you.”
“Ava drove me home.”
“Was she driving like she was in the Thunderdome?”
The corners of my lips twitch, lifting in a half smile. “She kept to the speed limit. No Thunderdome antics.” I bite down on my lips to cover my little white lie. My man’s at peace tonight, I want to keep it this way. My excitement quota is filled for a month thanks to Ava.
“How’s my baby?” He puts his hand on my stomach.
I lie down beside him on my side, my head on his shoulder. “She’s trying to kick her way out of me.” And to prove I’m not lying, she lands a sharp kick to my side under Nick’s hand.
“He’s going to be the kicker on the football team.”
“Not giving up on the boy, are you?” He kisses me on the head and rubs my stomach.
“You’ll see. We’re not naming him Jace.”
“We’ll see about that if we have a boy.”
“Cat, are you listening to me?”
“Yes. At the shower we’re having mini-Tennessee barbecued pulled pork sandwiches, mini-crème br?lée, baby macaroni and cheese pies with three different cheeses, along with an assortment of other baby themed foods.” I put my phone down and go over to the door.
“Who’s at the door? I didn’t hear the doorbell ring.”
I sit back down and smile. “Chris texted me, he was in the neighborhood. He’s coming up.” She’s not as excited as I thought she would be.
“Why? Is he taking Mr. Ed out for another walk?”
“You need to stop it. And Mr. Ed was a male.”
“I saw them last night—completely ruined my evening—at the opening of the new bar restaurant I told you I was going to.”
Interesting, she’s been here a while and hasn’t mentioned it once. “Why didn’t you mention it?”
Chris walks in the door, all smiles. “What’s up, ladies?” He kisses me and salutes Ava. She rolls her eyes way back. I silently laugh at her exaggerated eye roll.
“Except for one part of the night, it wasn’t mention worthy.”
“What wasn’t mention worthy?” Chris asks.
“Ava was telling me she saw you and Sage last night.”
“Oh yeah, that guy you were with wasn’t mention worthy. Boring.”
Ava sits up in her chair, crosses her long legs in her shorts, folds her hands in her lap, and gives me a charming smile.
Here we go, I see the little devil perching up on her shoulder.
Chris smiles back at her with an equally charming smile, getting a bottle of water from the fridge.
His phone rings, and he walks into the living room to take it.
“My date was not boring. He was a little reserved at first. He was starting to warm up when Chris and Old Spice showed up. She was in a real good mood last night when she saw my date and tagged along with us upstairs to the club.”
“That must have been fun.”
“It wasn’t. My date didn’t get interesting till way after-hours when he took me home and ended the drought. I was way beyond parched and dry.”
I sit back and smile at her. “You little slut.”
“Yes, I am and proud of it.” She holds her head up high. “I gave him what keeps them coming back for more.”
Coming out of the living room Chris asks, “Keeps who coming back?”
“I had sex last night,” Ava answers with a straight face and a flick of her hair.
“You did what?” Chris says, taking a swig of his water, standing next to me.
“You heard me.”
“You slept with the jerk-off?”
“There was no sleeping involved, and yes, he did jerk me off.”
Oh. My. God. I can’t believe she said that to my brother.
They’re silently staring at each other. It’s like a competition of wills to see who’s going to look away first. Will it be Ava the fiery, blue-eyed temptress or Chris the brown-eyed, dashing stallion?
With a nod of the head, we have a winner.
“I’m out. Cat, Imma see you later.”
Ding ding ding, Ava’s the winner.
“You just got here,” I say to his back as he’s leaving.
“I have things to do.”
He’s out the door without another look or word to Ava.
“What’s his problem?” Ava says innocently.
“You are. Tell me you didn’t sleep with that guy because of Chris.”
“Well, he didn’t want me. Someone did. It was a little pick-me-up I will never repeat again. Happy?”
“I hope you used protection during your pick-me-up jerk-off session. You don’t want to end up like this with a guy you don’t seem interested in out of bed.”
“God, yes. I’m not stupid—sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” She looks at me apologetically. “No harm no foul?” she says.
“I know. No harm no foul. How is it you’re my love guru but you can’t guru yourself with Chris?”
“I don’t know? Maybe you should be my guru, your love life is doing pretty good these days.”
“Have you met me?” I wave my hand in her face. “With my record I’m in no shape to be a guru for myself or anyone. As soon as I pop this kid out, we are going to kick Chris’s ass for not seeing how great you two would be together. You would be the perfect ying to his yang.”
“Or is it yang to his ying?”
“Whatever, I think you two would balance each other out. Your fiery temper and his cool, level-headed thinking.”
“I don’t know about that. He saw me last night, he was watching me a good deal of the time, I was bumping and grinding on my date then he and the old skank left.”
I can’t stop myself from laughing every time she talks about one of Chris’s girls. Must be pregnancy hormones.
“Why doesn’t he leave the cougars alone and try a cub? He might like getting nipped instead of having a bite taken out of his ass.”
Still laughing, I say, “You act like the women he’s dating are old gray heads.
” In actuality, they are all as gorgeous as her.
Ava can be intimidating to a man. Her black hair, blue eyes, va va va voom curves—plus she has brains, money, and a mouth on her.
If you don’t know how to handle her…she could run you down. I think Chris can handle her, though.