Page 79 of From Fling to Ring

“Gills, don’t ask me shit like that.”

She claps her hands together. “Ha! That means he does. Tyler’s got the pussy-eating tongue!”

I roll my eyes. “I’m ignoring that and moving on to the real reason we’re here. Guys, I fucked up with Tyler. Big time.”

“Did you cheat? Who was it with?” Petal asks, sitting on the edge of her chair.

“No, I did not. Look, guys, remember how I told you my boss was talking about layoffs and stuff?”

They dutifully nod.

“That’s when we came up with an idea for me to write a book. And I was kind of inspired because we’d just been at that happy hour for the Aftershocks where I chatted with Tyler, and figured he was kind of a douche. You know, the kind of guy who could teach a Masterclass in picking up women.”

I go on to explain how that meeting evolved into the idea of writing a book to help women avoid the Tyler-type of guy—the players, the womanizers, and the smooth operator assholes. I explained how it initially seemed like a brilliant idea and how excited I was because the universe had handed me not only a great idea, but also the perfect research subject to write about.

So, I started fake-dating him. Only he didn’t know we were fake-dating. He thought we were real-dating.

“Okay. I see what’s going on here,” Petal says. “First off, that’s shitty. Second off, it’s really shitty. I can’t stress that enough. But you like him, right? You’d like to keep going out with him?”

I shrug one shoulder, trying to play it cool, when I realize that’s stupid. These girls are my ride-or-dies. It’s required that I be straight with them. “Yes, I like him, and yes, I want to keep going out with him.”

Petal throws her hands up. “Then just don’t tell him. Keep it to yourself. Forever. Easy.”

“You see, that’s where the problem is,” I say, and dive into how after he abruptly left the other day, I realized he’d seen my notes for the book.

“I’ve been beating myself up for leaving that stuff out where he could find it. I’m such an idiot. The things I wrote about him were horrible. I would have left, too, if I were him. He hates me now. I know it.”

Gilly shakes her head. “Lu, don’t be so dramatic. I’m sure you guys can talk it out.”

“Problem is, he won’t respond to my texts or calls.”

Quiet falls over my living room and Gilly and Petal look at each other, at a loss for words.

Yeah, it’s like that.

“See, even you guys can’t believe I fucked up this bad.”

They each nod slowly, and pop some more chocolate in their mouths.

40

LUCY

“Guys, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I really don’t think it’s a good idea. Petal, will you turn the car around? Just drop me at the Freekly.”

Petal takes the freeway exit for the hockey arena. “Nope, nope, and nope. You called in sick to work, so you have the morning off, and you are going to take care of this problem.”

I stare out the car window. “I love the way you think, but I’m pretty sure this is hopeless. I’m sure when Tyler sees me, he’ll go running in the opposite direction. In fact, the whole team probably hates me, because I’m sure he’s told them all that went down.”

Holy shit. Imagine. Hated by an entire hockey team. I’ll never be able to go to a party at Petal’s and Rake’s again. I’ll become one of those ‘coffee friends,’ who you only see a couple times a year. Petal and Gilly will tell me about all the fun stuff they do, and I’ll be completely left out because of that one time I fucked that guy over, who happened to be a big-time hockey star.

Petal pulls into the team parking area using Rake’s pass. After she parks, she and Gilly get out of the car and open my door. But I don’t budge.

I don’t even take my seatbelt off.

“I can’t do it,” I say, crossing my arms and looking straight ahead.

In a flash movement, Petal grabs my purse and holds it outside my reach.

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