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who I was with in case—”
    “In case something happened to you? Because it’s stupid to disappear with a random stranger regardless of the fact that he’s a member of a biker gang?”
    “You know you can be a real bitch sometimes, Nic. Don’t even start with me. I’m not gonna sit here if you’re going to preach at me. You don’t know what happened last night. You don’t know what happened with ‘the respectable lawyer.’ Did it ever occur to you that Zag was actually the better guy? He saved me last night. If it weren’t for him—” My voice strangled and I couldn’t finish. The thought of Charlie’s hands on me last night had bile tickling the back of my throat. Tears sheened my vision but I blinked them away. He wasn’t worth another second of my time, let alone a single tear. “You don’t know, Nic. So maybe next time ask before you start laying into me.”
    Nicole’s eyes darted between me and the road, and her brow wrinkled in concern. “Crap, I’m sorry, hon. I just—” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. What happened? Do you want to talk about it? Do we need to go to the hospital? Or the police?”
    “No, nothing like that. But it might have ended differently if not for Zag. So can we cut the sanctimonious bullshit? It’s not like you haven’t had a one-night stand.”
    Nic bit her lip and tilted her head. “I never had a one-night stand with a biker,” she murmured snarkily under her breath.
    But I still heard it regardless. Or maybe she wanted me to hear. Whatever. I was done with it. Done with her snide little comments and knowing looks. “Pull over.”
    “What?”
    “I said. Pull. Over.”
    “Crap, Jess, I’m sorry. I won’t say anything else. I swear.”
    “Fine.” I sat in the passenger seat with my arms crossed over my chest.
    We drove another few miles in stone silence. Finally, at a stoplight, Nic looked over at me and cracked a small smile. “At least tell me he was hot.”
    “Nic!”
    “What? If I can’t lecture you, at least give me a few sexy details. Did he offer you a mustache ride?”
    “Oh my god.” My hands flew to my seat-belt buckle. “That’s it. I’m getting out.”
    Nicole laughed. “Damn. You’re sensitive. Stop, stop.” She reached over and batted my hands away. “Come on, Jess. Give me something. Was he old? Young? Built? Or was he bald with a paunch?”
    My head hit the headrest with a soft thump and I looked up at the roof unable to meet Nic’s searching blue eyes. “He was sexy. Probably thirty-something with longish hair, at least down to his chin. And his body was ridiculous. One of those outrageously built hard bodies that make you afraid to take your own clothes off because you’re so not in their class…Not that I had much choice. He was so masculine and take-charge. He ripped my clothes off before I could even have an insecure thought. I was too busy thinking about him and what his tongue was—”
    I broke off embarrassed at how much I’d already confessed. We might’ve been friends for fifteen years and told each other everything, but there were still some things we didn’t talk about, the nitty-gritty sex details being one of them. Especially when Nic was so blatant in her disapproval of said partner.
    I snuck a peak at Nic and she stared at me with the most incredulous look. I don’t know if she was amazed at my rare overshare of sex details or the fact that I’d been so pleased with my choice of lover last night. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which would’ve been worse in her eyes.
    Scratch that. I was pretty sure I knew.
    I cleared my throat awkwardly. “But it was just a one-night thing. I won’t be seeing him again.”
    Nicole tore her eyes away from mine and pulled into the intersection. “And you’re okay with that? It sounds like you really liked this guy.”
    My laugh sounded forced even to my own ears. “I think it was pretty obvious that it was a one-night thing. Maybe that’s what made it so hot? Anyway,