Her voice sounds scratchy and groggy when she answers. “There better be a strip-o-gram on its way to me for a call this early. What the hell?”
I grin. “Wake up, sleepy head. It’s me.”
That perks her up some. “Liv?”
“It’s alive! It’s alive!” I tease.
“If you promise not to like it too much, I’m gonna spank the shit out of you next time I see you. What time is it?”
“Too early for you to be up. Sorry, but I don’t have much choice.”
“It’s never too early for you, my sweet.” She partially covers her yawn. “Who’s phone are you calling from? Did you find a third penis to add to the mix?”
“Oh God, no! Ginger!”
“What? I was just gonna congratulate you on your mad fornication skills. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh. Sure you were.”
“Who am I to judge how you get your freak on? Just as long as you get it on.”
“I don’t have a freak to get on, Ginger.”
“And that’s a damn shame. One of those twins ought to be able to introduce you to your freak. Of course, if they need teachin’, don’t forget my number.”
“Speaking of the twins…”
“Please, God, tell me that segue means you’re about to give me details!”
“Um, no. But I do have something I’d like to run by you.”
“Is it about dildo selection? Because those things can be tricky if you’ve never bought one before.”
I sigh. “No, it’s not about dildos. Do you always wake up this way?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? This is how I go to sleep. It just makes sense that I’d wake up this way. Awesome doesn’t take a break, Liv. And it never sleeps.”
I grin at that. “And neither does humility, evidently.”
“Hey, I just tell it like it is.”
“Then turn your brutal honesty this way for a minute.”
“Okay. Wha’cha got?”
I would never want to lie to Ginger, so I carefully avoid mentioning anything that might inspire her curiosity, especially about the whole twin thing. That could get ugly pretty fast.
I give her the short version (or should I say shortER version) of the phone conversation between Cash and me. When I tell her what he said, her only response is really nothing more than a noise, but it still alarms me.
“Ahhh.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? ‘Ahhh’.”
“Nothing. Not really. To me, it sounds like he was wussing out just as much as you did. It’s not an outright declaration, but it’s very provocative.”
“Provocative?”
“Yes, provocative. As in to provoke. You know I’m a student of both provoking and being provoked, so I know.”
“So I shouldn’t take it as him telling me he loves me?”
“Just to be safe, I wouldn’t. Besides, you don’t want him telling you in that kind of situation anyway. It makes it sound like he’s just reflecting your sentiment. Surely a guy that hot can be a little more original.”
“Oh he’s original all right.”
“Damn you! Don’t tease me like that unless you’re bringing one of those bits of candy to my house right this minute.”
“That would be difficult on a number of levels.”
“Difficult? Difficult is breaking and entering. But for a piece of dick like that, I’d break so he could enter. I’d commit a felony and two misdemeanors for an hour with something like that.”
“Just one felony? I think you’re gonna have to up your game a little for these guys, Ginger.”
A loud, dramatic sigh. “Fine. Three felonies, no misdemeanors, but that’s my final offer.”
“Sold!”
We both laugh, but then Ginger sobers. “Seriously though, Liv, if you love him, I say take the risk, but I want you to be sure. He could tear your heart into a thousand tiny pieces if you let him.”
“I know.”
“But if he’s the one, it would be worth it to try.”
“I know that, too. And I think he is.”
“And you should warn him that if he hurts you, I will scissor kick him in the nuts. Tell him, okay? You tell him that. Because I mean it. I’ll go all kinds of Bruce Lee on his tasty ass.”
“I hope you won’t have any reason to.”
“Me, too, babe. Me, too.”
“Well, it’s—”
A knock on my window startles me and cuts off my next thought. My heart leaps into my throat for a second until what I’m looking at really sinks in. It’s just a student. A young-looking guy wearing a Yankees ball cap and a white t-shirt with his back pack slung over one shoulder. He’s smiling shyly so I roll down my window to see what he wants.