Nic chuckles again.“I bet he did.What did he say to you?”
I shake my head.“I’m not going to repeat his vile words, but they were disgusting and homophobic and dismissive of…” I just shake my head.
“Fair enough.”She shifts a little in her chair.“And you felt the only possible response was to shove him?”
“It was a gut reaction.I didn’t really think it through at the time.”
“Makes sense.”She narrows her eyes.
“You can take the girl out of the trailer park but, apparently, you can’t take the trailer park out of the girl,” I say.
“What does that mean?”
I scoff.“You’re a smart woman.I’m sure you know what it means.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”She leans back a little.“For your information, I’m gay.If you’re the victim of homophobia, I understand that on a level that someone straight might not.I just want you to know that.”
Obviously, I know Dr.Nic Forbes is gay.Not that it has any bearing on why I’m here.
“He really rubbed me up the wrong way, and I don’t take any shit from guys like that,” I say.A pang of anger courses through me at the memory.Frankly, the only reason I regret shoving that ignorant asshole is because it happened in public and someone always has their camera out when I’m around.I definitely don’t regret doing it, although that’s what everyone seems to expect from me.
“Guys like what?”Nic is relentless, but that’s her job, I guess.I didn’t come here to sit in silence for an hour—although part of me wishes I could—because the view’s not bad at all.
“Insecure pricks whose only outlet for their lack of confidence is toxic masculinity.”
“Tell me what he said.I can take it.I promise.”She surprises me again—or maybe she’s just genuinely curious.
I roll my eyes.“Just the usual bullshit about me not having found the right dick yet.As I said, too vile and also too dumb to repeat.”
Nic huffs out some air.“He did deserve it, then.”
I nod, looking into her deep-brown eyes for a moment.
“If that’s the case, why are you here?”she asks.
She’s got me again.Hot, funny, and smart.I’d better watch myself.
Chapter2
Nic
I rest my gaze on Avery Hall.She’s kind of what I had expected—Hollywood’s latest it-girl struggling with herself—but also rather different.She has a rough, unpolished edge, perhaps the very thing that makes her irresistible to the camera.And also the thing that made her shove that guy in the bar.
“For fuck’s sake,” Avery says, “is it always going to be like this?”
I’m not put off by her swearing.I wouldn’t say I have a thing for coarse language, but Lois was rather fond of an expletive, and it’s one of the things I, for some reason, really loved about her.
“I’m afraid that’s the essence of therapy.”I throw in another smile.“I ask you questions in order to get to the bottom of things.”
“Do the questions have to be so annoying?”
I chuckle.“Yes,” I say, because I can’t lie to her.“So, shall we get back to the annoying question?”
She draws a deep breath, then expels the air dramatically.“Where I come from, we don’t talk about our feelings.This shit doesn’t come easy to me, but…”
I let the silence between us linger so Avery has the time to find her words.
“Ever since I didQueer Girl Summer, things are different.And I know it’s the last thing I should complain about, but…”
