Free Better Than You (The Walker Family Series Book 3) by Lauren Gilley

anarchy.”
    Regina’s look said really? Way to be a spoilsport .
    Sighing to herself, Delta glanced through the big plate glass window of the diner where her friend had demanded she meet her for a full explanation of the night before. All hopes that Regina would be too preoccupied with her man candy to dwell on Delta’s early departure from Aces had been dashed when Delta had finally dragged herself out of bed and checked her phone. Four of her five voice mails had been from Regina – “We have got to meet for lunch. Call me!” – and the other had been from Greg – “I think we need to talk.”
    “Greg was there ,” she said as she watched cars jockey in the parking lot. “It’s like I rubbed his nose in the fact that I’m cheating on him.”
    “Hey, did he ever say you guys were exclusive? Does he even call you his girlfriend?”
    “Well…”
    “Meanwhile this Mike guy is all-out fighting for you, and telling Greg to get his shit and go…that is hot, Delt. I mean, hot .”
    She sighed again, out loud this time.
    “And he was good, wasn’t he?” Regina prompted. “Better than Greg?”
    Delta made a face at her barely-there reflection in the glass. Her salad sat untouched in front of her and her eyebrows seemed permanently fused together. “Much better than Greg,” she admitted.
    “Then what” - Regina slapped a palm against the table top in clear exasperation - “is the problem?”
    “Don’t make it sound so simple.”
    “It is simple.”
    “No it’s not. ” Delta raked her hair back off her face and suppressed a growl. “I had a good thing going.” She pegged Regina with a look that told her she didn’t expect to be interrupted. “Greg is a good guy – he’s the right kind of guy. He’s successful and stable and my parents love him. He golfs and reads and…” She ran out of steam and her friend pounced.
    “And all of those things are great,” Regina said, “but they’re just general. It doesn’t matter if he’s ‘the right kind of guy’ if he’s not the right kind of guy for you.”
    Delta pick ed up her fork and stabbed a cucumber.
    “And doesn’t Mike have a Beemer you said? So he’s successful, right? What’s he do?”
    “He’s in accounting at this big corporate insurance brokerage firm just down the street from the mall.”
    “Okay, so that crosses success off the list.”
    “’Gina,” Delta sighed. “I just…” She just what? She didn’t know. Her head hurt and the sun coming through the window was too bright and she’d awakened that morning feeling supremely lonely in a way she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
    “Honey,” Regina became serious as she brushed the salt off her fingers and leaned her elbows onto the table. “I don’t know this guy, but I think it’s safe to say he’s got the major hots for you. Even if things don’t work out, you’re not a slut or a disappointment to anyone if you give it a shot and finally, for once in your life, go out with a guy you really like. ‘Cause you’re all twisted up about him and that spells like .”
    “I don’t like being twisted up.”
    “I know. You’re a tightass.”
    With a frown, she forked a bite of salad into her mouth. One of the reasons Mike was wrecking her head so effortlessly was his similarity to Regina: both of them liked picking at her.
    “Okay, so, I want details. All the details.”
     
    **
     
    “No. You’re lying.”
    Mike pushed up the sleeve of his sweatshirt and showed the inside of his forearm, and the telltale red crescents left behind by fingernails, to Tam and Jordan.
    Tam still looked unconvinced, head wagging as he leaned back in his chair and hooked a leg over the arm. “You gave those to yourself.”
    “Like your vacuum hickey freshman year,” Jordan reminded with a smile.
    “You losers are jealous.” Mike was in a good mood, almost as good as if Delta hadn’t kicked him out of bed just after three that morning. He had never in his life been pushed