Between Boyfriends (Book 1 in the Between Boyfriends Series)

Chapter 6

Cruising down the I-163 freeway at 15 miles per hour was not an efficient use of Jan's time. Although no one was there to hear it, she began a full-scale rant on the absurdity of traffic on a Sunday afternoon when she was interrupted by her phone. She eagerly grabbed for it, thankful for an escape from the monotony of stop-go, stop-go, stop-go. She checked her caller ID; it was Nichole.

"Hello," Jan answered coldly.

"Hey," said Nichole stiffly. Jan imagined her stretching her arms overhead before proceeding to neck rolls. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just stuck in traffic on my way to the country club."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

"Apparently," Jan hissed.

Nichole matched her tone. "Come on. You didn't need me to take you shopping. Everything obviously worked out."

"Not exactly. I waited around for nearly two hours before I finally gave up on you. I had to go by myself and get assaulted, practically, by this asshole salesman. Now, I'm totally running late and am stuck in traffic and I might not even make it before the gym closes." Jan slammed on the brakes as she nearly rear-ended the car ahead of her. Wow, maybe it really isn't safe to talk and drive at the same time.

Nichole laughed. "It's only two. You're overreacting."

Jan fumed. She particularly did not like being told she was overreacting when she knew she was overreacting. "The point is we made plans and I waited for you. If I hadn't waited, I'd have been two hours earlier and may have avoided traffic."

"Calm down, Jan. There's always traffic in Diego, so don't put that on me. And no one told you to wait for me."

Jan muted her cell and screamed. She hit the un-mute button and said, "Nichole, when you make plans with someone you wait for them. That's common courtesy. It's also expected that if you are running late you call someone to let them know." Jan knew this was the point where she should shut up and make Nichole address her behavior. Her emotions won out over logic.

"What were you doing anyway?"

"Something came up. Sorry."

"Yeah, right. Don't you mean someone? Whatever happened to chicks before dicks, huh?"

Nichole snickered. "Okay, it was a who. I ran into that bartender from Mick O'Donald's last night. The one I met the weekend Mike dumped you."

"And you just went home with him?" Jan asked incredulously. It always amazed her how trusting Nichole was. It never seemed to occur to her that one of these guys could turn out to be dangerous.

"No, I took him home with me, put my phone on silent, and had a fantastic night. You should try it sometime."

"Don't you ever worry about letting a guy you just met know where you live? He could be a murderer, a stalker, or a rapist. And now he knows where you live."

"Jan, you're so paranoid. Besides, it wasn't the first time we met or anything."

"Okay, so you met him once at the bar. So what? If you could tell upon first meeting someone that they were a dangerous criminal, a lot fewer people would be victimized by people they know."

"Whatever. He was nice and very hot..."

"What does being hot have to do with anything? Not all criminals are unattractive. Look at Laci Peterson's husband. He was good looking, for an old guy, and he murdered his wife and unborn child. What do you think a guy like that would do with some slut he picked up at a bar?"