~Joy~
“Why am I going to this?” Noel asks me for the fifth time. Jace just dropped us off at a spot in Bellevue that’s known for good food and even better music. “I don’t know any of these girls.”
“Because we need a girls’ night out,” I inform her again. “And you’ll like these women. I promise. They’re not bitches.”
“Everyone’s nice to you,” she says as we walk down the sidewalk in our heels. “Because you’re likeable.”
“Well, so are you.” We head into the bar. It’s not quite hopping yet, and I spy our party right away at a big round booth in the back. “There they are.”
“Joy!” Meredith exclaims and waves in excitement.
“Hi,” I say with a smile and gesture to my sister. “This is Noel. Noel, this is Meredith Williams, and Amelia Crawford, who I believe you’ve met.”
“Definitely,” Noel says with a nod. “Hi, Lia.”
“Hey, girl,” Lia says. “This is my sister, Anastasia.”
“We need name tags,” Noel says as we scoot our way into the booth.
“Oh, honey, this is nothing,” Meredith says with a laugh. “You should see my family. I’ve been part of it for over five years now, and there are days that I think we need to wear name tags.”
“It’s a huge family,” Anastasia agrees with a nod. “But fun. And let’s not forget, sexy as hell. I mean, the level of hotness that exists in that family should be illegal.”
“I’ll have a champagne with pomegranate,” I inform the waitress, and Noel orders the same. We also place an order of just about everything on the appetizer menu. “How was your honeymoon, Lia?”
“The best,” she says with a grin, sipping her martini. “Wyatt took me to Paris for fashion week.”
“No,” Noel says, her eyes wide in shock. “Stop it.”
“It’s true.” Lia sighs. “VIP all the way, too. Front-row seats. It was off the fucking hook.”
“Oh my God, that’s awesome,” Noel says, and I know that she and Lia will be good friends. They share a love of fashion and makeup and all things girly that I just don’t have a passion for.
“I have some fun makeup ideas for the kids,” Lia informs Meredith.
“Awesome,” Mer says, clapping her hands. “Lia’s been working with me and the kids in my studio and does all of the makeup for our recitals.”
“They’re cute,” Lia says with a smile.
“And are you still going to keep up with your YouTube channel?” I ask her.
“Oh, yeah, I love it, and it’s a great source of income,” Lia says with a nod. “But what I really want to know is, what’s up with you and Jace? Wyatt said you’ve always just been friends, but you were more than friendly at our wedding.”
“I love gossip like this,” Anastasia says, sipping her drink. “We need more nights out.”
“Well, we’ve been friends since our freshman year of college,” I reply with a smile and glance at Noel, who’s also smiling. “But over the past couple of months, things have grown more . . . intense.”
“So you’re fucking,” Mer says with a grin. “I love it. Keep talking, and use all the dirty words.”
I laugh and reach for an onion ring. “The sex is . . . wow.”
“I just need to add something,” Noel says, holding up a hand. “As someone who’s witnessed this from the beginning. The Jace you all know now is not the Jace from almost fifteen years ago.”
“How so?” Anastasia asks.
“He was a little nerdy,” I say, but Noel rolls her eyes.
“No, he was a lot nerdy. And shy. And just not confident at all.”
“I mean, he was nineteen,” I remind everyone and glare at my sister. “You’re making him sound awful, and he was not awful. He was young.”
“But man, did he grow up,” Noel says with a smile.
“Sometimes, it takes a person a while to come into their own,” Meredith says with a shrug. “I was the skinniest, scrawniest girl ever. Of course, dance kept me small, but I didn’t blossom until after school.”
“Jace’s always been a great guy,” I continue, “and we’ve stayed close all these years. He’s an amazing doctor. I have a lot of respect for him.”
“And his penis,” Anastasia says with a wink, making us all giggle.
“It’s evolved from friendship love to romantic love,” I continue. “And the sex is off the hizzy.”
“Atta girl,” Lia says, reaching her hand out to bump mine. “I love Jace. He’s the best. When I didn’t know if things would work out between Wyatt and me, he was there to listen, and he never judged me.”
“That’s Jace,” I agree with a nod. “He’s a good friend.”
“What about you, Noel?” Meredith asks. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“Who has time?” Noel asks with a gusty breath. “I work non-stop. So, unless he wants to pick out curtains or a sofa, I’m probably not going to meet him.”
“Same,” Anastasia says. “The only men I meet are grooms and new dads.”
“Well, that one groom did come on to you,” Lia says, and Anastasia rolls her eyes.
“Don’t remind me. What a creep.”
“Joy, has Levi said anything to you about Starla?” Meredith asks, and Noel stares at me in shock.
“Starla?” Noel screeches. “As in the pop star?”
“That’s the one,” I reply and fill her in on the concert and Levi leaving with her.
“You didn’t tell me!”
“I’m sorry, it’s been busy,” I say with a shrug. “I haven’t seen Levi much, but no, I don’t think he’s said anything.”
“Starla won’t talk about it either,” Mer says, tapping her chin in thought. “I want to know if there’s something ongoing there, or if it was just a one-night thing. Frankly, Starla hasn’t given anyone the time of day since Rick died, and that was more than four years ago now.”
“Wow,” I breathe. “I had no idea. I remember his accident was all over the news. It was sad.”
“It devastated her,” Mer says. “So, when she left the venue with Levi, I was excited for her.”
“Wait, let me get this straight,” Noel says, shaking her head. “You’re friends with Starla?”
“Oh, yeah, long-time friends. I used to tour with her as a backup dancer, but now I own a studio here in Seattle with my dance partner, Jax, and I’m a mom. I danced with Starla when she was in Seattle for old times’ sake, but I hung up my touring shoes years ago.”
“That’s so awesome,” Noel says.
“I’ll ask Levi about it the next time I see him,” I offer.
“So will I,” Lia says with a wink. “We’ll get the deets.”
“You guys, it’s the cha-cha slide,” Meredith exclaims, shimmying her way out of the booth. “Come on!”
“I don’t know how to do it,” I say with a laugh.
“I’ll show you, it’s easy. Let’s go.”
“Where is he?” Noel asks as we stand on the sidewalk. Jace is on his way to pick us up, and rather than wait for him inside, we decided to get some fresh air. Noel is holding her heels in her hands.
“On his way. You’re going to get flesh-eating bacteria or something, standing on the sidewalk in your bare feet.”
“I let a stranger kiss me on the dance floor,” she reminds me, and I break out in giggles. Gosh, she’s funny when we’ve been drinking. “I don’t think I need to worry about the sidewalk.”
“Just don’t call me when you have tetanus in your toes.”
“That’s disgusting,” Noel says as Jace pulls up to the curb. He’s in my car since his is just a two-seater.
“Hi, ladies,” he says with a smile. Noel climbs into the back seat, and I fall into the passenger seat, smiling at him.
“You’re hot,” I inform him.
“And you’re drunk,” he says with a laugh. “I haven’t seen you like this in years.”
“I haven’t done this in years,” I reply with a frown. “I’m always the responsible one.”
“We need more girls’ nights out,” Noel informs us from the back seat. “With champagne and celebrity gossip and kisses from strangers on the dance floor.”
Jace’s head whips to mine, and he scowls.
“It’s hot when you’re jealous,” I inform him.
“You kissed a stranger?”
“Not her, you idiot. Me,” Noel says with a giggle. “She’s too hung up on you to even dance with a boy.”
Jace reaches over to take my hand in his and kisses the back of my knuckles. “Good girl.”
“Oh, that sounded dominant,” Noel says as she scoots forward. “Are you a dominant? Like, do you tie her up and use a flogger and have a red room of pain?”
“You read too many books,” I say with a giggle. “But I wouldn’t mind the flogger.”
“Good God,” Jace mutters, rubbing his fingers over his lips. “You girls shouldn’t be out alone when you’re this drunk. It’s not safe.”
“We’re perfectly safe,” I reply.
“Yeah, I carry mace,” Noel says primly. “And don’t change the subject. Do you use butt plugs?”
I blow a raspberry as I laugh my ass off, and Jace chuckles.
“Not yet,” he says.
“I want to play with butt plugs,” Noel says, almost pouting in the back seat. “I need to find a fuck buddy. I don’t want anything permanent or serious because I don’t have time for that, but sometimes, a girl just needs something shoved up her ass.”
“Oh my God!” I exclaim, shocked and laughing harder than I have in years. “Noel, you do not want that.”
“Okay, maybe not. But he should shove something somewhere.”
“You’re home,” Jace says, sounding ridiculously relieved.
“Do you need me to help you inside?” I ask my sister, but she shakes her head as she climbs out of the car.
“Call you tomorrow,” she says, waving without looking back as she stumbles up the walk to her small house. Once she’s inside, Jace pulls away from the curb, and I make a dive for his pants.
“What are you doing?”
“Unzipping your pants,” I reply as if that should be self-evident.
“Why?”
“This seatbelt is in my way.” I unclip it and let it zoom away, giving me easier access to his perfect dick.
Once he’s unzipped and I’ve pushed aside his clothes, I’m delighted to find that he’s already hard.
“Did the butt plug talk do this to you?”
“No, you unzipping my pants did it,” he says. “Joy, I can’t drive like this.”
“You’re a smart man,” I say and drag the tip of my tongue around the crown of his cock. “You can drive.”
“Fuck me, Joy.”
“I am.” I lower over him, taking him to the back of my throat, and then pull up again as I lick him firmly. “Can’t wait ’til we get home.”
He buries one hand in my hair, and I go to work on him, licking the length of him along that rigid vein that sticks out when he’s super turned on—the way he is now. He’s breathing hard and moans every time I sink down and grip him with my lips, milking him with my mouth.
He tastes salty, and his skin is smooth.
“Delicious,” I say when I come up for air. “I love your cock.”
“Jesus Christ, if you keep this up, I’ll come.”
“Oh, good.” I’m jacking him with my fist and paying a lot of attention to the tip, until finally I sink down once more and he comes in my mouth, spraying the back of my throat.
It doesn’t trigger my gag reflex. Instead, it’s possibly the sexiest thing that’s ever happened when I’m drunk.
I clean him up and fall back into my seat, a satisfied smile on my lips.
“I could have killed us.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t you that kissed that stranger tonight?”
I shake my head. “Noel kissed him,” I say with a sigh. “And I thought about doing that to you.”
“Remind me to be your chauffeur more often.”
Laughing. I can hear laughing, and it only makes my headache worse.
I lift my head from the pillow on Jace’s bed and frown. Carl is curled up next to me, purring and kneading the bedding with his one front paw.
“’Morning,” I say to him before I walk to the bathroom and pee longer than I ever have before. “That’s what drinking that much does to you.”
I frown and find some leggings and a loose sweatshirt and, without brushing my hair or my teeth, I venture out to see who Jace is laughing with.
I hope I don’t regret looking like this.
I pad barefoot to the kitchen and rub my eyes as Jace and Levi both look over at me with wide smiles.
“What?”
“Good morning, baby,” Jace says as he crosses to me and kisses my head. “Want some coffee?”
“Yeah.” I yawn and sit next to Levi at the island. “Why are you laughing?”
“I was telling him about you guys last night,” Jace says and looks at me with mischievous eyes as he passes me my coffee. “There was a lot of butt plug talk.”
I frown, thinking back on last night, then smile. “Oh, yeah. That was funny.”
“How do you feel?” Levi asks.
“Like roadkill,” I say and take a sip of coffee. “And like you’re both yelling at me.”
“Not yelling,” Jace says. “I was just telling Levi that I got us tickets to see Hamilton on Friday.”
“I didn’t know Hamilton was in town,” I say. “But, yay! I’ve been wanting to see it.”
“I know. I got us really good seats, and we’ll have to dress up.”
I frown. I have lots of dresses that I could wear, but he’s seen them all already. I want to look better for this, it’s an actual date.
I’ll call Noel and ask her to go shopping with me.
“You don’t want to go?” Jace asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“What? No, I do. Why do you ask?”
“You’re frowning.”
“Oh. I’m just hung-over.” I sip more coffee and feel it dribble onto my sweatshirt. “And clumsy.”
“You’re cute when you’re hung-over,” Levi says with a smile.
“Your flattery will get you everywhere,” I reply. “Also, I have questions for you.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“What happened with you and Starla?”
And just like that, Levi shuts down. He gazes down into his own coffee mug, and his lips tighten.
“Come on, you can tell me. I don’t have to know all the dirty specifics, I just want to know if you’re going to see her again.”
“Not talking about it.”
He’s literally shut down.
“I’m a vault,” I promise him, holding up two fingers. I’ve never been a scout, and I’m not sure that Girl Scouts hold up two fingers. “I’m not a gossip. Was the sex good? Are you going to see her soon? Do you talk via text all day and fall asleep while talking on the FaceTime?”
“Jesus, you could be a detective,” Levi mumbles into his mug before taking a sip. “I’m not talking about Starla, Joy.”
“Oh, did it not go well?” I ask and tsk in sympathy. “I’m sorry. Maybe the sex just wasn’t all that good.”
He glares at me, and I know I’m way off the mark there.
It was good.
“Or maybe she just doesn’t have time for a commitment because she’s on tour all the time. You know how it is, there’s got to be a new guy in every city.”
Now his cheeks redden, and I know I’ve hit a sore spot.
“Cut him some slack,” Jace says. “He doesn’t want to talk about it.”
I ignore Jace, still focused on Levi. “You know, you’re my favorite.” I lay my hand on his shoulder and pat it. “And I’m your friend. You can talk it out.”
“I’m not your favorite,” he scoffs.
“Always have been,” I swear, holding up my two fingers again, but he just shakes his head and drains his mug, then stands.
“See you later, man.”
“You know you want to tell me!” I yell after him, but he just waves and leaves. “Well, that wasn’t helpful.”
“You know, I never used to be jealous of the way you flirt with my brother,” Jace says, catching my attention.
“I don’t flirt with him.”
“You always have, Joy.”
I scowl and stare at him, blinking slowly. “No, I’m just friendly, and I try to draw him out of his stoic shell. He’s always so serious.”
“It’s okay,” he says with a pretend sigh. “I’ll just have to get used to the flirting, I guess.”
“I don’t flirt with him, you jackass.”
He laughs and drinks my coffee.
“Hey! That’s mine.”
“That’s what you get for flirting with my brother.”
“I’m going to—”
“What?” he asks, his whole face lit up with humor. “What are you going to do, Joyful?”
He hasn’t called me that since college. I hated it then, too.
“I broke you of saying that.”
“Broke me?”
“Yes. I trained you to not call me that.”
He shakes his head. “Well, Joyful, it looks like I’ve been untrained.”
“No more blowjobs in the car for you, my friend.”
He stops short, staring at me. “That’s just cruel.”
“You get what you give.” I shrug and give him a look that says “I don’t make the rules.”
“Now, I should take a shower and get this hangover washed off of me. I have to pick Angela up from the clinic today and take her and the puppies home. What have I done? I don’t have time for puppies.”
“I’ll help,” he says as he follows me back to the bedroom. “And we have babysitters for when we need them.”
“I need a puppy nanny,” I mutter as I whip my sweatshirt over my head and toss it on the bed. “And a lobotomy, because I’m clearly crazy.”
“No lobotomy,” Jace says as he wraps his arms around me from behind, palming my breasts. “Can I take a shower with you?”
“Do you promise to be good?”
“Not a fucking chance.”
“Okay, then.”