Page 39 of Waiting for Acceptance (Nashville Nights #5)

LAUREN

“I don’t like how busy you are with your new boyfriend,” Taylor whines, and my mouth pops open. “You didn’t text us like, at all while you were in New York. I’ve become accustomed to hourly texts, or Insta story updates or something! ”

“OK, hold on a minute. I’ve had to deal with every single one of you bitches getting boyfriends, then fiancés, then husbands.

Not to mention the dogs and the babies, whom I love with my whole heart, and you’re gonna get mad when I’ve had a boyfriend for five whole minutes because I didn’t send you a picture of my breakfast?

” The whole room is silent as I wait for her answer.

“Yes.”

“Well, that sounds about right,” I mumble and the room falls into a fit of laughter.

“God, you’re high maintenance.” Shane shakes her head at Taylor, who just shrugs as she finishes pulling the takeout containers from the bag.

“High maintenance is still maintainable.” Taylor winks at her.

“Okay, but tell us everything. How was it?” Ruby’s eyes bounce in anticipation.

“It was good. We were pretty busy the whole time. Obviously.” I pop my eyes at Taylor and she rolls hers.

“He took me to his favorite pizza place when we landed and it was to die for. The conference went well and I actually got to answer one of the questions at the end of Fitz’s presentation.

The party we were supposed to go to got moved to next week and after checking my work schedule I realized I’m supposed to be training someone so I don’t think I’ll get to go, which I’m bummed about, but it was a good trip.

Until we got to the airport, but everything is fine now. ”

“I’m so glad you had a good time and getting to speak must have been fun!” Shane encourages from her place at the table. Her little baby bump is starting to show up now and I still can’t believe her and Max are having another baby.

“Bitch, back up. What do you mean until you got to the airport? What happened?” Leah asks.

“Did you get strip searched?” Ruby asks.

“Why on earth would I get strip searched?”

“Well, what else could go wrong in an airport?”

“I can think of a few things other than getting strip searched!” Ruby shrugs and I shake my head and laugh.

“Woman, what happened!?” Taylor waves a hand at me and I suddenly cower.

“We, uh… Ran into Hugh.” I shrug, forking a bite of my food into my mouth. I see Ruby’s eyes widen and everyone else shares a look of confusion.

“My old boss, Hugh? Why would that be a problem?” Shane asks, taking a sip of her water.

“Well, yeah, no. It would have been fine if I’d been like, ‘ This is my friend's old boss, I met him once at an event she took me to in California, I haven’t seen him in almost four years’. ” I notice the way Ruby is fighting back a laugh and I want to push her off her chair.

“How did you introduce him?” Taylor’s getting suspicious and my sweet, sweet Shane still looks just as lost as before.

“As a friend…” Eyes begin to widen around the table. “That I may or may not have slept with before,” I mumble the words out quickly as I bring my Diet Coke up to my lips.

“YOU SLEPT WITH HUGH?!” Shane screams, with no regard for who else in the house may hear her.

“Oof. Yeah, I’m sure that went over fabulously,” Leah snickers, just as Tucker and Tank come storming into the kitchen.

“Umm. Who did?” Tucker asks, looking around the table. Four fingers are suddenly pointed straight at me.

“I hate you all.” I roll my eyes and turn around with a guilty smile on my face. “Hi.”

“Damn, Sour Patch. The old guy? Really?” Tank teases and I glare at him.

“He’s literally like three years older than Tucker and Max?”

“Yeah, well, they’re old too.” Tucker slaps the back of Tank’s head and they start fighting, like full-on wrestling, in the kitchen.

“Boys! Take it in the living room. We’re gossiping.” Taylor points them towards the living room and they oblige.

“I cannot believe you slept with Hugh! When?!” Leah’s eyes light up when she asks and I cannot believe I am finally telling them this.

“Well the first time?—”

“The first time ? How many times were there?!” Shane is absolutely losing it right now and I must say, it’s kind of funny to see.

“The first time was when you and I went to Cali together. I ran into him while I was at the gym, and one thing led to another…”

“I knew no one worked out for that long! You’re dedicated, Lu, but not that dedicated.”

“ Anyway… ” I continue, “then when we went back for your showcase we hooked up again. I saw him a few times after that but I didn’t know what I wanted and he knew exactly what he wanted, so it just wouldn’t have worked.” I shrug.

“What did he want?” Taylor asks.

“He wanted to settle down. He said he wasn’t getting any younger and he wanted to have someone to spend the rest of his life with, to share his art with, and maybe have a kid to pass it all down to.

I really admired his dream, but I just knew I wasn’t the one that it would come true with.

I was what? 25? 26? I wasn’t even kind of ready for that life back then,” I scoff, waving a hand dismissively at the idea of me settling down back then.

“And now?” Ruby asks, and when I meet her gaze it levels me.

“And now… I’m with Fitz. It’s new but…we’ll see what happens.

” They start in with the aww s and squeals about how their girl is ready to fall in love ; when in reality I still have no idea if that’s what I want.

The only thing I’m sure of is that it feels good to be with Fitz.

So I’m going to do something I never do and stop the thought process there—for now, anyway.

“Honey, Can I talk to you for a minute?” Tank peeks his head in the room and Ruby frowns in confusion.

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Be right back, ladies. Don’t talk about anything fun without me.” I look over at Tank, but instead of being met with one of his goofy smiles, or him playfully flipping me off, there’s a look of concern on his face—and before they disappear, I notice it’s directed right at me.

Well, hello anxiety. You weren’t invited tonight.

The conversation around the table switches when Taylor and Leah ask Shane about labor pains and what it feels like to grow a human, but I’m more curious to know what the hell has Tank looking so worried.

Unable to steer my mind in another direction, I excuse myself from the table and head to the bathroom.

I have no intentions of eavesdropping, but that doesn’t stop me from pausing when I hear my name come from one of the spare rooms.

“I’m worried about Lauren dating this guy.” I’m practically frozen in place when I hear the words leave Tank’s mouth.

“What?” Ruby laughs. “Why?” I can tell she seems completely unbothered, which makes me glad it’s not a shared opinion.

“You remember back when she had some work done on her car? I went to pick her up for lunch before picking it back up at the dealer?”

“Yeah?”

“I walked in to get her and she was coming out of his office and she looked really upset. Almost hurt, from the look in her eyes.”

Oh my god, he remembers that?

“Hurt? Like he hurt her? Hurt? What the hell, Tank? Why didn’t you tell me about this then?” Ruby sounds pissed off.

Great job, Tank. You got Ruby in fight mode.

“No. Not physically hurt. Well, I don’t know, maybe—” I don’t even give him time to finish that sentence before I storm into the room.

“I can take some of the guesswork out of that answer for you,” I offer quietly, giving Tank a grateful look.

“I didn’t mean to overhear your conversation, but I did stop when I heard my name because you looked really concerned a minute ago and I don’t want you to be.

Not when it’s not necessary.” He folds his arms over his chest and his brows pinch together.

“So we don’t have a reason to worry? He didn’t hurt you?” Ruby asks for clarification.

I sigh and check behind me to see if anyone else has wandered this way. “I was upset that day, really upset and I was emotionally hurt, yes, but the whole reason behind that was a big misunderstanding.”

“I don’t understand.” Ruby shakes her head so I continue.

I explain the phone call I overheard and how angry I was that Fitz had been lying to everyone.

How I thought he was a mole, only to find out he’s an acquisition manager, and that Jack and Barbara weren’t losing everything, but choosing to sell so they could retire.

I tell them how he took me to get food that night and explained everything and that we worked through it.

I mean, I’m still kind of working through it, but that’s irrelevant.

“But he still lied about it,” Tank states, clearly not quite as accepting of the explanation as Ruby, who has visibly relaxed.

“He didn’t have a choice, it’s in his contract not to talk about it.” I shrug. Tank takes a deep breath, making him look even bigger than he already is.

“You know I’m just looking out for you, right?” Tank asks, and my heart squeezes in my chest. I will not cry. I will not cry .

“Yeah, I know.” I smile, fighting back the tears.

“You trust the guy?” I pause and Tank notices. “Lauren?—”

“Yeah. Yes. I trust him.” I shake my head, cutting him off. Seeing as how other than that one small incident Fitz hasn’t given me a reason not to trust him, I don’t see why I shouldn’t.

“Okay then. But if he hurts you, you have like four guys willing to make him disappear, just remember that.” He smiles and waves me over for a hug.

“Tank, I mean this with my whole heart, I don’t think after the Mark situation, I’ll ever forget that.” Ruby and I are both tucked under Tank’s arms giggling when I feel him shaking his head.

“I stand by what I said. Then, and now.”

“Okay, you big softy. We’re going back to girls’ night. Go check on our sons and make sure Hendrix isn’t trying to ride Maverick again.” Ruby slaps Tank’s ass and we stand in the spare bedroom together.

“He means well.” I smile at Ruby, knowing she’s probably worried I thought they were talking behind my back or something. Some might jump to that conclusion, but I know them better than that.

“I know, Rubes. I’m grateful to have you guys looking out for me.” I rest my head on her shoulder and we stay like that a bit longer, before returning to the round table of chaos.

“I can’t believe you told them about Hugh.” Ruby bumps my hip with hers.

“It was time. I can’t believe you almost didn’t hold it together. They’d kill you if they found out you knew and didn’t say anything.”

She shrugs. “Hey, it wasn’t my business when I walked in on you guys at the hotel, and it wasn’t my business after.”

Ruby Landry, the very definition of a ride or die.