Rock Chick Reborn (Rock Chick #9)(40)

“Is he sweet?” Jet asked.

“Are those pillowcases satin?” Annette asked.

“Oh for goodness sake, let her speak,” Jules demanded of the Rock Chicks. She looked to me. “By the way, you should know, I know him. In a professional capacity. And I approve.”

From Jules, that said a lot. She was a social worker at King’s Shelter for kids.

I was still ticked at her because she’d played her part in putting me out there.

“He’s tall. He’s hot. He’s sweet. I’ve kissed him. I have not slept with him,” I answered the room at large. “And now you can all just get on out of my house.”

Roxie plopped her ass on the low bench at the foot of my bed covered in purply-gray, patterned velvet, declaring, “Shirleen, you cannot be pissed we set you up with a tall, sweet hot guy.”

“I can’t?” I asked.

“No,” she answered immediately.

“Did he really ram his grocery cart into yours at the store?” Sadie queried.

“Yes, he did,” I bit off at Sadie.

“Hot,” Indy murmured.

“Totally,” Ava replied.

“He’s a good man. He’s a loving man. He’s got two daughters he adores. A job that’s more a calling. A nice home he let his oldest decorate,” I allowed myself to share.

“That’s fantastic,” Jules said.

“And he could have found out who I was and what I did and excused himself to go to the bathroom and never came back,” I finished.

“Oh please,” Indy drawled while throwing herself on my bed, totally unpoofing the perfect fold of my duvet.

So I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Like Lee and the boys didn’t investigate him to within an inch of his life,” she continued.

That was when my eyes, of their own accord, bugged out at her.

“Yeah, and followed him for days,” Stella put in.

Say . . .

What?

“And then Lee had it out with him face to face to make sure it was all good and he wasn’t gonna find out about your history and pull a loser move like that,” Jet added.

Well, I knew that last part.

“They investigated him?” I asked.

“Of course,” Indy answered.

“Does he know this?” I asked.

“Yep. Didn’t care. Just wanted to go to dinner with you,” Roxie shared.

Good Lord.

He didn’t care.

Moses didn’t care the Hot Bunch had invaded his privacy, his history.

Followed him.

He just wanted to go out to dinner with me.

I jumped when a pounding came at the door and through it Roam yelled, “Shirleen, you okay?”

“Those boys are so cute,” Daisy whispered. “They so love their Shirleen.”

“I’m fine!” I yelled back, hoping he hadn’t overheard anything. “And our talk is over. You can go back to playin’ your game.”

No hesitation before, “You sure?”

“We’re her girls!” Daisy shouted. “Of course she’s sure. It’s just girl talk, sugar bunch! Go on back to your game!”

I gave it a beat until I sensed Roam leaving and turned to Jules. “I had a conversation with his history teacher today. He reported to me Roam’s an exceptionally gifted writer.”

“Whoa. Wow. Really?” she asked but smiled and said, “Cool,” before I could answer.

“I’ve reopened discussion about college with both of them,” I informed her.

Her smile got bigger. “Awesome.”

“Uh, as great as it is Roam’s exceptionally gifted at something, it’s not news, he’s a fantastic kid. But we’re off hot-guy topic,” Ally butted in.

I looked to Ally. “I’ve said all I’m gonna say.”

“You totally have not said all you’re gonna say,” she shot back.

“Yo, bitch,” Annette called, and I looked to my bed to see her standing at my bedside table, the drawer open. “I approve of your choice of vibrator, but you got yourself a hot guy and you don’t have any rubbers in here.”

Only Annette could get away with snooping through a woman’s drawers with said woman right in the room with her.

That was to say she actually couldn’t, but she was such a good-natured hippie-chick, you couldn’t get mad at her.

“I’ll get Lee to buy you some,” Indy offered.

My eyes darted to her. “You will not.”

“Shirleen,” Roxie started hesitantly, “perhaps the ship has sailed on pregnancy, but there’s more than one reason to use prophylactics.”

“I don’t need sex education courses at age fifty-three,” I snapped at Roxie.

“Then why don’t you have condoms?” Jet asked.

“Because Moses hasn’t even stepped foot in my house, much less my bedroom,” I said to Jet. “And we’re not there. We’re taking it slow.”

There was general vocal merriment to this comment before Ava murmured, “He crashed his grocery cart into hers. They so aren’t taking it slow.”

“Oh my God, we get to do a new pool. I’m in for fifty bucks for Shirleen gettin’ the business on her next date,” Sadie decreed.