Therefore, possibly injecting antagonism and aggravation into my life didn’t fill me with glee, so I was avoiding it.
I didn’t feel guilt about this, because I knew when I explained it to Tyra, she would get me. This was because she always got me. And if Tyra got me, she could explain it to Dad as well as Rush in a way they would get me. Also, Big Petey adored me, so even if he was angry at first, he’d come around.
Therefore, when the door opened and it was Natalie, that meant the worst possible scenario was about to play out.
I knew this instantly when she entered, her head swung to the kitchen, her eyes got huge, her mouth fell open, red suffused her face, and she yelled, “I saw his bike outside so I f**kin’ knew it!”
Not good.
“Nat—” I started but got no further because she slammed the door and stomped in.
“Same as with Jason, one minute I got my girl, the next minute she’s unavailable, but this time it’s worse. You’re hooked up with the dawg to beat all dawgs and hiding it from me!” she shrieked the last. “Tabby! What did I tell you about him? How could you be so stupid?”
That thunderclap coming from Shy I’d felt during our conversation nearly two months before slapped the room, but Natalie apparently didn’t feel it.
As for me, Shy took his STD test the day after his brother got home. He paid extra for a rush, it came in clean, so at that present moment, regardless of the uncomfortable situation confronting me, Natalie saying words I didn’t like all that much that needed to be addressed, the heavy air and the fury emanating from my man, I had on a nightie, no panties, and Shy sliding out of me.
Priorities.
I moved around Shy, got in between them, happy there was also a bar in between them and ordered, “Don’t you move, either of you, and neither of you speak. I gotta do something. I’ll be back in less than a minute and, I swear to God, you two lay into each other before I get back, it will not make me happy.”
Natalie, being Natalie, took one look at me, guessed the situation, and didn’t have any problems throwing it out there.
“Shit, seriously? Did I walk in on the aftermath of you gettin’ banged by a biker? Let me guess, you did it,” she leaned in, “dawgie style.”
Her meaning was clear and Shy actually growled low in his throat and I felt him begin to move. I put up a hand and planted it in his chest, keeping my glare pinned on Natalie.
“I love you, you know I do. But one more word, Nat, I’ll confiscate my key, kick your ass out, and you’ll never see me again. Are you feeling me?” I asked softly.
Her eyes bore into me, her jaw clenched, then she jerked up her chin.
I twisted my neck and looked up at Shy. “Darlin’, please? For me?”
That muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes were locked on Natalie, but he also jerked up his chin.
I heaved a sigh of relief and dashed to the bathroom. I cleaned up in record time, snatched a pair of panties out of my drawer, yanked them up, and tripped on our clothes that were strewn all over the floor on my way out.
They were mostly Shy’s clothes, since his entire limited wardrobe was lying there considering his brother had been in Denver for two weeks before going back down to Fort Carson and he’d crashed at Shy’s pad, so Shy had crashed at mine and hadn’t quit crashing there even after Lan left.
Vaguely, it occurred to me it was time to do laundry and, considering his wardrobe was severely limited, go shopping.
I righted my feet even as I settled my panties on my h*ps and my nightie was still falling over my behind when I skidded to a halt in the living room to see my best friend and my guy in a scary staredown.
“Right, you’re back,” Natalie stated, not tearing her eyes from Shy. “Can we speak now?”
“You do, you watch that mouth of yours,” Shy shot back instantly. “You say somethin’ that pisses Tab off or hurts her, you answer to me.”
“Answer to you? Who talks like that?” Natalie returned swiftly with not a small amount of sarcasm.
“I do and you don’t, bitch, you’ll find your coked-up ass out in the goddamned breezeway.”
Uh-oh.
What did he mean?
My eyes narrowed on Natalie.
Oh crap.
Her eyes were bright. Too bright.
Crap!
“Fuck you!” she screeched.
Shy leaned slightly toward her, and he’d done that to me when he was angry, so I knew he was in the danger zone.
“Do not even think of comin’ into your girl’s house who, by the way, is my woman, high off your goddamned ass and spoutin’ your mouth, so stoked on blow, your brain is a f**kin’ whiteout,” he growled. “Calm your ass down.”
“Natalie,” I verbally pushed into the fray and then carefully asked, “Are you doing coc**ne?”
Her eyes swung to me. “We’re not talkin’ about me. We’re talkin’ about you hookin’ up with Shy f**kin’ Cage when I warned you not to do that shit.”
Shy moved, my eyes went to him, and I asked, “Darlin’, please, let me handle this.”
His gaze cut to me, he took me in, rocked to a halt, gave me an unhappy look that I endured but fortunately cut his eyes back to Natalie and stood firm, crossing his arms on his chest.
I looked back at my friend. “Nat, are you doing blow?”
She ignored me and declared, “You said it wasn’t like that with you two when I f**kin’ knew it was and now he’s sayin’ you’re his woman, Tab, which means you didn’t listen to me. You listened to his bullshit lines and now you think you’re his woman when you’re just like any other woman he’s had, and there have been lots, Tabby, and you f**kin’ know it. You’re just pu**y.”
“Tab, babe, she didn’t hear me,” Shy clipped his warning, but I didn’t move my eyes from Natalie.
“Natalie, maybe we can talk about what happened with me and Shy when Shy’s not around. Let’s talk about something important, and that’s the fact that I’m a nurse and I can see quite clearly you’re high.”
“How about we talk about the fact that not weeks ago I know he was bangin’ a bitch named Rosalie?” she returned.
More unhappy growling from Shy but I again ignored him. “I know. Now he’s with me.”
She threw up her hands as her eyebrows went up. “So he dumps that bitch and now you’re his woman?” She looked at Shy. “Congratulations, sport. Record time. One down, the other one set up, good to go. How long’s Tab gonna last?”