I was dying to call her, but considering this involved her brother, there was no way I could talk to Jasmine about my nerves. Rather than call her, I sent her a quick text to say thank you.
Next, I pulled up my text thread with Simone.
Do you have a minute to talk?
Simone called me five minutes later. “What’s up, Lex?”
I didn’t know how to beat around the bush about things, so I spit it out. “Rafferty asked me to give him a shot.”
Simone took a moment. “Okay, you’re gonna have to back up because not that long ago - you know like Bike Week, back in March - the Atlantic Ocean wouldn’t put enough distance between you two.”
I sighed. Then I ran down everything that had happened from the accident, to Rafferty being the one to take me home, both of us learning we were available, to the nightmare I had.
“I imagine a crash like that was traumatic, but I get the feeling there’s more to this.”
My lips twisted to the side. “Porter made unwanted advances on me in the backseat. I resisted, he got aggressive, and after I insisted on it, Ines pulled into a rest area. Not long after we got back on the road the accident happened, and Brantley blamed me for it to my face today.”
“What a shithead,” Simone hissed.
A hint of a smile tugged at my lips. “Yeah, so anyway, should I go there with Rafferty?”
She laughed. “Do you even have to ask?”
“Well… yeah. I mean, if we mess this up, what then? It’ll be too much to see him around with—”
“And there you go.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“If youdon’ttake the risk, it’ll still be painful to see him at the clubhouse or around your dad. Hell, it’ll probably be worse, because you’ll neverknowwhat could have been. So, if you two are down with long distance, then yeah, you should give him his shot.”
I took a deep breath. “Promise not to judge me?”
Her tone became affronted. “Honey, I would never.”
“So, Brantley was here, Rafferty went to the bathroom, and Brantley said a bunch of nasty shit which made me angry and I blurted out that I’m a virgin.”
“Okay,” she drawled.
“I thought you wouldn’t judge.”
“I’m not judging, I just don’t see how this ties in.”
I nodded. “Sorry. Rafferty heard me, he says this isn’t about my virginity, but he wants to be my first.”
Simone made a low ‘aww’ sound. “I’m gonna have to brush my teeth after this, you two are too sweet!”
I couldn’t hold back a short growl. “This isn’t funny, Mony.”
“I know. I’m sorry… but you gotta do what your heart tells you here. You care about him - that hasn’t changed, no matter what either of you say. The first time sucks, but the way Rafferty is about you - there’s no way he won’t do everything he can to take care of you and make it more bearable.”
Her words about ‘the way Raffery is about me’ were puzzling, but I wouldn’t let myself contemplate that any further.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“Not to gloat or give you an earworm, but… it’s about damn time.”
“Oh, my God, stop it!” I said with a laugh.
