Chapter 10

The only reason Nadia dragged herself out of bed at nine in the morning was because she had promised to have brunch with her friend Jasmine. Eva was already up by then, of course, having turned into an early riser since putting most of her partying days behind her. Besides the general conversation they always had every morning, the most they interacted was a kiss covered in toast crumbs because Eva already had her breakfast sent up via room service.

But Nadia desperately needed a shower. Her hair? A travesty. It looked like a whole family of birds had moved into it.

So she was ten minutes late meeting up with her best friend, who had secured them a table in the French bistro only a small way down the Strip. Nadia had enjoyed the brisk walk, but by the time she finally sat down, she was beaten. Again.

"Late night?" Jasmine asked while sipping from a glass of iced tea.

Nadia melted into her chair as a waiter promptly arrived to take her drink order. She didn't know what she wanted besides coffee. Iced. Preferably.

"More like an exhausting night." Nadia, like her friend, had no qualms about putting her elbows on the table. At any given moment, they were surrounded by people who either put their elbows up like dirty peasants or fainted at the thought of their mothers reprimanding them once again. "All of yesterday is sort of a blur right now. How was your night?"

"Oh, no, you don't get to dangle juicy gossip in front of me without really digging into the details." Jasmine handed her friend a menu. "My night was a snore compared to yours I bet. Didn't you go on a date with that hottie in the pink suit?"

Nadia hid her reaction behind her menu. "Yes. It was nice."

"Nice?" Jasmine pulled down the menu and exposed Nadia's bashful blushing. "You've gotta do better than that. I want every detail. Spill."

The thing about Jasmine was that she could be demanding, but she rarely repeated something shared in confidence. Nadia had liked that about her from the moment they met in Ethan Cole's office nearly a decade before. I can't believe it's been that long. They had seen each other fall in love, get married, and talk about their potential futures as mothers. Both women were inclined to have kids but kept putting it off for one reason or another. It had made sense in their twenties. Now that they were in their thirties? When is it too late? Tomorrow? Yesterday?

Better not to think about it! Besides, Nadia would have to go out of her way to get pregnant on purpose. Mr. Cole's vasectomy could give up the ghost anytime and leave his wife with a positive pregnancy test.

"All right, all right." Nadia kept her menu at chest level as she focused half of her attention on picking something to eat and the other on retelling what happened the evening before. She left out a few things – like the stroll through the casino and the wild fifteen minutes that occurred once Eva got back to the room – but Nadia and Jasmine were alone enough in their corner of the restaurant that she confessed other things about Lacey.

Including the almost-kiss that happened right in front of her hotel room door.

"No!" Jasmine gasped. She was always so easily scandalized, and Nadia played that moment like a pro. "You're kidding! She was gonna steal you out from Eva like that? Girl! You're such a player!"

"I am not. Don't go blabbing about it, okay?"

"I'd never. Cross my heart."

"Good. I don't need Eva finding out about it. I think she already assumes something might have almost happened, but luckily for me, she knows I'd never do something like that. I don't want to feed any delusions." She said this while thinking of how powerfully handsy Eva had become in the lead-up to their lovemaking.

"But that felt awesome, right? Having another woman come on to you like that?"

Nadia scrunched her nose. "You make it sound like no other men come on to you."

"It happens a lot less than you might think. Anyone who knows me knows who my husband is, and so many guys are financially in bed with Ethan that they don't dare blow up their bank accounts by flirting with me. He's a chill guy until someone is encroaching on his turf. Then the kid who had to stick up to the bullies in high school comes flying out. It's nuts."

"Soooo, this sounds like it happens more often than you're letting on."

"Only had to happen once or twice for me to get the big picture."

"Also, I didn't know he was bullied in high school."

"I probably make it sound worse than it was, but you know Ethan almost as well as I do. He's a quiet guy who likes to keep to himself, and he grew up so poor that McDonald's in the ‘90s was like coming to a place like this for us. High school weirdos don't like that."

"Wasn't he raised by his dad?"

"Yeah. His dad was… yeah. Not the most pleasant guy."

"Eva is coming from a completely different place." Nadia didn't mention that Eva had also been bullied in high school, but the kind of bullying rich teen girls got up to was less about fist fights and wedgies and more about coordinating assaults of a very different kind. Something Nadia didn't want to bring up right now. "She gets jealous because I'm not as sexually outgoing or as frequent to hit the bed with her as she'd like. I think a part of her worries that I'm out there cavorting with other women and she's missing out. Which is bunk, of course. She knows that, but paranoia hits differently when it comes to roost in your home."

"Didn't you guys make some kind of deal when you were in Hawaii?"

Nadia was almost too flustered to speak after being reminded of that. "You weren't supposed to remember that. You weren't even supposed to know about that."

"Yet you told me. While drunk."

"Yes. While drunk. Worst night at the club for my big mouth."

"If I recall correctly, you decided to tell me because you saw three strangers making out on the corner couch."

Nadia almost slapped her menu off the table. "It was hot, all right? They were doing it right there so I would watch them, so I gave ‘em what they wanted."

"I remember. Trust me. I was there." Nadia folded her arms over her cloth napkin. "I also remember you going, ‘Psst, Eva and I have made a deal to have a threesome by the end of the year. I get to pick the lady!'"

"I did not say it like that."

"You did too."

Nadia gave up with a huff. "What's your point?"

Jasmine reclaimed her more pleasant mien when the hostess seated a new party only two tables away from them. "Sounds like you've found your contender."

As much as Nadia didn't want to admit it, this was something she had already considered. Namely, when she was delightfully trapped beneath Eva's unrelenting body the night before. Ugh, don't think about it too much. Your face will give you away in front of the one friend who always knows what you're thinking. Nadia wondered where the waiter had gone. Could she order before she was forced to answer?

"Lacey and Eva are rivals. Neither of them would go for it."

"So you've thought about it?"

Nadia rolled her eyes. "It's not happening. Besides, I don't think that's what I want. If I do something like that with Eva…" She had already forgotten what she wanted to order. When she glanced down at the order again, she swore that the French words were gibberish. "I mean if either of us are putting our hands on another woman…" She lowered her voice, even though the new group nearby talked loudly enough to drown out a stampede of elephants. "It's probably going to be someone not like Lacey."

"Now imagine Eva with Lacey. Eh? Eh?"

Nadia had lost her. Jasmine wasn't queer in the slightest, yet sometimes she got more excited about lesbian sexcapades than Eva… and that was saying something.

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"All right." Ian showed up in nothing but a T-shirt and gym shorts, as Eva had ordered. "I'm here. Why, though?"

Eva looked up from tying her tennis shoes – the well-worn ones she always threw in her carry-on whenever she thought she'd be hitting the gym or the field wherever she went. In this trip's case, she ended up at the soccer field at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, a place she was admitted to because one of the former deans was an older ex-girlfriend who had given Eva the kind of access card that made other women swoon.

And she had brought a guy here. Figures.

"What are you talking about?" Eva looked up at him from tying her shoes. "You must have known this was inevitable. I have to kick your ass at one-on-one soccer."

The man looked ten years older when she sighed like that.

"Come on, bro." Eva hopped up from the bench and pretended to slug him in the arm. "Cardio is good for you! You're getting to that age where the beer belly starts poking out. Let's help keep you fit and sexy for my best friend. It's the least her haggard ass deserves."

"I can't tell if you insulted me or her more."

"I'm an equal opportunity insulter. You can be my best friend and I will insult you. Constantly. It's my love language."

"Somehow, I have a feeling you don't talk like this to your wife."

Eva popped a soccer ball onto the tip of her shoe. "You should ask her sometime."

"Sounds like the perfect dinner conversation."

The ball was soon gently passed to Ian. "You remember how to do this or not? I never get to practice anymore. I don't know anyone who cares to kick a damn ball."

He slammed his foot atop the ball and quickly passed it to his other foot. The ball traveled behind him, then back again, all in a series of successive movements that took no more than five seconds to complete.

"Think I can handle it," he said.

"Good. Let's go."

They must have looked the sight to the few students straggling along the sidelines and eventually practicing their goal kicks on the other end of the field. Yet for Eva, who had long strides that were perfect for a game like soccer, she didn't care as long as those people stayed out of her way. Having someone competent enough at soccer to help her keep her pace while she rehashed passing, dribbling, and shooting drills was an easy way to burn a couple of hours while working up a sweat and remembering what it was like to spend half of her day on the field. The more time passes since high school, the easier it is for me to forget the worst memories. Soccer had been the sport that made high school more bearable. It had been an era in her life when her time had never truly been her own. When she was home, her mother was always on her for some perceived slight, such as keeping her hair short or "dressing like a boy." When out with friends, she was at the whim of their boy-crazy attitudes and the terrible decisions their adolescent minds made. When actually in class or simply trying to get to and from her car in the parking lot? That was the worst. Her few friends at Winchester Academy were flaky and fake, only keeping her around because she was a Warren. Eva's idea of partying was getting tipsy enough to be boisterous but not drunk enough for a hangover, but most of the girls in her class went straight to blacking out and bumping lines of coke. More often than not, Eva stayed home when her parents were out or traveled abroad to be with more laid-back friends.

That wasn't always possible, though. Her parents were strict about her allowance, and for all the grief Eva gave them, the only things that made her money disappear were bad grades and being a nuisance to the family image. I could say all the nasty things about the way they treated me to my face, but I still got my allowance. The moment her grades dipped to a B- or a C, though? The purse strings were cut until chemistry tutoring was secured or Eva learned to not be caught speeding in her Ferrari.

Which was why she loved soccer. Out on the field, teamwork beat the petty politics of rich kid school, and someone as skilled as Eva was always a shoo-in for the best positions and leadership. It was the one place she received genuine respect. It had been her haven… until a bully sicced her boyfriend and his friends on her.

That had been one of the worst days of Eva's life.

All of that was years ago. She had grown up, gone to therapy, and done something with her life. She could now do as she pleased. She was married. She had genuine friends who knew the real her and invited her to know them.

So, she could enjoy soccer again. Except she rarely got to treat herself to drills with people who knew a thing or two about it. Bless you, Nads, you can barely run the length of the field without passing out. Cardio was not Nadia's forte. She was more of a yoga girl.

"What the hell was that?" Eva kicked the ball straight to Ian, only to have him let the ball go to what would have been enemy territory in an ordinary game. It had been such an ordinary play that the man should have been able to do it on autopilot. Was he losing steam with her?

Ian wiped the sweat from his brow and tugged his shirt away from his chest. "It's been like ninety minutes. I'm not as young as I once was."

"Weeeak."

"Can we at least take a break? I'm dying of thirst."

Eva had to admit that she was also in need of a drink. She had packed enough Gatorade for them both, although she could tell from the look on Ian's face that he was not a fan of Frost Arctic Blitz. What even is that, anyway? Eva had picked it up at a drugstore.

Yet Ian took a bottle and happily drank half of it in one minute. Watching him quaff that drink reminded Eva that she was also human and needed to replenish her electrolytes.

"So, how's Kathryn?" Eva asked. "Hopefully a bit more rested than she was yesterday."

"She was happily snoring away when I woke up this morning. You've never seen a more peaceful person who seriously needs a CPAP machine."

"Good for her. I keep telling her she's busting ass at these crazy charity schemes for no reason. How much did she even raise for the Alzheimer's research yesterday?"

"A lot more in private donations than the event itself. It didn't even pull a hundred-k in auction money. About a million in private donations."

"Including the checks both you and I cut."

"Yup. Go figure. But…" Ian dangled his Gatorade between his spread legs. Eva took a page out of his book and took up as much space as she could muster on the bench. Between her height and the exertion of playing soccer for nearly two hours, it wasn't difficult to sprawl her legs apart and think up every "airing out" joke she had heard over the decades. "That's how you get people donating to begin with. She learned a long time ago that you've got to dangle fun events in people's faces to make them open their pocket books. Sure, you and I would have donated because she wouldn't let us get away with it otherwise, but some of her acquaintances or the rivals from college who don't give two shits about her? Events are necessary."

"Suppose you're right. I just hate watching her run herself ragged. She knows she's getting older, right? Heck, she's older than me."

"And younger than me. Thanks for the reminder."

Eva's elbow landed in his side. "That's why you need more cardio."

"I run multiple times a week. Why do you think I kept up with you pretty well out there?"

"Did you run before meeting up with me?"

"Hell, no. You told me to come to a soccer field in my gym clothes. I knew you had some athletic torture in store for me."

"You know, you could not have come. Gone straight to the gym and pounded feet on the treadmill before having a liquid lunch with your wife."

"Yeaaaah, neither you nor she would have let me live it down if I did that."

"You're right, but that's never stopped you from living your life before."

Ian sighed into the gap between his knees. "I don't hate you, you know. You used to intimidate me with your whole cut-his-dick-off demonstrations, but I like to think I've proven myself an adequate match for your best friend."

"Uh-huh."

"Katie and I have been together longer than you've been with Nadia. We're fine."

"Uh-huh."

"Do I want to hang out with you like this every week?" Ian fanned his T-shirt away from his sweaty chest. "No."

"Mm-hmm."

"You're fine once in a while."

The snort coming out of Eva's nostrils almost blew him away. "You've got such a way with words around the lesbos, dude."

"I try. I've got a reputation to protect."

"What reputation is that? Don't tell me you're one of those guys who ‘turns' girls."

"Not to my knowledge, but if you know someone who claims I made them reevaluate their sexuality, let me know – I love a good ego boost."

Eva leaned in so close to his face that anyone walking by probably thought they were about to kiss. Oh, far from it.

"Same to you, buddy."

She dropped the soccer ball on the turf before leaping up to her feet. The message was clear: break time was over. The ass-kicking began anew.