Crapola. Kellie went there. Becca shook her head. “No, I didn’t have anything to ask you.”
Breathe in the hook-up. Breathe out responsibility. This would be her mantra.
“Oh, that’s not true. Is it, Bec?” Kellie swirled the remaining olive in her martini like she wasn’t being a total rat. “There are things she should ask you about.”
“Nope.” Becca folded another towel with a bit too much vigor. “I shouldn’t.”
Brek, bless him, took that moment to come do the handshake thing with Linx. They did the niceties and all the shit they always did when they first saw each other. Shooting the shit a little and basically just being friends.
Becca hoped that the distraction would prove to be what she needed to… well… distract him.
Unfortunately, nope. Once he and Brek had done their chatter, he settled his gaze on Becca.
“What was the thing you should you ask me?” He cut right to the point in that way of his that managed to be easygoing and attentive all at the same time.
Grr… Becca would have words with Kellie later.
Actually, gah. No. She wouldn’t. Her friend meant well, even if her methods were questionable.
“Becca, serious. What’s up?” The softness in Linx’s eyes broke down any barrier she’d tried to erect.
Unfortunately, the concern flowing from Linx got Brek’s attention. He didn’t go back to whatever he’d been doing before. He hooked a hip at the corner of the bar top and settled in to hear what was going on.
Fine. Blurgh.
“You call me Becca,” she said.
Linx frowned. “Of course, I call you Becca.”
“What’s with the naming of your previous… uh…” She slid a sidelong glance to Kellie. “Female conquests…”
“Oh, fuck.” Brek ran his palm over his face, all the way down to his chin. “She knows.”
“I’m not following.” Linx scrunched up his forehead, clearly thinking too hard and not getting what she was saying at all. “What does she know?”
Becca gulped. It wasn’t a big deal. She wasn’t even going to bring it up. But… “Courtney said that your previous…lady friends…had nicknames.”
His expression darkened as though a thundercloud of memory rolled in.
“The city thing?” he asked.
Becca nodded, hoping weirdly that it was just the city thing. Why was her stomach souring so badly with this conversation?
“Here’s the thing,” he said, staring up at the ceiling of the bar. The Budweiser sign behind him flickered a little, seemingly as uncomfortable with the conversation as the two of them were.
He looked to Brek with a glance that seemed to plead for help.
Brek just gave a slight head shake. “Just own it, man.”
“Who’s Denver?” Becca asked.
There. She’d owned it. Direct and to the point.
.
Linx
Oh no, he wasn’t going there. Not when things were good between him and Becca. Instead, he played possum—roll over and pretend he was dead and didn’t understand what was going on in the world.
