Page 52 of Bad Boy for Hire

She’d been eaten up with worry over the last week and tonight had decided she would go straight home from work, draw a bubble bath, and watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But then Lou called to say she had a surprise and wanted to host girls’ night, and May couldn’t say no. To be fair, she was glad she was hearing the news in person.

“So it’s going well?” Lou asked.

“It must be,” Lisa said. “She hasn’t returned any of my texts this week.”

“I’ve been hunkered down,” May admitted before dragging a cracker through the container of spinach dip on the table.

“Beneath Xavier’s bedsheets?” Elliott asked with a grin.

“Maybe.” May laughed. Elliott laughed. Even Lisa laughed.

Lou did not laugh. Her eyes were narrowed, and she was studying May with a disturbing amount of dedication. “What’s going on, really?”

“What do you mean?” May tried to sound innocent, but she didn’t quite sell it. Even Elliott and Lisa were studying her anew.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Lou prefaced before adding, “but you seem tense. Not as chill as you usually are. If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand. But hon”—Lou gestured at her tidy kitchen and their collective friend group—“where better to speak your truth?”

“If he hurt you, I’ll kill him,” Lisa said, suddenly serious.

“If he hurt you, I’ll have Brady kill him,” Elliott offered sweetly.

“Xavier hasn’t hurt me. He’s been amazing. Incredible.” May sighed as she replayed the last three weeks in her mind. If she was adamant about keeping her thoughts to herself, she knew her friends would support her. Well, everyone except Lisa, who would interrogate her at some point.

“You can talk to us,” Elliott said.

“You have to now,” Lisa said.

May had been losing sleep worrying for the past week. With no one to talk to—except for Xavier, for whom she put on a stoic face—it’d been a lonely seven days.

“My period is late,” she blurted.

“That explains the cranberry and tonic water.” Lou refilled her own glass with sparkling rosé and took a deep drink.

“You said you were doing Sober September.” Lisa’s voice was small. She was obviously hurt that May hadn’t shared the truth with her.

“I am. Just…not for the reasons you thought.” May sighed. “The first night Xavier and I slept together, we forgot to use a condom.” Elliott opened her mouth to speak, but May rushed in with, “I know it was irresponsible.”

“That’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say that Brady almost forgot. I had to remind him.”

Next to her, Lou nodded. “Ant and I had a moment where I couldn’t bear the thought of using a condom, so I told him not to wear one.”

“I assume you’re on birth control,” May countered.

“Well, I was.”

“What?” Elliott snapped her attention to Lou. “Was, past tense?”

“We are still using protection.” Lou stayed further comments with an outstretched palm. “But in the future, what if we want to try? Plus, those pills flare my temper.”

“You’re all crazy,” Lisa stated. “How could you forget?”

“You’ve never been caught up in the moment?” Elliott asked.

“Not even with Griffin, your self-proclaimed damn sex?” May fluttered her lashes.

Lisa pursed her lips and chose to stay quiet.

There. That would stave off further commentary from Lisa.