Maybe I’d like it, maybe I wouldn’t.But how would I know if I didn’t give it a chance?
Nervously, I’d stood at the entrance of the stylish little boutique where I was told this book club would be hosted.More than a handful of other women were already seated in the designated area.All of them were talking among themselves, while several set out snacks and carafes of what I assumed was the mocktail part of the club.
When Nishia saw me, she jumped to her feet and hugged me.As her arms went around me, I felt warm and welcomed in a way I couldn’t ever remember feeling before.
“I’m so glad you came!”She squealed, doing a little hop as she stepped back, her face alight with the kind of happiness very few people had ever shown in regard to me.Adjusting her glasses, she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder before taking my hand and pulling me directly into the middle of the group.
“Everyone, this is my new friend, Vay.She works at the women’s center with Dr.Miller.”Nishia started pointing at the women.“Vay, this is Delaney.She’s pregnant too, if you couldn’t tell.”
Delaney, who was in her thirties with cochlear implant disks on each side of her head, gave me a friendly smile and a wave before touching her very pronounced baby bump.“You’re the new nurse!That’s great.I have an appointment next week, and it will be so much calmer if you’re the one doing the poking and prodding instead of Dr.Miller.”
“Bear was definitely in a less growly mood when we went for my appointment this week,” Nishia commented.Noting my furrowed brow, she explained, “Our husbands are a little…particular about who touches us.Even if it is just for a medical examination.”
Her husband, I remembered well.A handsome, giant blond man with green eyes.He wasn’t even close to the scariest man I’d ever met, but I’d taken one look at him and known he wasn’t someone to fuck with.When he looked at Nishia, however, something in his eyes would shift.Almost as if she flipped on his humanity.
“Over the top on steroids,” Delaney agreed.
“Anyway,” Nishia continued.“Beside Del, we have Lexa, then River and Demi.That’s Monroe, and her sister Mila is beside Everly.And, of course, Evie.”
I blinked like an owl when I looked from Everly to Evie.Twins were something I’d seen on the regular, but these two were carbon copies, down to the mutation of their eye color.Dressed exactly the same, hair and makeup perfectly alike, they sat close on the ottoman with stemless wine glasses in their hands.
Everly said hello while Evie gave a shy little wave.
Nishia didn’t let me linger on the twins.“And this is Abi and Sammy.”She introduced the last of the women, pointing to a bombshell brunette dressed in a black corset top that made her boobs look amazing.
Abi, the redhead who sat between Sammy and Evie, had her hand on her belly.Another mommy-to-be who was much further along than Delaney or Nishia.
Sammy was the one who stood, offering me a plastic stemless wineglass full of a fruity red drink.Her blue eyes scanned me quickly from head to toe, making all the fine hairs on my body lift.I wasn’t sure if it was because she made me nervous or if it was a helpless attraction.Even with an aching heart and never once having experienced a draw to my same sex, I found it impossible not to feel something when looking at Sammy.“Welcome toMocktails and Steamy Ever Afters.You joined at the perfect time.We’re starting a new book this week.”
“Abi insisted we read a why-choose reverse harem because her best friend has three boyfriends.Three.At once.”Evie seemed a little more open once I took a seat beside Sammy.Pink filled her cheeks as she glanced at her twin then at Abi.“How does Hayat keep up with them?I mean… Do they have a set night that is just theirs?Do they get jealous of one another?Chance gets grumpy if I even smile at anyone, including Reid, and he’s my brother-in-law.”
Abi snorted a laugh.“You’ve met Hayat a few times.It’s more like her men can’t keep up with her.They don’t really have a set date night or anything, if that’s what you mean.No one has ever gotten jealous of the others, as far as I’m aware.All they want is her, any way they can get her.But they were really close friends long before they ever met Hayat.I think their trauma bonding growing up preprogrammed them for what to expect with her.”
I listened to them talk about Abi’s friend for a while, my heart sitting heavy in my stomach.My relationship with Kane and Ryder had always been something we hid because Ry said people would run their mouths and I would be the one ultimately slut-shamed.It wouldn’t have bothered me.I’d been called worse things.
As Evie asked more questions, I sat in silence with the realization that Ryder’s reasons for keeping our relationship a secret were because he wasn’t as okay with my being with both him and Kane as he’d led me to believe.
River started passing out copies of the new book we were going to read.Apparently, physical books were a rule.Otherwise, some of the members got distracted while on their e-readers and ended up playing match games.
“Other than Evie, is this a new trope for anyone?”Lexa asked, skimming the blurb on the back of the discreet cover.
“It’s my first anything,” I admitted, stroking my thumb over the spine of the book.“Between school and then work, this is the first time in forever that I have any free time of my own.”
She nodded, her hair falling back from her face to reveal a scar.I’d seen worse, so I didn’t outwardly flinch at the sight.The nurse in me, however, knew that whatever had happened to cause it had been bad.It didn’t distract from how stunning Lexa was, though.Fuck, if anything, it highlighted her beauty.
“Honestly, many of us had never allowed ourselves to take the downtime to read until Abi and Evie decided to start a book club.Between kids, husbands, work, and all-around life in general, we used to put ourselves last on our list of priorities.We’d have the occasional girls’ night, but those usually ended with hangovers the next morning, and that made getting up at the crack of dawn for sports and other extracurriculars with the kids disastrous.”She tipped her glass toward Abi and Evie.“It’s not just about the time here each week.Thanks to them, we’ve learned to prioritize ourselves a little more.”
After that first night, I’d gone back every week for the last two months.Lexa was right.The book club did teach me to prioritize myself more—and not simply because I now had more time.With each meeting, each heated debate over book boyfriends and black-cat female characters, I discovered aspects of myself that weren’t necessarily new, just hidden.
Nishia asked me to lunch with her and Delaney a few times.Sammy always came because she and Nishia worked at the same office, Barker & Reid Construction.Lexa, who was Delaney’s sister-in-law, joined us occasionally.Abi and her husband had also been into the women’s center almost every week, each time with their daughter Amala.
Twice, Abi had invited me to dinner at her home.Once before Thanksgiving, the next a few weeks later.
The first time, I’d declined because her husband intimidated the hell out of me, but the second invite, I accepted.They lived on a private lane, just outside of town, with only two other homes in the area.Sammy was right next door in a cute cottage-style house, while farther down the road was a giant, hotel-sized house.Abi said it was a holiday house for her “extended” family.
And because I would never again make the naïve mistake of not doing a name search, I did one on Abi once I saw that house at the end of the long lane.She’d had an interesting childhood with rock star parents.Her best friend, Hayat, who had been the topic of my first book club, was also a rocker.She was the drummer for Autumn’s Slumber and was, in fact, openly involved with three men.Abi’s in-laws were what caught my attention the most, though.
Vitucci.
