Her face softens as she takes a seat at my bar and waves me off. “What are we going to do?”
“We?” I look at her and find a rare sight. Her cheeks are rosy, her expression sheepish.
“Yes, we. She’s threatening me too and I want to help you deal with her. She has no right to do this to you.” She taps her fingers against her lips and her brows are crinkled in thought.
She takes a sip of her drink and then I can almost see the lightbulb illuminate over her head. She jumps up and excitement floods her chocolate eyes.
“I’ve got it. We need to dig something up on her. For leverage, you know? Like, if you expose me, I’ll come after you type of thing.”
“I doubt she’d care if anything got out about her.”
“There’s always something, we just need to find it.” Flynn starts talking out loud, throwing ideas at me to spark a memory I might have.
Seeing her like this, willing to do anything for me, causes a carnal reaction. The plotting will have to wait.
“Have you figured out what you’re going to do about her?” Flynn asks, as if we didn’t just spend the last forty-five minutes in bed where I sure as shit wasn’t thinking about my ex-wife. My post-orgasm high is ruined as well as any thoughts of a round two.
“I have to fight back somehow. The lawsuit won’t hold any weight, not where Emily is concerned; I’m not worried about that. She’s not thinking clearly right now. All she’s focused on is the money. I’ll have to get ahead of this. I’ll have to tell my lawyer the truth.”
“About us?” I nod and she sits up, taking this conversation more seriously.
“I can’t let her hold this over my head. It’s the only way right now.”
“You’ll lose your license.” Her eyes are downcast as guilt colors her tone.
“I made my bed.” I pray it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, I’ll take it in stride. I’ve made my choices and if I have to deal with the consequences, I will.
“Your bed doesn’t look made to me.” Her grin is cheeky and I chuckle at her dirty mind. Leave it to Flynn to lighten the mood with sex.
“That’s because you messed it up.” I lean over and place a kiss on her cheek. Her hands play with the comforter and there’s an air of concern surrounding her. “Hey, we’ll figure this out.”
“No, it’s not that. Um, there’s actually something I need to talk to you about too.” I freeze, already reading into her tone and not liking it one bit. “When I called you last night I was at Olivia’s bachelorette party. We were at a strip club and I kind of missed you.”
That must be why she’s embarrassed. She’s not good with feelings. I rub her arm, a smile on my face knowing she’s about to tell me her actual feelings for once.
“I was pissed when Miranda answered your phone and what she insinuated. I mean she was all ‘he’s in the shower.’” She mocks my ex and I chuckle at her high-pitched impersonation. “So I did a bunch of shots and things got a little out of hand.”
This is not where I was expecting this to go. “What does that mean?”
“Are you gonna go all therapist-y on me?”
“Depends on what you’re about to say.” She sighs and pinches her eyes closed before word vomiting all over the room.
“Okay, I know you’re going to be mad, but I’d probably have to bring it up in therapy anyway so maybe you should act more like my therapist right now and not the guy I’m sleeping with. I might’ve done a little coke and made out with a stripper. To be fair, I don’t remember any of it, but I’m not sure if that makes the situation better or worse.”
I lock my jaw and my hand curls into a fist. I can’t be all that mad about her kissing someone considering I did kiss my ex-wife, not that she knows about my indiscretion. But I am pretty pissed she’s still doing drugs, especially coke.
Running a hand through my hair, I release an exasperated sigh. “Why are you still doing coke, Flynn?”
“That’s all your mad about?”
“I never said that. I’m pretty pissed about all of it, but I thought you promised to stop with the drugs? I told you, stimulants especially only exacerbate your negative behaviors. If you were sober, do you think you would’ve sought out another guy?” She shakes her head. Just what I thought. “The fact of the matter is, you won’t get better if you keep repeating this cycle. Like an alcoholic needing to abstain from alcohol. The substances aggravate your pre-existing condition.” I bite my tongue, not wanting to divulge anything more.
I have a thought about Flynn, about her health, but I haven’t told her yet. I’m not one hundred percent sure regarding her diagnosis, or really where we go with it, and I don’t want to give her false information or false hope. Though she won’t admit it, I know how important it is for her to feel normal, to find out what’s wrong with her. I can see it in how she carries herself and how she tiptoes around her words.
Lucky for me, she’s too focused on everything else happening to latch onto my slip up.
“I get it, I need to stop doing coke.”
“Well, you should probably stop drinking too. Some people like to quit it all cold turkey but other people prefer one step at a time.”
“What would work best for me?”
“There’s a difference between what I think you should do and what is likely
