Page 75 of Against The Boards

She scrolled through her phone. “When he got to the practice facility. They’re doing strength training today, so he has his phone.”

“Christ, Dinah, do you tell each other everything?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

“I really hurt Noah when I broke up with him, and he made me promise that if I ever got scared about our relationship again to talk to him first. We’re open with each other,” Dinah explained.

“Dinah, I worried you two wouldn’t last. You really hurt Noah.”

“I know.”

“But I love you two, and I want you to last,” I added.

The petite woman beamed. “I don’t want to lose my best friend again.”

A pang of jealousy reached up and squeezed my heart because I wanted what Dinah and Fi had with their men. I wanted that love. It didn’t have to be with Benny, but I wanted someone who wouldn’t cheat on me or leave me for a different city. Was that too much to ask?

“I want what you both have. I want someone to love me,” I said and wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Oh, honey.” Fi sighed and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Do you love him? Do you think he doesn’t feel the same way?”

I stared at her, but then I answered her honestly. “I don’t know, but I know I can’t let myself have feelings for him if he’s not gonna be here next year.”

“Okay, fuck it. We’re going out and getting drunk tonight, just the three of us. Let’s go, you’re putting on something nice, and we’re gonna have a girls’ night.” Fi didn’t ask; she demanded it.

Dinah shrugged. “This is what Fi does. She gets ya real drunk, and you figure out what you want.”

Fi laughed. “Hey, it worked with you when you broke up with Noah!”

I remembered Noah distraught when Dinah broke up with him. I had come into town to make sure he was okay. Tristan had asked me to come, partly because he was worried about me but partly because he couldn’t get Noah out of his funk. Noah was a sensitive guy, and he had been a miserable shit. I didn’t know that Fi helped Noah and Dinah figure things out. It made me like her even more. She was a good friend, and I didn’t deserve either of them.

“I haven’t told Tristan. I tell him everything, but he knows I’m holding back something, and it hurts so much,” I admitted.

They both hugged me tightly. “Rox, we’re gonna figure it out,” Fi reassured me.

“If not, I might murder your boyfriend,” Dinah said with a wicked grin.

Oh my God. Dinah Lace was something else, and I loved this woman for it.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I argued.

Fi raised a red eyebrow. “Hey, D, you ever have a picture of you and your friends with benefits looking cozy and kissing on your phone?”

Dinah shook her head.

I glared at her. “You’ve never had a friend with benefits before, so you don’t count.”

“But I have,” Fi argued. “And I’ve never had one look at me like that or take a freaking selfie of us kissing. Hey, can you send that to me? I think I should use it for the cover of my book.”

“Shut up!” I argued, but I smiled. Leave it to these women to cheer me up when my heart was breaking in two.

“So what were you really doing last night?” Fi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Fucking all night long,” I answered honestly.

They both laughed at my bluntness