Rock Chick Renegade (Rock Chick #4)(137)

Then he was gone.

“What can I get you to drink?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll take an appletini.” This was said from behind me and I turned to see Shirleen powering through to our table.

“Well, the night is complete!” Daisy hooted. “Shirleen, girl, good to see you.”

Shirleen, I was surprised to see, got hugs and cheek kisses from everyone while I ordered a cosmopolitan. Then again she was Darius’s aunt and Darius was Lee’s best friend so I guessed she was part of the tribe.

“Hey Law,” Shirleen said, eyes on me and sitting across from me.

“How’re things?” I asked.

“Goin’ well,” she replied, nodding then her eyes got intense. “Real well,” she repeated with meaning.

I smiled at her. She smiled back.

“You two know each other?” Daisy asked, looking between the two of us.

Everyone was staring.

“Law helped with a family problem,” Shirleen said.

Everyone seemed okay with that answer so I looked at Daisy and changed the subject quickly. “What did Smithie mean when he asked if I danced?”

Daisy nodded to the stage. “He meant stripped.”

My eyes went to the stage. The three women there were gorgeous, their perfect bodies oiled up and glistening, their ni**les covered with sparkling pasties. They knew how to move and they had tons of money sticking out of their g-strings to prove it.

Still.

“Um…” I said.

“The word is,” Tod informed me, “yikes.”

“Nothin’ wrong with strippin’,” Daisy said to Tod.

“Not for you but she’s a social worker,” Tod retorted. “Social workers don’t strip.”

Daisy turned fully to Tod and I felt her attitude hit our table like a bolt of lightening. “Why not?”

“Uh-oh, another white people fight and I don’t have my appletini yet,” Shirleen muttered.

I felt the tension in the air (hell, everyone felt the tension in the air) and to dispel it, I blurted, “I haven’t got my period yet.”

Everyone turned to me. My tactic worked, maybe too well.

Shirleen craned her head around, looking for our waitress. “Holy shit. This is heavy, I need my appletini.”

“How late are you?” Indy asked.

“I should have started today,” I told her.

“Not to worry,” Daisy said, cooling off her attitude when confronted with a girlfriend problem, “rule is, you don’t need to worry until at least a week.”

I shook my head. “I always start like clockwork late morning on the special day. I haven’t started yet,” I explained.

“I think I need to stretch my legs,” Stevie murmured, clearly uncomfortable with the conversational turn.

“What?” Ally said. “We’re talking about menstrual cycles. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”

Stevie glared at her. “I’m g*y but I’m still a man. We don’t do periods. I could barely cope with the in-depth cherry popping trip down memory lane.”

“Okay, no more about periods,” Roxie threw in and looked at me. “Let’s just talk about cause and possible effect. How many times did you do it unprotected?”

“Too many,” I admitted.

They all stared at me.

“Girlie, I know you were a virgin but you got to take care of yourself,” Tod advised, not unkind but slightly impatient.

“What’s in Vance’s head?” Jet murmured. “At least he should know better.”

“I know what’s in Vance’s head,” Indy replied.

Jet and Indy looked at each other and their faces broke out in smiles.

Shit.

“You were a virgin?” Shirleen asked, wide-eyed.

Shit again.

I decided not to answer Shirleen and totally ignore Indy and Jet.

I’d had more than enough conversations about my ex-virginal status and cherry popping. One of them was even on tape.

“Word is, you’re with Crowe,” Shirleen went on.

This time I answered with a nod.

“He pop your cherry?” she asked.

Daisy gave a tinkly bell laugh while I closed my eyes in despair

“Shee-it. Every girl wished the likes of Vance Crowe popped their cherry. You’re livin’ the dream,” Shirleen continued when I opened my eyes.

She wasn’t wrong, I was living the dream.

“Was he gentle?” Shirleen pushed, nosy as all hell.

“Um… no,” I answered and her brows flew together.

“He hurt you?” she snapped.

“Um… no.” I was beginning to get uncomfortable.

The waitress put our drinks on the table and I smiled at her in hopes that the current discussion would end now that Shirleen had her appletini.

My hopes were soon dashed.

“You come?” Shirleen kept at it.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Stevie muttered the words that I was thinking.

“Well, did you?” Shirleen pressed when I didn’t answer.

“I don’t think –” I started.

Shirleen leaned forward, not to be denied. “Did you?”