Indina still couldn’t believe how badly her friend had been shafted in her divorce settlement, but it shouldn’t be a surprise, seeing as Carter Arnold was one of the most successful divorce lawyers in the south. If Indina wasn’t already sour on relationships, the hell Mack had been through over this past year would have been enough to make her run away screaming. Who the hell needed that kind of drama in their lives?
Not her. She was done chasing after love.
Her friend leaned back in her chair and crossed her stockinged feet on the desk. “That’s what I get for not taking your advice in the first place,” Mack said. “I should have listened when you told me Carter wasn’t worth my time.”
“You were twenty-five years old and dick sprung. You weren’t listening to anyone’s advice.” Indina hunched her shoulders. “Look at the bright side; it wasn’t always bad. You and Carter had some good years in the beginning.”
“No we didn’t,” Mack said. “I spent the first three years working to get us both through law school and the next twelve helping him to build his practice. That was never a marriage. It was a business partnership with good sex thrown in about once a week. And toward the end even that wasn’t good. I got the three strokes and I’m out treatment. He saved all his best moves for Becky with the good hair.”
Indina grimaced. “I heard they’re getting married,” she said of the paralegal that Mack’s ex-husband had an affair with.
Mack huffed. “As if I care. As long as it keeps his shady ass out of my life, I’m happy.”
But she wasn’t. Indina had sensed it in her friend over the past year. She was grateful that Mack had finally ended her toxic marriage, but hated that it had all happened in such a high profile manner. But when two well-known figures were embroiled in a nasty divorce, it was bound to cause tongues to wag.
Carter Arnold was probably one of the best-known faces in New Orleans. His fake smile adorned dozens of billboards around the city and his stale commercials flooded the late-night TV spots. When Mackenna won her seat on the city council, the two became one of the city’s most high-powered couples. When their marriage ended in a blaze of glory following Carter’s infidelity, it became fodder for every gossip blog covering local news.
“I so wish you could come on the cruise this weekend,” Indina said. “I don’t know anyone who deserves a vacation more than you do.”
“Tell me about it.” Mack rolled her eyes, then her brow furrowed. “What made you change your mind? Last time we talked, you were adamant about not going on the cruise yourself.”
“I caved to my annoying brother. Harrison called this morning and laid a guilt trip on me. Said I should think about Dad and how he would feel if I didn’t show up.”
“That was low, but apparently effective, so score one for Harrison.”
“He’s the pain in my ass,” Indina said.
“Oh, stop. You’re going to get on that cruise ship and forget about everything happening back here on land. Damn, I’m jealous.”
“You can still join us. I’m sure we can find a cabin for you somewhere.”
“Do you no longer have a spot in your room?”
Indina pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She and Mack were best friends, but she hadn’t shared that she was getting it on with one of her coworkers.
“Uh, no. Griffin is coming with me.” She hoped that sounded as casual as she’d intended.
Mack’s forehead dipped even more with her frown. “Griffin? The engineer with the nice ass who worked on the Toussaint project with you?”
“I thought they hadn’t decided yet who the new museum would be named after?” Indina asked.
“It will be named after Toussaint,” Mack assured her. It had been Mackenna’s idea to name the new museum celebrating New Orleans’s rich musical history after Allan Toussaint. The late musician had been one of the city’s best music ambassadors. “Is that the guy you’re talking about?”
Indina nodded. “That’s him. He’s been the lead on the last three projects I’ve done with Sykes-Wilcox.”
“And you’re sharing a room with him? It sounds to me like you two have been doing more than just working.” She said it jokingly, but when Indina didn’t respond Mack’s eyes grew wide. “Are you?”
“We are,” Indina admitted, caving yet again to pressure.
“You’re dating? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were dating someone.”
“We’re not necessarily dating. We’re just…umm.” Indina bit her bottom lip. She lowered her voice and hunched forward. “Look, Griffin and I are fuck buddies, alright?”
Mack’s brow nearly touched her hairline. She screeched. “For how long, bitch?”
“Is that the way you address all of your constituents?”
“For. How. Long. Bitch?”
“About eight months,” Indina said with a laugh.
Mack stared at her, slack-jawed and shaking her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Some kind of friend you are. You know it’s been a while since I had some. I count on my friends to let me live vicariously through them.” She sat back in her chair and folded her hands over her stomach. “Don’t hold back. I want details. Explicit details.”
“Eww, no. I’m not giving you details,” Indina said. “There aren’t really any details to share.”
“There hell there aren’t.”
“Honestly, Mack, it’s nothing to fuss over. We get together, we have sex, we go about our business.”
“But you work together almost every day.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We don’t discuss what we do in the bedroom anywhere but in the bedroom.” She held her hands up. “I’m only doing what men do all the time. How many times have I been just a piece of ass for a guy?”
“So is that all he is? A piece of ass?”
“No. Not really.”
Well, maybe.
But Indina didn’t think of Griffin that way. She wasn’t using him in the same way he wasn’t using here. Their
