Chapter Fifteen
Bailey’s phone chimed in her pocket, but she was busy wrestling with a carton of vanilla ice cream in Chloe’s kitchen.
Gwen was sprawled out on Chloe’s sofa with a bagel. “Whose phone was that?”
“Mine.” Bailey grunted and put her back into peeling the lid off the cardboard carton, which appeared to be glued on.
Finally managing to get the lid off, Bailey tossed it into the sink and pulled out her phone. The text from Nash had her blinking in confusion, then snorting out a laugh.
Chloe, lounging on the other end of the sofa, picked up her head. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” Bailey shoved the phone back into her pocket. “Who wants ice cream?”
Chloe waved her hand in the air. “Me.”
“I’m good with my bagel,” Gwen mumbled around a mouthful of it. “Or I would be, if I had more coffee.”
“You had yours already,” Bailey told her sternly.
“You could make some,” Gwen wheedled.
“Make it yourself, I’m busy. Do you have any Kahlúa, Chlo?”
“In the fridge,” Chloe said as Gwen got grouchily to her feet.
Bailey pulled the bottle out of the fridge. “Anyone want a Kahlúa milkshake?”
“Can’t,” Chloe said. “I’m not supposed to have any alcohol.”
“Why?” Bailey asked, genuinely perplexed.
Gwen bumped her out of the way and snagged the coffee pot, turning on the water in the sink. “She has to take pills that make her bleed, and alcohol is a blood thinner.”
“Oh. Right. Well, I’m having one. Gwen?”
Gwen left the pot to fill in the sink and grabbed a new filter. “I just want coffee.”
Bailey pulled her head out of the cupboard the blender should’ve been in. “Where the hell is your blender?”
“On top of the fridge, where it always is.”
Bailey looked up. “Gwen, get it for me, will you? I’m too short.”
Gwen finished spooning coffee grounds into the basket and shut off the water before crossing to the fridge. She stretched up onto her toes to reach the blender, then dropped back to her heels and passed it to Bailey.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Gwen returned to the coffee pot to pour in the water and turn it on. “Chloe, how are you feeling about tomorrow?”
“Okay, I guess,” Chloe said with a shrug. “A little anxious, but mostly ready to be done with it.”
Bailey dug a scoop out of the silverware drawer and began dumping ice cream into the blender. “Are you driving up tonight or tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
Gwen grabbed a spoon and scooped up some ice cream, dropping it into her cup while the coffee maker hissed and spat. “Did their talk with Nash help?”
“Yeah, it did. They didn’t tell me what they talked about, but it helped.”
“Nash didn’t say anything to me, either.” Bailey eyed the level of ice cream in the blender. She added one more scoop, then reached for the liquor. “But then, he wouldn’t.”
“I need to thank him,” Chloe said and Bailey, pouring booze into the blender, froze.
“I’m sorry, did you say you need to thank Nash?” She set the bottle on the counter with a thunk and looked at Gwen. “Did she say she needs to thank Nash?”
Gwen grabbed another spoonful of ice cream, slipping this one between her lips. “That’s what I heard.”
“Has hell frozen over?” Bailey wondered. She slapped the top on the blender. “Chloe, check the weather app on your phone and see.”
Chloe stuck out her tongue.
Bailey grinned and set the blender to whirring. When ice cream and Kahlúa were blended to her satisfaction, she flipped it off and peeled off the lid to pour the contents into a glass. “How much ice cream do you want, Chloe?”
“Just bring me the carton.”
“Thatta girl.”
Bailey carried her milkshake and the ice cream into the living room. She passed the latter off to Chloe, then curled up in a chair. The coffee maker had stopped hissing, so Gwen poured a cup and followed, resuming her spot on the sofa. She picked up her bagel. “What time is your appointment?”
“Twelve-thirty.” Chloe frowned down at the carton of vanilla ice cream. “I need chocolate sauce.”
Bailey set her milkshake aside. “I’ll get it.”
“Well, at least you don’t have to get up early,” Gwen commented. “That’s, what, an hour away by car?”
“About that, yeah. But we’re going early so we can check into the hotel first. You know, settle in before the appointment.”
Bailey returned with the chocolate sauce. “What hotel lets you check in before noon?”
“The kind that Knox designed, and is friends with the owners.”
“That’d do it.” Chocolate sauce delivered, Bailey picked up her milkshake and dropped back into her seat.
“Anyway, we’ll check in, get settled, then go get me some abortion pills.”
Chloe was frowning into her ice cream, and she looked…sad? Bailey exchanged a worried glance with Gwen. “And you’re good with that plan?”
“What?” Chloe looked up, confusion in her pretty blue eyes. “Yeah, sure. Why?”
Bailey gestured. “You’re looking at the ice cream like it killed your puppy.”
Chloe sighed. “The clinic will only let one person come in with me.”
Gwen winced. “Oh.”
Chloe’s shoulders shifted in a restless shrug. “It’s fine, I guess. I’m not having surgery, just getting a couple pills. But…”
“You wanted both of them with you,” Gwen finished.
Chloe nodded, shoulders slumped. “Yeah.”
They were silent for a moment, then Chloe straightened her shoulders and reached for the chocolate sauce. “Okay, that’s enough about all that. What’s going on with you guys?”
“Gwen had a date,” Bailey said, and hid her grin in her milkshake when Gwen scowled.
Chloe finished pouring chocolate on her ice cream. “You did? With who?”
“This guy I met at the coffee shop last week,” Gwen said reluctantly.
Chloe picked up her spoon. “Name?”
“Liam.”
“I like it,” Chloe said and waggled her eyebrows. “I sense potential in Liam.”
Gwen snorted. “Your senses are on the fritz, then. He talked about his ex-wife the whole time and stuck me with the check.”
Bailey wrinkled her nose. “Ugh.”
“Well said, Bailey,” Chloe declared around a mouthful of ice cream and chocolate sauce. “Want some ice cream?”
“Fuck it,” Gwen decided and set her bagel aside. “Give.”
Chloe stretched out to hand over the carton, then looked at Bailey. “Okay, your turn.”
Bailey slurped the last of her milkshake, then set her glass aside. “I’m just a girl, waiting for a guy to give her a gang bang.”
Gwen snorted. “There’s a fucked-up rom-com for you.”
“And when is that happening?”
“A week from today, actually.”
“Seriously?” Gwen asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
Gwen wrinkled her nose. “You don’t think it’s bad taste to have a gang bang on a Sunday?”
“Your latent Catholicism is showing,” Chloe told her.
“I don’t work Sunday or Monday,” Bailey reminded Gwen, amused. “The choice of day is practical, not ecclesiastical.”
Gwen just muttered something under her breath that sounded like none of my business and shoveled in more ice cream.
Chloe gave her foot a comforting pat. “You seem awfully cool about it,” she told Bailey.
“It’s a front,” Bailey confessed. “I’m so worked up I feel like I could jump out of my skin. And Nash is not helping.”
“What does that mean?” Gwen asked, then immediately threw up her hands. “Jesus, why did I ask that? I don’t want to know!”
Chloe grinned. “Well, I do.”
Bailey hitched up her hip to dig her phone out of her pocket. She keyed in the passcode, then tossed it to Chloe. “Last text.”
Chloe swiped at the screen. “Why is he texting you a traffic cone emoji?”
“Probably because there’s no butt plug emoji.”
Gwen groaned. “I knew it. I knew it was going to be butt stuff.”
“And the ‘two hours’?” Chloe wanted to know.
Gwen abandoned the ice cream to slap her hands over her ears and sing, “La la la, I’m not listening, la la la.”
“Because that’s how long I’m supposed to keep it in,” Bailey told Chloe. “Two hours a day, every day, until the big bang.”
“So he’s, what, training your asshole?”
“That’s his story. I think he’s just trying to make me extra horny.”
“Will it?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Go, Nash,” Chloe chortled, then nudged Gwen’s foot. “You can stop singing now.”
“What?” Gwen shouted back.
Chloe leaned forward to grab her arms and yanked them down. “I think it’s hot.”
“It is,” Bailey agreed. “It’s also diabolical.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t come.”
“Come where?” Gwen asked around a mouthful of ice cream.
Bailey just stared at her while Chloe dissolved in a fit of giggles. “Orgasm, Gwen.”
Gwen swallowed, blushing to the roots of her hair. “Oh.”
“Why can’t you come?” Chloe asked.
“Because Nash, also known as the Orgasm Police, said so.”
“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Chloe drawled, grinning.
Gwen wrinkled her nose. “And you’re going along with this why?”
“I’m not really sure,” Bailey admitted. “I almost told him to go fuck himself.”
“So, why didn’t you?” Chloe wanted to know.
Bailey shrugged. “Because it’s hot, and it’s fun.”
“There’s nothing fun about not coming,” Gwen muttered.
“It’s part of the game,” Bailey explained. “You know, the whole I’m-not-in-control thing.”
“He’s setting the tone,” Chloe explained.
Bailey nodded. “Yeah, and I want to see where he goes with it.”
“I kind of wish I could be there Sunday to see how this plays out,” Chloe mused.
“Fine by me, but you have to clear it with Nash.”
“I’ll settle for all the details after,” Chloe decided.
“I’ll settle for no details after.” Gwen set the ice cream on the coffee table. “Are we done talking about Bailey’s sex life now?”
Chloe looked at Bailey. “I don’t know, are we?”
Bailey shrugged. “I have nothing else to add. Oh, except he hired Sawyer.”
“Really?” Chloe gasped. “Oh, now I really need all the details after.”
Gwen looked torn for a moment, then shook her head. “I maintain my no-details stance.”
“Good for you, Gwen,” Bailey teased. “Way to stick to your principles.”
“Bite me,” Gwen said and picked up the television remote. “You guys want to watch Heated Rivalry?”
“I’ve seen it, but I’m up for a rewatch,” Chloe enthused.
“Absolutely not. No. No way.”
Chloe stared at Bailey in confusion. “I thought you loved that show.”
“I do, but we can’t watch it.”
Gwen looked just as baffled as Chloe. “Why?”
“Because it’s sexy,” Bailey explained patiently.
Gwen and Chloe exchanged looks. “So?”