Jada tosses her hair over her shoulder. “Yes. He'd better be glad I don’t take legal action and sue his ass for assault. I’ll have my girl with all his G-Mobile money.”
Pam chuckles. “Jay, you work for the state, you don’t even handle civil cases.”
Jada shrugs, taking a sip of her mimosa. “I know people who do.”
We all laugh at her antics. I wasn’t interested in suing Jeremy, but I had planned to let the app know about his predatory actions. Jada just beat me to the punch.
“I think all this just proves I’m not ready for this dating thing.” The moment the words are out of my mouth, everyone at the table groans around me.
“Absolutely not.” Jada places her glass back down on the table. “You are not allowing one terrible date to make you go back into your shell licking your wounds.”
“She’s right,” Meagan says. “Don’t let that creep win. I promise not every guy will be like that. We’ve all faced some shitty dates.”
“Though I can admit.” Destiny holds her hand up and shrugs. “I never had one follow me home and demand I screw him. That’s some next-level crazy.”
“See,” I say, pointing to Destiny. “Even D knows that I’m just unlucky.”
Destiny shakes her head. “Oh, I did not say that. Your crazy was unique, but not unheard of. I went out with a guy who, after three weeks of knowing me, asked me to help pay his car note. Said he was in a jam. When I said no, he berated me through calls and text messages for weeks. I’d block one number, and he’d call from another one. I had to have Jace answer it and threaten to kick his ass before he stopped.”
Clutching my hand over my mouth, I’m completely disgusted by this.
Dropping my head I pinch my brow.
“Again, why the hell are we even doing this?”
“Because we like dick,” Meagan says lifting her glass as if she’s giving a toast. Everyone at the table lifts their glasses in her direction.
Look, at the rate this dating thing is going for me, I’m tempted to go celibate and walk around naked in a house full of cats for the rest of my life. However, I know I’d never be happy. I enjoy being in love and giving love. I wanted to be in a relationship again. However, I wasn’t in a rush for one, but I definitely wouldn’t mind that connection again.
The moment that thought scurries across my mind, I immediately think of Mitch. My body heats up like a furnace. His scent last night, coupled with the way his muscular arms lifted me off the ground without even a grunt of exertion, had me feeling like I was floating. And let’s be clear, I’m not a small woman. I’m a solid 195 at only 5’5”. I have a belly, thick thighs,an ass and d cup tits; I was not a lightweight. Despite all that, he scooped me into his arms as if I weighed less than a bag of potatoes.
Even the way his thick arms wrapped around me and held me so firmly had my lady parts hot and wet. And then I had that stupid idea to kiss him. Immediately the heat I was feeling earlier turned into burning shame. I can never show my face in front of that man again. Thank goodness Jacob came to the door. Can you imagine the irreconcilable damage I would have caused if I’d kissed him?
“So, Ella, who’s the next candidate?” Jada’s voice brings me out of my humiliating memory.
I nearly choked on my saliva. “Next?” I question. “Do you really think I’m ready to do this again?”
“You have to,” Destiny says, leaning forward, placing her elbows on the table. “It’s like falling off a bike. The faster you face your fears and get back out there, the better. The longer you hide, the harder it will be.”
I hate that she had a point. I was so tempted to tuck my tail and run, but what happened between me and Mitch last night is proof that I need to find a man.
“Ugh, fine.” I say, tossing my hands up. “I’ll try again.”
“Nope.” Jada holds her hands out. “Hand me your phone. We are going to help you pick your next date now.”
“Oh yay, this should be fun,” Kyra cheers, and her daughter smiles and claps her hands as if she’s agreeing with her mother.
We all laugh at the cheerful baby. I begrudgingly pull out my phone and hand it over to Jada.
For the next hour and a half, we laughed, ate, and went through all the swipes on my app picking out my next date.
After dropping off a few orders and picking up more supplies, I head back home. I had a three-tier wedding cake I had to prepare for pickup next Friday.
As soon as I pull onto my street, my speaker rings. Glancing at the screen, I let out a deep exhale before answering the call.
“Yes, Andrew?” I kept my voice pleasant, but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. I still wasn’t quite over him calling me a bad mom that day in my living room.
“What’s this I hear about you going on a date?”
