Page 40 of Last Fall

10

ERIK

You’d Be Surprised How Much You Don’t Know About Women Until You Read a Book Written by a Woman About WhatWomenWant

“You look like hell,”Wes said as he dropped into the booth beside me. We were on the road in Philadelphia and he insisted we stop for a cheesesteak and beer at his favorite dive bar. Seth and Chris sat acrossfromus.

“You really do,” Seth said. “I was just too afraid to say it in case you did something to me in my sleep when wegothome.”

“Whatever. You’re allassholes.”

Wes threw back his beer and drained half of it. “Yes, we are. But you still looklikehell.”

“It’s not affecting your game though,” Chris said,handsup.

Well at least I knew this wasn’t an intervention about mycareer.

Justmylife.

“As much as I enjoy hearing about how shitty I look, I think I’ll head back to thehotel...”

Wes clapped his big ugly hand down on myshoulder. “Stay.”

Fuck.

“What’s going on?” Chris asked. He was probably the most out of the loop since he wasn’t friends with Zoe and he didn’t livewithme.

So if I was looking for a bright side in this incredibly uncomfortable discussion, it was that my friends weren’t gossiping about me behindmyback.

“This stays between us,” Wes said. He sat up taller like he was some sort of club president calling a secretmeeting.

Whatever. I didn’t care. “YouknowZoe?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Pretty little thing that worksforEve?”

To my credit, I didnotcrush the beer in my hand. “Sheusedto work for Eve. She’s a very successfulwriternow.”

“And yes,” Wes grinned, “she’s thatpretty littlethang.”

Because he said that specifically to get a rise out of me I didn’t punch him, but Iimaginedpunching him right on his prettylittlejaw.

Chris looked back and forth between us. “Youbangingher?”

Fuck me.These bastards were going to kill me. “No,” Igrittedout.

“But he wantstobe.”

“I swear to god I will kill you, Wes.” I closed my eyes and imaginedchokinghim.

“Ah, so you’re sexually frustrated,” Chris said. “We can help find you some relief. There are a few very hot waitresses in here who I’m sure would be thrilled to spend the night with Erik Cassidy.” Chris batted his eyelashes and turnedfalsetto.

“Eyes on me you little shits.” I waited until I had all of their attention. “I am not in the mood to be made fun of. I do not want to sleep with a waitress. What is happening between me and Zoe is between me and Zoe. If you want to help, you can put a pause on being assholes while I eat. I’m sure that alone will reduce my stresslevel.”

Seth snorted. “Toldyou.”

Wes grimaced, then pulled five bucks out of his wallet and slid it across thetable.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. That?” It was clearly a bet, butonwhat?