Page 65 of Offside Attraction

Rhonda planted a hand on her hip. “You said nothing about the fact that you and Ginger were together when we were at the Dusty Rose. You acted like you were just friends.”

“We are friends.” Ginger walked up to Darcy and clung to his arm, leaning into his side. “Good friends.”

Darcy’s neck reddened. “Okay, you two have a nice . . . work chat.” He gave a wink that could only be described as sarcastic. As they walked back to the apartment Ginger came out of, Rhonda whirled and dropped her forehead against the wall.

“Shiiiiiit.”

Jordan leaned against the wall next to her. “Can I take a guess?”

She nodded, rubbing her skin against paint that was probably applied in the nineties and never wiped down since.

He pulled her back and turned her to face him. “You think he’s going to tell the Snowballs.”

“Oh he’s definitely going to tell the Snowballs.”

“But you told him it was a work thing.”

Rhonda rolled her eyes. “People don’t have work things at each other’s apartments.”

“Um, we did.”

“We had sex after,” she hissed.

Jordan tensed, his blood raising a degree at the memory. “It seems he has his own secrets.”

Rhonda waved him off. “Nobody’s going to care that he and Ginger are a thing. He probably just likes the intrigue of keeping it secret. Like they’re role playing every time he goes to the bar.”

Jordan nodded, trying to match her end of the world energy. “Right. But they’ll all hate you if they found out you knew me.”

“Absolutely.”

“Because your friends are assholes.”

Rhonda groaned. “No,I’mthe asshole.” She slumped and walked back to the entry of his apartment and pointed at the picnic on the ground. “This is a thank you. I didn’t know if you liked sugar.”

“Doesn’t everyone like sugar?” He bent down to pick the food up.

“No.” She didn’t smile.

Jordan walked the bread and a small jar of fancy pickles inside and set them on his kitchen counter, then went back for the rest. “Thank you for what?”

“For helping me. On the road.”

Jordan nodded, something white and warm spreading through his chest. “Did you get your car back?”

“Mm-hmm.” Rhonda picked up the last few items and handed them to him. Then she swiped her hands together as if she was miming being finished with something. “Okay. So. Thanks.” She turned and stalked back down the hall.

Jordan didn’t even think to follow her, he was so stunned. He picked up the brownie bites and cheese and barely set them down when his phone chirped.

He found it on the couch, and his stomach clenched when he saw the name on the screen. Claire. He swiped to answer and held the phone to his ear. "Hey."

"Jordan. Hi." His sister's voice was tired. A door closed, the speaker rubbing against something.

"What's up?" He tried to keep his tone light, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread that always accompanied a call from his sister. Was he going to have to go pick her up somewhere? PayPal her money?

"I just wanted to say thanks. For this morning."

Jordan leaned back against the counter. What the hell was happening? He blinked and scanned his apartment, making sure he hadn’t somehow woken up in an alternate reality this morning. "Okay."

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