“You know what I think your problem is?” he said.
“No, but I have a feeling you’re gonna tell me.”
“Damn right I am. You’re scared.” His brows lifted. “Yeah, you heard me. You’re scared that any day now he’s gonna wakeup—I mean that figuratively—and remember he’s supposed to be wrist-deep in pussy.”
“Mike…Jesus.”
“Maybe that’s crass, but I’m just sayin’ what you won’t. You know I’m right.”
“Can you please fuck off?”Leave me to my self-destruction in peace.
“I’m on a roll now, so no, and I’ll tell you why.” The humor faded from his eyes as he grabbed my shoulders to make me face him. “You, my friend, are too hard on yourself.” I rolled my eyes and tried to pull away, but his grip was strong. “No, no, listen. It’s true. You seem to think everyone in the world deserves happiness except you. But I know how you feel about this guy. I’ve seen what you’ve been doin’ for him. There ain’t an ounce of bad intention there. Probably nothin’ he wouldn’t do for you, either.”
I closed my eyes. God, I hated when he was right. I hated that I was so cautious about everything with Reid that I was unintentionally mucking it all up.
“Stop fightin’ it, my man,” Mike said, his tone gentler than I’d ever heard. “You care about the guy. Fucking go for it. I don’t want to have to tell you twice.”
When I nodded, a smile slowly spread across his face. “Yeah? We good?” he said.
“We’re good.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic.” He clapped me on the shoulder, and as we headed off again, we passed a section full of women’s lingerie, and Mike stopped abruptly and let out a low whistle. “Hel-lo, now we’re talkin’.”
And just like that, the time for serious talk was over.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Now that I’ve solved your problems for you—you’re welcome—I need to shop for my wife.” He flipped through therack, and after grabbing a couple of barely-there lace sets, he held them up for me. “What do you think? Would Deb like the white or the pink?”
“That’s not what she wants.”
“How do you know? She might.” He looked down at them again. “She likes pink.”
“That’s a gift for you, not her,” I said, snatching the hangers out of his hands and putting them back on the rack. “Get her a day at the spa. She’ll thank you for that.”
Mike pursed his lips but then nodded. “Yeah, fine. These wouldn’t last long anyway.” Then he let out a growl to insinuate he’d be ripping them to shreds.
“I’m not trying to hear this,” I said, walking off toward the exit, as he followed on my heels. At least he’d let our previous conversation drop, and for that, I was grateful.
“Hey, you don’t think those massage places give happy endings to females too, do you?”
I screeched to a stop. “Where’ve you been going that you get a damn happy ending?”
“What? I’m not saying me, I’m saying in general.” Then he gave me a nudge. “Why, you know of one?”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “No.”
“Hah, I was joking. I’d never do that.”
“Sure, you wouldn’t.”
“I wouldn’t. But seriously, I’m not gonna get my wife some happy-ending shit either, so you better give me a heads-up if they’re sketch like that.”
“Way to stereotype.”
“It’s not stereotyping; it’s a legitimate question.”
“Well, sorry to break it to you, but wouldn’t know of any place like that.”