Page 12 of A Sudden Response

“Wait,” Joe said as something occurred to her. “I wasn’t there when their engagement ended, so we won.”

Eric winced as he said, “Ah, Joe? You kind of were,” making her frown.

“No, I wasn’t. You were fighting while we were up at the ski resort, but you didn’t break up until after you dropped me off at my house. So there, that’s one major event that I wasn’t there for,” Joe said, only to narrow her eyes on Nathan when he started laughing his ass off.

Bastard.

“What am I missing?” Joe demanded as she watched Eric duck his head and began shoveling food into his mouth.

“You were there alright,” Nathan said, chuckling.

Okay, now she was seriously confused. She narrowed her eyes on Eric, who was shoveling food in his mouth faster, obviously trying to avoid the question.

“What did you do?” Joe demanded as she narrowed her eyes on him. She was pretty sure that she wouldn’t forget being in the room when her best friend broke off his engagement. Call her crazy, but that was the kind of thing that she would remember.

No answer.

“Maybe we should talk about something else,” Alice suggested with a hopeful smile.

Joe turned her glare on Nathan, only to watch the bastard grin hugely. “Well, it seemed good old Beth, whom I like to pointout that I never liked, tried to put her foot down where the two of you were concerned. Seems that she didn’t like all the touchy-feely crap between the two of you and wanted him to start treating her the way that he treats you.”

Joe nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know that she had a problem with that and I understood it and apologized if it made her uncomfortable. Hell, I even spent the second day by myself so that they could be alone.”

“Well, you may have spent the entire day apart, however...” Nathan said, letting his words trail off.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Joe demanded as she narrowed her eyes on the little bastard that better start talking.

Alice released a heartfelt sigh as she grabbed another roll while Camie continued glaring, which was seriously starting to freak her out. Caitlyn smiled shyly as she ate, obviously uncomfortable and Joe couldn’t blame her since she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable herself.

“What the hell don’t I know about?” Joe demanded when no one said anything as her glare shifted between Eric and Nathan with a look that told them that they better start talking.

Eric groaned loudly as he dropped his fork on his plate and sat up straight. “Fine! You want to know what happened? I’ll tell you. She wouldn’t stop bitching. Everywhere I went, she was there, bitching at me. I had enough and wanted to sleep on the couch. She demanded that I sleep with her and I put my foot down.”

Eric hated sharing a bed. The few times he’d tried spending the entire night in bed with a woman, he’d panicked. He was very particular about his sleep. He couldn’t handle snoring, bed hogs, or people that moved in their sleep. For some reason, he didn’t have a problem hogging her bed and doing all of those things toher.

“You had a problem sharing a bed with your fiancée?” Camie asked, looking unsure whether that news should please her or not.

“I’m a light sleeper, damn it!” Eric said defensively. “Everyone knows that.”

“Uh-huh,” Nathan said absently, still smiling. Bastard. “Tell her the rest.”

“If you don’t tell me what you did to cost me a hundred dollars, I swear to God that I am going to strap your ass to a backboard on Monday and let the guys shave your ass from head to toe,” she threatened, knowing the guys would happily do it.

“Fine, my little drama queen, if you must know. The couch was too goddamn lumpy, so I went to your room to get some sleep,” Eric said, shrugging it off.

“Wait. If you wouldn’t sleep in the same bed with your fiancée, then why would you sleep with her?” Camie asked, narrowing her eyes on the both of them.

Nathan sighed dramatically. “Because she’s his bitch. You really need to pay attention.”

“Nathan!” Alice gasped, even as she couldn’t help but smile and Caitlyn chuckled softly. Joe could tell that she was really going to like Caitlyn.

“Anyway,” Eric said, stretching out the word. “I fell asleep and sometime after two in the morning, Beth woke up and decided to come looking for me. When she didn’t find me on the couch, she went straight to Joe’s room and that’s where she found me.”

Joe held up her hand. “Wait a minute. I don’t remember any of this and I’m pretty sure since Beth was incapable of talking without screeching that she would have woken me up.”

Eric cringed as he looked away.

Nathan laughed his ass off.

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