Page 84 of Pulse

“Well, fuck me in the ass.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“KEEP GOING,” JO said as Brooke refilled her glass. “After that news, I’m going to need all the help I can get. You know what, give me the whole damn pitcher.” She motioned for Brooke to hand over the pretty glass pitcher with etched palm trees.

“Hell no.” Harper shoved Jo’s hand aside. “You think you’re the only one who needs a drink after that? Top me off, Brooke.”

“Screw this.” Liv got up from her chair and hustled into the house, only to return twenty seconds later carrying three bottles of champagne.

“Yes. Now we’re talking. Gimme one of those.” Jo motioned for Liv to hand over a bottle.”

Talia blinked. What the hell was happening?

“Here…” Jo filled her flute to the tippy top with champagne, then handed the bottle to Talia. “Drink from the bottle. You need this more than any of us, I’m sure.”

“Um… it’s eleven.” How much were they planning to drink?

The ladies stopped moving and stared at her with affronted expressions. How was it that her refusal of day drinking earned her a more extreme reaction than the twenty-minute story she’d just told about Pulse’s past and the current Del Rios threat?

Is this what Pulse was going through, or was his experience less surreal and more violent? Her stomach cramped each time she thought of him in there with his brothers. If even one reacted as Spec did, Pulse could be in serious trouble.

Why had she agreed to come?

“What did we tell you when we sat down, Talia?” Liv jammed her hands on her hips.

“Um…”

“We said it doesn’t count asdrinkingif it’s mimosas.”

“Sure, but it’s still—”

“Shh, it’s best to just smile and nod.” Kelsie, who seemed more subdued than the rest of these women, leaned over and whispered in Talia’s ear. “Sometimes it’s better if you just let her think she’s winning.”

“Heard that,” Liv announced. “But she’s not wrong.”

Talia glanced between her empty glass and the chilled champagne Jo still held out.

“Oh, fuck it.” The ladies cheered as she took the champagne and filled her glass.

Harper topped her off with about a teaspoon of orange juice. “See, mimosa.”

“Sure it is.” Everyone laughed, which only made the entire situation more confusing. “You guys did hear me, right? You heard what I said?”

“We did.” Jo raised her glass. “Hence the extra drinking, remember?”

“Okay, so aren’t you upset? I mean, don’t you wanna cuss me out or something? I mean, Spec…” Maybe she shouldn’t criticize one of the ol’ men right to his woman’s face.

“Spec acted like an ape.” Liv sipped her drink. “Actually, I think a gorilla would have handled the news better.”

“Here’s the thing.” Harper reached across the table for a cheese cube as she talked. “Our men are fantastic. They treat us like queens, they’re protective, they have great dicks…”

“Here, here.”

“That’s right, girl!”

“You know it.”

She had to be in an alternate universe. It was the only explanation for these women.

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