She ran across the living room and through his open bedroom door.He’d stopped peeing and was washing his hands, whistling over the sounds of the running water.Her purse sat on his dresser—her keys too, he must have picked them up—and she snagged both and ran back to the front door.
She had the lock undone before the water cut off, and ran like a gazelle for her car.
She’d driven two blocks when the text came in, but she waited until she was sitting down at the diner, a cup of coffee in front of her, to answer Nash’sWhere are you?
Meeting Chloe and Gwen for breakfast,she replied, hoping it came off like that was always the plan and she hadn’t run away like a coward.Bring you back a cinnamon roll.
Then she put her phone on silent and picked up her coffee.
She was just starting on her second cup when Chloe came in wearing a summer dress and a short jean jacket.Shuffling along behind her, Gwen was in pajama pants and a sweatshirt, her hair piled sloppily on her head and her eyes both sleepy and annoyed behind her glasses.They slid into the booth, and Bailey immediately put her coffee cup in front of Gwen.
“Smart,” Chloe said approvingly and signaled the waitress.
Gwen gulped coffee and said nothing.
“Thanks for meeting me,” Bailey said.
“I’d say no problem, but—” Chloe cut her eyes to Gwen, steadily and sullenly drinking coffee.
“I know.Sorry.”
The server appeared, and Chloe gave her a bright smile.“We’re going to need a lot of coffee.”
“And cinnamon rolls,” Gwen muttered.
“And maybe a couple of cinnamon rolls for the table?Thank you so much.”Chloe waited until the server had moved on, then looked at Bailey.“Okay, what’s wrong?”
Bailey toyed with the little paper wrapper on her silverware.“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“Because you made me drag Gwen out of bed to meet you at—” She paused to check the time on her phone.“Seven-twenty-three in the morning, on a weekday when you’re supposed to be at the salon, and you slept with Nash.This is not rocket science.”
Gwen lowered her cup to the table with a snap.“You slept with Nash?”
“The group project got moved up,” Chloe supplied and waved a hand at Bailey.“So?What gives?”
Bailey kept her eyes on the paper wrapper, concentrating on rolling it as tightly as she could.“Nash still loves me.Or loves me again.I’m not sure which.”
“How do you know?”
“He told me.Last night, when T was fucking my mouth and Ava was eating me out.”
There was another moment of silence, then Gwen said, “Let me get this straight.He told you he loves you while you were fucking two other people?”
Bailey glanced up.“Yeah.”
“Just checking,” Gwen said and picked up her coffee again.
Bailey waited a beat, glancing between Chloe and Gwen, but nobody said anything else.“That’s all you’re going to say?”
Chloe scratched her chin.“I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“Nash said helovesme,” Bailey repeated.
“About time,” Gwen muttered.
Bailey blinked.“I’m sorry, what?”
“She said, about ti—”