Page 122 of Nobody's Girl

“You need to get back to work, Griff?” Phoenix asked.

When all three of the men laughed again, the women were puzzled. But they knew then that they were only going to be notches on the guy’s bedposts and nothing more than that.

They’d all been lied to.

“I’m not going to lie,” Ethan said. “I’ll miss Kel. But I’ll have at least one night of pure pleasure to remember her by.”

“The hell he will!” Kel mouthed to her sisters, who nodded in agreement.

“I’ll miss Jess too,” Griffin said.

Phoenix echoed him, “Yeah, I’m gonna miss Cait.”

The women sat and waited for the guys to say anything else, but all that came was silence followed by the sound of heavy mugs being sat down.

“We could keep in touch with them, I suppose,” Griff said.

“The explaining would be too hard,” Ethan said. “Can you imagine if one of us accidentally told our girl about the bet and she told the others? Well, it’d end up with the others being dumped. Left with broken hearts. And none of us need that mess in our lives.”

“I think Ethan’s right,” Phoenix agreed. “Cait would put my balls in a vise. I can almost feel it now.”

The men laughed again, then Ethan said, “Those ladies are marrying material.”

“I know,” Griffin agreed.

“I’m sure they’re already talking amongst themselves about how to get us all into holy matrimony with them,” Phoenix said.

“I wonder if Kel is coaching them on it,” Ethan said. “It’s not beyond her to do such a thing. You know, telling them to hold out until they get a ring on it.”

“Oh, hell!” Phoenix gasped. “What if that’s true? What if they plan on holding out until that happens? Do women really wait until the wedding night?”

“Some do,” Griffin said. “But I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. I mean, our girls don’t seem to be that religious or that manipulating.”

“How much longer are we going to give them?” Phoenix asked.

“We have nothing but time,” Ethan reminded him. “But we should put a limit on it, shouldn’t we?”

“Hey, what if we made them jealous with other chicks?” Griff asked.

Jess smacked her fist in her hand as she thought about Griff’s hands on another woman. Cait looked at her and put her finger to her lips.

“That might work,” Phoenix agreed.

“Or it might backfire, and they might shut us out for good,” Ethan said. “I do believe that if Kel saw me with another woman she’d cut me out without a second thought.”

More silence followed, then there was the sound of glasses being sat back down, letting the girls know the men were stumped by what to do to win their bet and get the girls into their beds.

So Kel decided it was time to make themselves known, but not entirely. She leaned up and whispered, “Just go along with me, sisters. I think I have an idea.”

With their nods of agreement, Kel got up, and the others followed her. She went to the waitress and got her to seat them at the same table, but this time she wanted the men to notice them. But they’d act like they didn’t see them.

It was time to make a little deal of their own.

Chapter 23

“How about three beers and some cheesesteak sandwiches, Peggy?” Kel said after the waitress had seated them.