Page 25 of Pelvic Flaws

“Yeah, well last time I checked, I was forty-six and pretty sure I don’t need mothering.”

“She does have a point. You never don’t call people back, it’s that Southern charm of yours.”

I looked up at Jethro and paused. What the hell could I say? He was right, but I just didn’t want to call Debbie.

“It’s all over?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I have no fucking idea. We were fine last time I saw her. We didn’t really have a great evening, but that wasn’t her fault.”

“So what happened?”

As we both sat at my desk, I told Jethro all about meeting Katie in the pizza place and then finding her broken down. When I finished, he started to laugh, his head resting back against his neck.

“What’s so fucking funny?” I asked. “Because now I’ve told you what happened, it sounds kinda like a shit thing to do to her.”

Jethro stopped laughing and levelled me with a bemused look. “You said yourself, you’re just fuck buddies. Debbie knows that.” He lifted his leg and rested an ankle on his knee.

“Even so,” I sighed. “I should have just called Barry, made sure he was okay to turn up and help Katie, and then taken Debbie to dinner, as planned.”

I reached inside my drawer and pulled out a packet of mints, popping one in my mouth and holding them out to Jethro. He declined and grinned.

“You must be stressed. The mints only ever come out when you’ve got something on your mind.”

I flipped him the bird and threw the mints back into the drawer, slamming it shut. He was right, again. Mints had become my cigarette substitute when I gave up smoking almost eight years ago, and I’d reckoned I must have brought the habit to the UK with me.

“So,” Jethro continued. “What’s stressing you out? The fuck buddy or the fuckable momma?”

“Hey, don’t call her that.”

“What, fuck buddy? Sorry, thought she was,” he said grinning, knowing exactly who my comment had really been about. “I’ll ask again. Is it over, you and Debbie?”

I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about Jethro’s question. If I finished things with Debbie, what was I finishing them for and why? It wasn’t as if I had anything going with Katie, and call me a fucking douchebag, but I had needs and Debbie fulfilled those needs.

“I saw her at the gym,” I blurted out. “Katie. As I got there, she was leaving.”

“And she looked hot and you wanted to jump her bones.”

I grinned thinking about Katie, all hot and sweaty wearing that damn stupid tee. The way she tried to act as though she wasn’t affected by me, but I knew she was and that made me fucking happy. She was funny and she made me feel light and happy whenever I was in her company – okay, that would be the sum total of three damn times, but jeez, who the hell was counting?

“That stupid smile on your face pretty much says it all,” Jethro said, dropping his foot to the floor and leaning forward.

“I hardly know her man, but there’s just something about her.”

Jethro’s hand came forward and pushed my cell across the desk to me.

“If it was me, I’d keep Debbie and see how things go with the hot momma, but that’s not you Dex. You’re a good guy, a gentleman, so call Debbie and tell her it’s finished.”

I sighed, knowing he was right. While Katie took up my head space, it wasn’t fair to Debbie.

“And then,” Jethro continued, getting up from his chair. “Ring that Katie woman and ask her on a fucking date.”

“Really? So soon?”

“Yeah, so fucking soon,” he cried, his hand on the door handle. “Otherwise, your miserable arse will result in you having no damn staff left.”

As he closed the door quietly behind him, I blew out a breath, picked up my phone, and dialed Debbie’s number.

Katie

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