Forever with You

“That’s good to know,” the waitress said, pen in hand. “Do you guys know what you want to eat?”

“Awkward,” I murmured under my breath as my eyes widened.

Roxy giggled, and we quickly placed our orders. Katie ordered grits and a waffle, and I went with an omelet and a side order of bacon. Roxy went for some kind of fruit thing and a bagel. I watched the waitress zoom away and then said, “Well then . . .”

“I think she needed to know your getting naked preferences,” Roxy said, sitting back against the worn red booth. “So how is it working out at the Lima Academy?”

“You’re surrounded by hot guys from nine to five, right?” Katie perked up, like a bell had been rung. “Especially Brock. Mmm. Goodness. Brock can get all beastie with me anytime he wants,” she said, and I almost spit out my drink when she added, “My vagina would have its own personal landing strip for him.”

“Oh my God,” Roxy whispered as she snickered. “The imagery. I’ll never get it out of my head now.”

I never wanted that imagery in my head. “I actually don’t see a lot of people, and I have yet to meet Brock. I think he’s coming back next week or something, but it’s pretty cool. I’ve been doing a lot of ru

“Are they mean or something?” Roxy asked.

I shook my head. “Not really. Just overbearing and douchey. One of them said the only reason why I got hired was because of the way I looked.” Flipping my ponytail over my shoulder, I rolled my eyes. “And he meant that as a compliment. For real. Like I should’ve thanked him for that.”

“Wow.” Roxy frowned and her glasses slipped down her nose. “What an ass.”

“Pretty much.” No arguing that. “He said something about the girl who used to work in my position, but I don’t remember much other than him saying he hoped I didn’t end up like her.”

Blood drained from Roxy’s face so rapidly I jolted forward. “Oh God, are you okay?” I asked, wondering if she had some kind of medical condition.

“Yeah. Yes. It’s just that . . .” She trailed off, straightening her glasses.

“Wait.” Katie wrinkled her nose. “Wasn’t that girl attacked by the Kip Corbin creep?”

“Yeah,” Roxy confirmed quietly.

Something was most definitely going on, and I didn’t have to wait too long before Katie expanded on the details. “If you ask me, a guy with two first names as their first and last name just says bad shit is on the way,” she said, and I pursed my lips together, because that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. “Kip Corbin was this freak who basically stalked Roxy for months and attacked a bunch of other women.”

“What?” My eyes nearly popped out of my head as my voice rose a notch.

Our conversation halted while the waitress brought our food, and all the plates of yummie goodness sat untouched while Roxy fidgeted with her fork. “He was this guy who lived above me,” she said. “Seemed normal. Obviously wasn’t. He was basically a budding serial killer.”

My jaw dropped.

“He attacked a lot of other girls. I was lucky.” She smiled tightly, and again I thought of the bruise I’d seen on her. That was now explained. Good God. Horror swamped me. “Reece showed up in time and . . .” Color hadn’t returned to her cheeks as she stared at her plate of food. “I was very lucky.”

“Total white knight right there.” Katie stabbed her bowl of grits with her fork. “But that girl who used to work at Lima, she was the last executive assistant.”

Holy crap.

And Rick had made the poor woman’s exit sound like it wasn’t a big deal. God, he was grosser than I had given him credit for. One look at Roxy told me she wasn’t doing too well. I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s okay.” She squeezed my hand back. “You had no way of knowing. And it’s in the past.”

“And Kip Corbin is dead.” Katie shoved a heap of grits into her mouth. “The girl who used to work at Lima was Isaiah’s cousin. And of course, you don’t know who Isaiah is, but you’ll probably meet him at some point at Lima. I think he’s a funder of the academy or something, or whatever you call people who pay for stuff.” She scooped up another mouthful. “Anyway, Isaiah is like the legit mafia. Everyone here knows that. Don’t get on his bad side.”

My gaze swung sharply to Roxy. “For real?”

“For real.” She forked up a strawberry. “Kip ended up hanging himself in jail, but it was real suspicious. No one crosses Isaiah or messes with one of his own.”

Picking up my knife and fork, I started to cut my omelet into absurdly small pieces. Hot UFC fighters. Sexy bartenders. A serial killer. And now a mob boss? This was like a romance novel. Or a Lifetime movie cha

“Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested. Relief eased the taut line of Roxy’s shoulders. I searched for something else and settled on familiar grounds—the co

“I know!” Roxy exclaimed, her eyes brightening. “It’s bizarre—amazing—but crazy bizarre. I know they were just as surprised as you were. I know you don’t know Calla well, but I hope you get to hang out with her when she comes back to visit. She usually spends every other weekend here with Jax.”

“That would be cool,” I murmured, forking the omelet into my mouth.

Katie snickered. “You said, as enthused as a kid opening up a package of socks Christmas morning. Why’s that? You don’t like Calla?”

“No. I mean, I like Calla, but, I don’t know her, but . . .”

“But what?” Katie prodded.

Pushing the fluffy yellow stuff around my plate, I didn’t know how to respond, because I wasn’t sure how much Calla had known and told Roxy. I picked up a slice of bacon and crunched away. By the time I finished, I decided to be truthful, because why not?

Wasn’t like I was ashamed of anything Calla could’ve told Roxy.

“I’m not sure if she likes me,” I said, picking up another slice of salty, greasy bacon.

“What?” Roxy’s lips parted as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Why would you think that?”

“Well, maybe because I’ve had relations with Cam . . . and Jase at one point.” I went for a drink of cool soda. “Not when they were with Avery or Teresa or anything like that, but . . . yeah, some girls don’t care if that was in the past, before them. And Calla is really close to Teresa.”

“Oh.” Roxy blinked once and then twice. “Calla never mentioned anything like that.”

Pressing my lips together, I resisted the urge to smack myself in the face. Well, perhaps this was an even worse conversation idea. Go Steph! “Well . . .” I raised my hands with a shrug. “Anyway, I’m not really close to any of those girls for that reason.”

“But all of them seemed super excited to see you,” Roxy insisted, frowning. “None of them were catty or gave you the side eye. And I notice all cattiness from a mile away. It’s like a special radar I have.”

Hmm. Maybe they were cool with me? But I wasn’t even sure Teresa knew about Jase and my one and only hookup. I knew Avery had found out about Cam, but Avery was always hard to read. Maybe I should’ve just kept my mouth shut about all of this. I barely knew these girls and I just told them I’d hooked up with two random guys they knew.

I went back to pushing my omelet on my plate. “You probably think that sounds slutty—”

“No. I don’t,” Roxy stated firmly. “Not to me.”

My lips curved up in a smile. “Contrary to what some might believe, the list of guys I’ve been with isn’t as long as my arm.”

“Mine is as long as my leg,” Katie replied and then tipped her head back. Her brows furrowed together. “Well, wait. Probably as long as both legs and an arm.”