The Rules of Dating(31)

This was definitely not my bathroom.

I stared at the closed door until bits and pieces came back to me.

The ladies from last night.

That’s right… We’d gone back to someone’s apartment after the bar. It was supposed to be for one drink, but there had been several more rounds of shots. I was a little fuzzy about what happened after that. While I gave my brain a chance to fire up, I dug my phone out of my pocket to check the time. Shit. It was already eight thirty, and I’d missed a bunch of messages. I scrolled to the first unread one, which had come in at one in the morning.

Holden: Dude, what are you doing in there? Come join the party.

The next one had come in at a few minutes before eight this morning.

Billie: Hey. I have a ten o’clock appointment today. If you have time, stop in. I should be there in a little while. I want to talk to you about something.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. Fuck.

The next message had come in ten minutes ago from my mother. When I opened it, a photo popped up. My daughter was sitting at my parents’ kitchen table, her little tongue peeking out to the side like she was concentrating. On the tray in front of her, she had formed the letter D out of Cheerios.

Mom: She told me D was for Dad and did that all on her own!

I smiled, but moving my face actually hurt. Right now, that D stood for dickhead. I needed two aspirin, a toothbrush, and a shower, pronto. And I needed someone to bring them to me while I sat on the floor. I absolutely did not feel like moving at the moment, but I didn’t have much of a choice since I couldn’t pick up my daughter in this condition. She was only four, but she was observant and would definitely notice me still wearing the clothes I’d had on last night. So I dragged myself up and rummaged through the medicine cabinet for some toothpaste, then used my finger to do a quick brush before bending over and guzzling a full glass of water straight from the faucet.

That would have to hold me until I got home. I took a quick look in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over the place, and dried drool was pasted to the side of my cheek.

Fuck it. I’ll fix it later.

I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side of the door. For all I knew, the women might not even remember I was in the bathroom, and I’d wake them and scare the shit out of them. So I creaked the door open as quietly as I could and tiptoed out.

The place was quiet, with no bodies in sight, so I made my way toward the door. But when I reached the hallway, I made the mistake of looking into the bedroom.

Holden was face up, spread eagle across the bed, his junk on full display. And he wasn’t alone. All three of the women from last night were naked, too. One was curled up on his right side with her head resting on his chest, and the other two were on his left side spooning together while snuggled up against him. I shook my head before walking out.

Only fucking Holden.

Outside on the street, the sun was way too bright. I squinted as I started to walk. Luckily our building was only a few blocks away. People were coming and going on the sidewalk, all clean and dressed for the day, while I kept my head down during my walk of shame.

Which is exactly the position I was in when I turned the corner onto our block and walked straight into someone.

“Shit, sorr—” My words got caught in my throat when I looked up at the person I’d crashed into.

“Colby?”

“Billie, what are you doing here?”

She smiled. “Ummm…I work here, remember? A few buildings down. I was just heading to the deli to get my coffee.”

“Yeah, uh, of course. Sorry. Not sure what I was thinking.”

Her smile wilted as she looked me up and down. “Are you…just getting home from last night?”

My first inclination was to lie and say no, I’d run out for something. But she looked into my eyes, waiting for an answer, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. “Yeah, I, uh, went out with the guys last night. I had a little too much to drink and, uh, fell asleep, I guess.”

“At one of the guys’ apartments?”

I frowned, and the look of disappointment on Billie’s face felt like a kick in the stomach. She shook her head and put up two hands. “Sorry. I don’t want to know the details. I have to go anyway.”

She started around me, but I stopped her.

“Billie, wait…”

She wouldn’t even look at me. “It’s fine, Colby. You don’t owe me any explanation. You’re a single guy. I get it.”

I shook my head. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“No? So you didn’t just leave a woman’s apartment after spending the night?”

“I did, but nothing happened.”

She pursed her lips. “It’s none of my business. And I really need to go get my coffee before my client gets here.”

“Just give me one minute so I can explain.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled without saying anything. But she wasn’t walking away anymore, so I figured I should get talking.

“The guys and I went out for our monthly meeting about the building, and then we had a couple of drinks. There were these four women, and Holden wanted to go back to their apartment. He gave me shit about being his wingman, so I went.”

She nodded. “Oh, I see. That clears it all up.”

“Really?”