“Is it triplets?!”

Poppy had invited me to lunch, via my assistant, just to make sure I showed up, and I’d assumed it was to announce that the baby she was having with Blake was babies.

She blinked big blue-green eyes and frowned. “What? No! Bite your tongue Lacey.” She stole an olive from my salad and rolled a slice of bacon around it, moaning like food was going out of style. “No, I’m ready to start planning the wedding. This little bugger will be born in four months and the wedding will be in eight.” She looked at me and then Talia expectantly before she pulled two folders from the chair beside her and handed them to us. “While you look those over, Lacey can tell us all about getting it on with that hunk Walker.”

I held in a groan, because Walker was the last person I wanted to talk about, especially with two knockouts like them. But we were friends, so I let out a long breath and rolled my eyes.

“It’s good. The sex is insanely good, but things are casual.” We both kept saying we were casual, but things felt less and less casual by the day. Except lately and that’s only because I haven’t answered his calls or texts all week. Because I was a coward, and more hurt than I wanted to let on. I told them about the yacht and the stargazing. “It was amazing.”

“Shit, a yacht for real?” Talia’s tone was a mix of disbelief and maybe a hint of disgust.

“Yep. It was nice and he got this amazing telescope so we could look at the constellations. The whole weekend was great. Until Nola Paloma walked into his apartment in a gold dress. Yes, a gold dress.”

“Holy shit,” Talia said in an awed whisper.

“What happened?” Poppy cradled her chin in one hand, eyes filled with shock.

“I got dressed and got the hell out of there. Do you think I wanted to stand around and wait for him to make up some obvious excuse to get rid of me for the super model!”

“Good point,” Poppy ceded. “But you don’t know what happened because you left. Right?”

I nodded, knowing I was a coward for ignoring his attempts to talk. But it just brought home what we both knew. He’d get bored eventually, and something shiny and perfect like her would steal his attention. Better to get it over with now.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“And you’re avoiding his calls,” Talia added with a smirk. “It’s buzzed at least three times, and we haven’t even gotten our appetizers yet.”

Damn, I hated this whole insightful friends business. “I am. It’s called self-preservation. I don’t have a right to be jealous, and the fact that I am means I’m more invested than I should be.”

Poppy groaned, and when the pot stickers came to the table she reached for one immediately. “Hot! Goo too,” she murmured around the steamy piece.

“Ask him flat out if he’s still fucking her,” Talia said, apparently tired of waiting for Poppy to finish making love to the pot sticker.

Poppy nodded, putting another pot sticker on her plate but busying her hands with her iced tea. “All right. You have a right to feel whatever you’re feeling, but you have an absolute right to know if he’s sticking his dick in someone else while he’s sticking it in you.” Poppy was fierce and I was in awe.

“I want to be you when I grow up,” I told her seriously.

She waved a dismissive hand at me. “I never want to grow up. I’m going to play with this baby like I’m a big kid too. And the next one.”

“Settle down lady, let’s get through this pregnancy first,” Talia said, placing an affectionate hand on her shoulder. “Shit. Turn around.”

I knew by her expression that bad news was coming. I turned in my seat and everything was in slow motion. Walker, looking gorgeous and fierce, with Nola as she strut down the street like it was her own personal runway. She plastered her body against his, again, and then pressed a too long to be friendly kiss on his mouth.

The worst part was watching his hands curl around her hips instead of pushing her away, or recoiling in disgust. But, of course he wasn’t disgusted, because she was gorgeous and oozed sex appeal. I turned my back to them and raised a brow at Poppy.

“You were saying?”

Poppy frowned and her expression turned fierce. “I was saying fuck him and I was saying it vehemently.”

That made me laugh. It was good to have someone other than overprotective brothers to talk to, especially right now. It didn’t stop the feelings that were beginning to creep up on me. Duped. Not good enough. Foolish. Cast aside.

Poppy was right. Fuck him.