Free I Love My Man (Nicole's Erotic Romance) by Sabrina Lacey Page B

behind his eyes is the concern we’re both feeling.
He’s like a brother to my girlfriends now. What if Jessica and Nicole don’t
work things out? Plus, Jess and I had the biggest fight we’ve ever had. An
uneasiness tingles in my chest as we search the room, scanning the crowd.
    I gasp. My hand tightens on Josh’s arm.
    Josh looks at me, worried. “What?” Stunned,
I jerk my chin in the direction of the couch in the corner of the dark room.
Josh follows my horrified stare and gasps, too. Nicole and Jessica sit on
either side of Mark, both leaning into him as lovers, with Nicole nibbling on
his ear and his arms around them both. Jess reaches up and touches his chest as
she whispers into his ear! Mark is smiling like the evil kid who stole
everybody’s cake. Three drinks are on the table, not four.
    “Whoa,” Josh whispers before he remembers to
paste a polite smile on his face.
    “Where’s Chris? What the hell is this? This
is the solution they came up with?”
    “I don’t know. I already looked. He isn’t
here.”
    “Oh my God. What are we walking into?”
    “Smile, Amber.”
    “I can’t.”
    Mark sees us and lifts one hand in a casual
wave. Jess turns her head, her hand fluttering to Mark’s chin. Her eyebrows go
up. “Oh! Hi Amber.”
    “Hey.”
    “You were right. I was being silly.”
    Nicole slowly unlatches her teeth from
Mark’s earlobe. She smiles like a cat covered in milk. “Isn’t this great? We
worked everything out.” My stomach lurches. I want to vomit. Josh’s eyebrows
get lodged on the planet Jupiter. He’s nodding like he doesn’t know what else
to do.
    The three lovebirds are staring at me and I
can’t take it. “Please tell me you’re fucking with me right now.”
    They all look hurt. “No.” “Why?” “What’s
wrong with this?”
    I stamp one foot on the floor and yelp, “No!
No! No!”
    Jess and Nico blow up in laughter, and Mark
grins, his shoulders shaking as he lets go of Jess. She stands up and points at
me. “You should see your face!!” I look to my right to see Chris walking out
from a curtain, chuckling and looking from me to Josh with an apologetic smile.
    My heart is pounding. “I hate you all.”
    Jess’s hand flies out to me and I grab it.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been an asshole.”
    The shock must be doing something with my
emotions because I start to cry. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you what
to do.”
    “Someone had to, because I sure didn’t know.” She pulls me in for
a hug. Nico gets up, runs around the table and wraps her arms around both of
us. My body relaxes and the tears dry up. Thank God for my girlfriends.
    Josh takes an empty seat, saying to the men,
“This makes me jealous. Guys… want to hug?”
    Chris and Mark both answer, “No.”
    The three of us girls all sit by our men.
“You guys really got me. Nico, are you drinking whiskey?”
    She nods. “You introduced me to it.”
    “I did?” I have no recollection of this.
    “You gave it to me when I came to your
house… that one time? You said it was Josh’s.” Her eyes insinuate she can’t say
more; Mark doesn’t need to know she was wrecked over some other guy. God, I’m
so glad she didn’t sleep with Michael. I would have a hard time looking at
Mark. “Oh right. I forgot.”
    “You’re drinking Jameson? I’m in. What do
you want, gorgeous?” Josh asks me, rising up.
    “Chardonnay, please.” He bends to kiss me,
and I smile as he walks away.
    Turning back to Mark, I reach out and touch
his knee. “So good to see you.”
    Grateful, Mark smiles, one corner of his
mouth higher than the other. “Good to be seen.” He turns and kisses Nico on the
lips, her eyes closing happily as she receives it.
    This is how it was always supposed to be.

 
 
 
 
    NICOLE
    Outside JF
Gallery

 
 
 
    The six of us walk up and I freeze. I can’t
believe what I’m seeing. The gallery that was empty just an hour ago, is now
crammed with people I don’t