I tipped her chin up to mine and curled up to give her a light kiss then. She smiled dreamily.
“Hey. What time is it?” She pressed into her hands to sit up, then shrieked. “Oh shit. Holy shit. Brunch is in eleven minutes. Shit. Nick. We’re going to be in so much trouble. Kitty’s family planned this and I can’t miss it! I was supposed to help set up flowers.”
She was already across the room, digging through her bag and looking in the closet. A string of cuss words fell out of her mouth as she ran for the bathroom. She hadn’t looked at me once.
“I’m sure we can be a few minutes late,” I said, walking to the bathroom door and scratching my abs. She already had the shower on and was sitting naked on the toilet with her toothbrush in her mouth. She was multitasking, examining the contents of her pad. I have a mom, but somehow I’d never seen period gore before. I didn’t expect it to be quite so . . . chunky?
“Oh, wow, that’s—what is—did that come out of your body?!”
She clapped her knees together and threw a forearm over her breasts with wide eyes. “Can I help you?!” she screamed through her toothpaste. “Get out!”
My arms flailed, touching the top of my head, covering my mouth, and generally trying not to pass out. “Annie, do I need to call a doctor?”
“No!”
“Is that your—Annie, that’s—” I lowered my voice to a harsh whisper, “your uterus!”
Annie stood and spat her toothpaste in the sink. “Why are you still here?” she shouted. “Go!”
I backed away with my hands out. “I’m going. I’m going. See you at brunch!” I called as the door slammed.
Leaving my wallet on the nightstand inside. Shit.Please let Leroy be in there.
I knocked on my room’s door, and after some shuffling, a fullydressed Leroy emerged, his dark curls neatly arranged.
“Well, look who decided to come home,” he teased.
“Shut up. I have to get ready for brunch.”
“Sure do,” he snickered. “Can’t go down there with that boner.”
“What?” I looked down to find that yes, I apparently had morning wood. Or seeing-Annie-naked wood.
“Where have you been anyway?” he asked. I rolled my eyes and pushed past him into the room.
“Nowhere. Have you . . .”
“Have I what?” Leroy asked, entertained.
I wiped the cold sweat that had formed from my brow. “Seen a girl’s period stuff ever?”
He chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder. “Yeah, man. You get used to it. Wait till childbirth. That’s a real mess. Did you get it on your dick?”
I wrinkled my nose, ducking into the bathroom. “What? No!”
“Relax, bro. It washes off,” he said, leaning casually against the open bathroom door. Now I understood how Annie felt about me intruding on her bathroom time. “Ended up being a really fun wedding, even without a date.”
Shit. Leroy was going through the first stages of separating from the mother of his children, and there I was, being a dick to him.
“I’m showering,” I warned as I stepped in the bathroom. “Don’t look if you don’t want to see. Have you talked to Syd?”
“No. She’s been suspiciously silent. I’m afraid of what the bill will be when I check out today. I’m afraid she’s been racking it up on my card. She always has been fond of a spa service.”
I stripped and ducked under the spray in the shower, switching it to cold to eliminate whatever nonsense my dick was up to. “Yikes, man. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want her getting a cent in this divorce. I knew I should have signed a prenup. I was just glad someone wanted to marry me. God. I was stupid.”
I grimaced, though he couldn’t see. “Oof.”
