Once in a Lifetime Read online

Page 37

  Author: Jill Shalvis

  “I can’t exactly say I hate men,” Ali said. “’Cause I sleep with one of the finest men out there. But I recognize your right to hate men. ” She hiccupped and then paused. “Wait. Why do you hate men again?”

  “Because Ben broke up with her,” Leah reminded her.

  Aubrey nodded. The room was getting a little wobbly. They’d had three double shots each, and the booze had gone straight to her head with exponential power. “He had good reason,” she said. “I wronged him. ”

  “That’s a chickenshit reason,” Leah said. “I love him, I really do, but he’s a pussy chickenshit. ”

  Ali snorted Scotch out her nose. “Damn it!”

  Aubrey looked at Leah. “You think so?”

  “I know so,” Leah said, maybe slurring her words a bit. “He’s made mistakes, too, you know. Lots of them. He should forgive yours. ”

  “Yes, but it was a doozy of a mistake,” Aubrey admitted. “And when it comes right down to it, I did it on purpose, so actually, technically, I don’t think that even qualifies as a mistake. ”

  “Hey, love transcends all. ”

  It was Aubrey’s turn to inhale the Scotch and snort it out her nose. “Gah,” she managed, her throat burning.

  Ali was pounding her on the back. She got her breath back, but Ali continued to pound her until, with a weak laugh, Aubrey held up her hands. “I’m okay. But it wasn’t love. ”

  Ali and Leah looked at her, then at each other, and then burst out laughing.

  “Okay,” Aubrey admitted. “So I love him. Damn it. But he doesn’t love me. ”

  “Does so,” Leah said, refilling her drink. “You just need to fight for him. ”

  Aubrey stared at her. “What?”

  “You’re a fighter, Aubrey. And I don’t mean like this…” Leah put up her own fists and nearly punched herself. “I mean you’re not someone who gives up. You go after what you want. Yeah, you screwed up, but you know what? He did, too. He didn’t let you talk about it or try to work through it. He just closed himself off. ”

  “Hence the pussy chickenshit moniker,” Ali said, and hiccupped again.

  “Yes,” Leah said. “Because he used what happened as an excuse to run away from what you two had. ”

  Aubrey stared at her. This was true. So true…why hadn’t he wanted to hear everything? Why hadn’t he wanted to understand? And most important, why had he been so willing to walk away from her? Thinking about that last question made her stomach hurt, but more than that, it made her really mad.

  “Yeah,” Leah said, seeing the look on Aubrey’s face. “That’s what I’m talking about. Hang on, I’ve got an idea. ”

  “Oh, boy,” Ali said. “Those usually involve the police. ”

  “Hush, you,” Leah said. She pulled out her phone, hit a number, and put it on speaker.

  “Hey, babe,” Jack said, a smile in his voice as it filled the room. “More phone sex already? ’Cause I think you wore me out at your last break—”

  “No,” Leah said quickly, her face red, as she scooped the phone up close to her mouth. “And I’m not alone. Sheesh, I’ve got Ali and Aubrey here. ”

  “Hey, ladies,” he said smoothly. “What’re you all doing?”

  “Drinking,” Ali said cheerfully. “We’re commiserating about the penis-carrying race being too slow on the uptake. Present company and your BFF excepted, of course. ”

  “Of course,” Jack said. “And Ben, too, right?”

  Aubrey growled, and Jack laughed softly. “Yeah, you’re right. Our Ben is a little slow on the uptake, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, very slow,” Leah said before Aubrey could speak for herself. “And about that—”

  “Wait!” Ali interrupted. “I want to hear more about this phone sex during business hours. I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you. ”

  Leah waved a “Shh!” hand at her. “Honey,” she said to Jack. “We need a little favor. ”

  “Anything,” he said.

  “We need a ride. Can you come get us?”

  The back door opened, and he strolled in, phone still to his ear. He grinned as he walked up behind Leah, sank his fingers into her hair, and bent over her for a hot kiss.

  Ali sighed at the sight. “We’ll never get you to Ben’s now,” she said to Aubrey. “They can go on like this forever. They never run out of air. ”

  It was true, apparently, because they kept kissing.

  “See?” Ali said, and then shoved her way in between the smooching couple.

  Jack lifted his head and smiled into Leah’s dazed eyes. “Your wish is my command, babe. ”

  Leah smiled up at him dopily. “Wow. ”

  Ali sighed. “Damn it, now I miss Luke. ”

  “Didn’t you just see him at lunch?” Aubrey asked her.

  “That was hours ago. ”

  Jack grinned. “You ladies are all looking a little schnockered. Where do you need to go?”

  “Ben’s. ” Leah pointed to Aubrey. “She needs to tell him something muy importante. ”

  Aubrey nodded grimly. “Muy importante. ”

  Jack’s grin widened. “This is going to be fun. ”

  Aubrey understood the sentiment from his point of view. After all, it hadn’t been all that long ago that Ben and Aubrey had delivered an inebriated Leah to Jack. That the situation was now reversed clearly pleased Jack to no end.

  Of course that had turned out great, and this didn’t have a chance in hell of ending anywhere close to great.

  Still grinning, Jack offered Aubrey his arm. She took it because she was more than a little off her axis, and not just from the alcohol. Jack loaded her into his car, and Ali and Leah piled in behind her.

  “We’re your courage,” Leah said.

  “She doesn’t need courage,” Ali said. “She’s kick-ass. She’s made of courage. ”

  Aubrey felt her heart swell. “Don’t,” she said quickly. “Don’t make me cry. I’m mad, and I need to stay mad. ”

  “This’ll help,” Jack said, and powered all the windows down.

  “Hey!” they all protested immediately as freezing air hit them in the face.

  “Fresh air will keep you ladies from tossing your cookies in my car,” Jack said. “I hope,” he added under his breath.

  Aubrey didn’t say anything, because her buzz was starting to wear off and a case of nerves was setting in.

  Leah squeezed her hand. “Screw the nerves. This situation isn’t all your fault. ”

  Aubrey nodded. It was all her fault, but she was going to go with pretending that it wasn’t, because Leah was right about one thing. The nerves didn’t belong here. She needed to find her mad. After all, she’d honestly been trying to do the right thing by facing her past. Maybe she failed in the delivery, but her heart had been in the right place. She’d needed to do the right thing, because the only way she could be the kind of person she wanted to be now was to acknowledge the person she’d been.

  Ben didn’t have that excuse. He was using her screw-up as a reason to hide behind his fears of getting attached again. “I’m a fighter,” she said.

  “That’s right,” Ali said.

  “I’m going to fight for him. ”

  “Yeah, you are,” Leah said, and put up her fists, once again nearly hitting herself in the face.

  “Careful, Tiger,” Jack said into the rearview mirror. “How much did you all drink?”

  “Not enough,” Aubrey said as he parked in front of the duplex. Ben’s truck was in the driveway, and her heart kicked up a notch at the sight of it.

  “No eavesdropping,” she said to her posse, and got out of the car.

  There in the dark, she stood on the sidewalk a moment, gathering her scattered thoughts. In her peripheral vision, she saw Ali, Leah, and Jack tiptoe into Jack’s house, and she breathed a sigh of relief, grateful there’d be no witnesses for this.