Page 16 of Blade

She clapped her hands and jumped up. Her phone rang and she answered it as I assumed she went to gather whatever we needed. When she got back, she had her arms full. I jumped up to help.

“Thanks,” she said as we set everything down on the coffee table. “Sloane, Phoenix’s ol’ lady, and Ember, Ares’s ol’ lady are coming over too.”

“Oh,” I nervously replied. Meeting new people was hard for me.

“You’ll love them, I promise,” she assured me. She held up a bottle of wine and two glasses with a questioning expression.

“Lordy, yes please.” I made grabby hands toward her offering.

Sage pampered me by preparing my foot soak before she did her own. “You didn’t have to do that,” I assured her, but she only shrugged.

“I don’t mind. I want you to be able to relax and feel at home. Now, while we’re waiting for the girls to arrive, what happened with you and Blade?” We both were sitting on the couch, with our wineglasses in the armrest holders she had flipped down in the center.

I heaved a heavy sigh. “It was a disaster.”

Concern wrinkled her brow. “Elaborate,” she encouraged.

So, I did. By the time I was done, she was practically wincing.

“I’m so sorry. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but he didn’t need to be such a prick,” she grumbled.

“What’s the problem? Is it me? Does he think I’m not good enough?” My heart and stomach dropped like I’d hit a dip in the road. I’d worked so hard to get myself in a healthy mindset and move on with my life. Though I’d been doing really well, that did a number on my progress.

“Oh, babe, no,” she assured me as she gently gripped my arm.

“Then what is it? Do you know?”

“I know some of it, but that’s not my business to share. I’m so sorry.”

My shoulders drooped. “It’s okay. I respect you for keeping his secrets. That’s loyalty and it’s rare.”

“I’ll talk to him and see if I can get anything out of him,” she whispered conspiratorially, causing me to smile.

“I appreciate that. But don’t cause issues in your friendship for me.”

“Psh!” she scoffed. “Our friendship has withstood a helluva lot worse than that. I’ll see what I can do.”

Sloane and Ember arrived as we were painting our toenails. Sage was right, I loved them. They were both sweet and funny.

Sage cranked up the music and the wine was flowing.

By the time we had all painted each other’s fingernails, we were all a bit tipsy. Okay, a lot tipsy. I had to blink a few times to clearly see the empty bottles that were scattered around the living room.

We all laughed, and Sage cut the music.

“You girls might as well crash here since the guys are all gone,” Sage slurred.

Giggles filled the room as we all agreed. I was staying in one of the guest rooms in the clubhouse and probably could’ve made it back just fine, but the thought of being alone depressed me. It was also dark out and if my guess was correct, pretty late.

A phone started to vibrate, and they were all looking for their phones when another phone started vibrating. Then another.

“What the fuck?” Ember drawled as they all exchanged glances, then they scrambled to locate their devices.

“I missed several calls from Phoenix,” Sloane told us with a frown.

“Ares was calling me too,” Ember added.

Startled, Sage looked up from her screen.