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“What? No rubber dick is coming near my junk.”
“It’s not like you’re fucking yourself with it. It’s the vibrations. They feel good. Actually, they have this one ring that you slide over your dick and it vibrates while you’re…you know…fucking.”
“Seriously?”
“Haven’t you ever been in an adult store?”
“Can’t say that I have,” Dash mumbled.
I closed my eyes, sinking down on the stairs. I wasn’t sure I could go in there after hearing all this. It was bad enough knowing that they were touching my underwear, but now they knew about my toys. And I had a lot of them. Multiple shoeboxes, in fact. It sounded like they only found the ones in my dresser, which was only a fraction of what I had. I couldn’t help it. I was without a boyfriend for longer than I was with one, and I wasn’t like Edith. I couldn’t go out on the prowl for a new lover. I needed a connection of some kind, and that was hard to find in a small town.
“Do you think she’s into…you know…”
“No, I don’t know. Why would I know?” Andrew snapped.
“Because you’ve known her a long time.”
“Yeah, as a friend.”
“And you never thought about going for it?”
“Of course I have, but I work away from home, and she’s not the kind of woman that you leave behind.”
“Huh…”
I frowned at Andrew’s admission. I never knew he had a thing for me. He never let on. And the fact that he never discussed it with me, about what I might want to do, kind of pissed me off. Once again, the men in my life were making decisions for me.
Rae grabbed my sleeve and jerked her head downstairs. I followedher, ready to leave behind what I just heard. We crept down the stairs and snuck back outside with them none the wiser. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Rae—a total stranger—hearing all of that, but it was no different than Dash touching my underwear and toys.
“Did you have any idea?”
“That Andrew considered dating me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Never.”
“He never hinted?”
“No, but I’ve known him for so long. We’ve always been very close.”
I was still in a state of shock over the revelation, unable to process anything else. And I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about any of it. Andrew had always been my best friend. I never thought of him as anything else. Taking a chance could be the best thing in the world considering how close we were, but if it went south, I could lose my best friend. I wasn’t sure I could handle that.
And then there was Dash…
Not that he was interested in me, but I had those butterflies in my belly when I thought about him. I couldn’t just erase that from my mind, even if I wanted to forget about the whole embarrassing incident.
“They’re coming out,” Rae said, smacking me on the arm.
I tried my best to compose myself, but when I looked at Andrew, all I could hear were his words on repeat in my head. My heart started to pound wildly in my chest with every step he took. And then my eyes swiveled to Dash, the way he was walking toward me with that sparkle in his eyes.
I couldn’t take the pressure of it all. One man that I couldn’t live without and another that I had a mad crush on. It was impossible to face this!
“Hey, Wilder. You have a shit ton of stuff,” Andrew griped as he walked up to me, dropping two suitcases at my feet.
My mouth gaped open, and then I did the only logical thing. I turned and ran.
“I don’t seewhy you had to drag me away from a perfectly good man,” Edith complained. “I was just about to suggest we go someplace more private. Not that I have a problem with public displays of affection…or exhibition, for that matter. And I think?—”
“Edith, this is serious!” I said, driving like a mad woman through town. My fists were clamped around the steering wheel as I hunched over, searching for the address she gave me. I needed someplace private to talk with her, and it had to happen now before I saw either of them again, which wouldn’t be too much longer.
“What could be so serious that you had to drag me away from an extraordinary specimen like Bowie? If they made models like him, I would go to all the fashion shows.”