Page 43 of Devoted Enough

“What was that girl’s name who claimed she had snuck away with Nate and gave him a blow job?” Josephine asked Candice.

I moved about in my seat, not liking where the conversation was going. The last thing I wanted to hear about was Nate’s conquests in high school.

Candice took a long drink of beer before setting it down as she seemed to try and catch her breath. “Callie Austin.”

“Yes!” the rest of the women at the table said.

“It was Callie Austin who claimed she had hooked up with Nate,” Candice said with a roll of her eyes.

Rosie laughed. “Everyone knows Nate never hooked up with anyone. He was a big flirt.”

“Not true,” Josephine stated as she wore a smug look.

“You?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

She jerked her head in my direction. “No! Girl, I knew how much you liked him. I would never do that to you.”

I sat back in my seat and looked at Lizzy but quickly looked down at my beer.

“The summer before our senior year of high school, there was that field party in old man Johnson’s field,” Josephine started. “There was a girl from Missoula here visiting her cousin.”

“Oh, right!” Rosie said as she pointed to Josephine. Turning to me, she said, “That was the night you and Nate got in that huge fight because he told you that you needed to go home because you were drinking.”

My brows drew in as I tried to remember. “I don’t remember that.”

Candice laughed. “Because you had drank so much you could hardly walk. And Michael Mathews was hanging all over you.”

“And Nate punched him,” Rosie said. “Remember Josh had to pull Nate off of Michael because Nate kept hitting him.”

“What?” I asked, leaning forward. “Why?”

Candice looked at me like I was insane. “He thought Michael was taking advantage of you because you were drunk. You guys got into it, and if I remember right, you said something…oh my gosh, what was it?” Candice looked around. “We were all so shocked.”

“You said something like, just because you’re repulsed with touching me doesn’t mean another guy isn’t,” Rosie stated with a smile, as if she had just cracked the code to world peace.

“I said that?”

“Girl, you were so drunk. Do you even remember Josh Shaw driving you home?”

I slowly shook my head. “I don’t remember that.”

Josephine chuckled. “I’m not surprised; you were wasted. Anyway, that Callie girl kept coming on to Nathan, and after that, he was so worked up I just remember him taking her to his truck. According to her, they had sex in his back seat.”

My stomach churned.

“Yeah, but you can ask anyone in our class; Nate never went that far with anyone,” Candice said. When she looked at me, she frowned. “Haven, are you okay?”

I quickly nodded. “Yep. I’m fine.”

Josephine’s eyes went wide. “Oh, girl, I’m so sorry. You still like him.”

“You do?” Lizzy asked, commenting for the first time.

Josephine took my hand in hers. “I’m so sorry I brought that up.”

I forced a smile. “Honestly, it’s okay. It’s fine. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know he was having sex with girls. Women, whatever. And a lot of them.”

My four friends exchanged looks before Rosie said, “But he didn’t. That’s what we’re saying. Nate was all talk in high school. Besides that Callie girl, he never hooked up with anyone. At least, not that I knew of.”

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