As they sat there talking, and more people joined them, out of the corner of her eye Rebecca spotted a familiar face walk into the room and home in on her like a beacon.
Staring at her, Sam took a seat at a table across the room where she couldn’t help but see him.
The men started to get up but she stayed them. “No. I got this.”
Smiling, she stood, walked over to the table, and sat down across from him without saying a word.
The room fell silent as everyone realized what was going on.
Eventually, Sam straightened and spoke up. “What?”
“Oh, I don’t know. You were staring at me. I thought you wanted something.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Good. Then you’ll get out of here.”
“I have a right to be here.”
As one body, everyone else got up, walked over to stand behind Rebecca, and stared at Sam, most of them with angry glares on their faces.
“Sure, you do,” Rebecca said. “But you might want to ask everyone here if they want you here.” She looked up and back. “Do you, guys?”
“No.”
Sam leaned back, retreating from the force of the unified response.
Loren, standing next to Rebecca, spoke up. “I’m the host of the group tonight, and I say I don’t want you here, either. Would you like to try for a banning by the restaurant?”
Rebecca leaned in, dropping her voice. “Here’s what I know, asshole. You haven’t been able to get over the fact that I left you, even ten-plus years after the fact. People have told me you’ve had a string of disastrous relationships that never lasted more than a few months each after I left your sorry, abusive ass. So guess what? You don’t deserve anything other than a minor footnote in my personal history. If you don’t have anything further to say to me, I suggest you leave now, with what little is left of your dignity, because no one here tonight will say a damn word to you.”
“Bitch.”
She smiled. “That’s Ms. Bitch to you, asshole.” And with that she slowly stood, flipping him a bird before she turned and headed back to her original seat.
Before she turned to sit, she leaned in toward Toby. “Did he leave?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yep.”
“Whew.”
Tilly walked over, looking smug. “Ah, I see the backbone implant has taken just fine. I’m proud of you, girl.”
“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t look good in prison orange.” She stepped in to hug Tilly.
“He’s not worth prison orange. Honestly, sweetie, had you said something sooner, he would have gotten booted sooner. Derrick and Kel don’t put up with shit like that at their club.”
“I didn’t know he was going there until that night I ran into him.”
“I’d seen him a couple of times before, and heard about his bullshit, but never realized who he was in relation to you. He was always alone when he came in.”
“Figures.”
“Wait’ll we tell Eliza,” Logan said. “She’ll be happy.”
“She’ll be pissed off she wasn’t here to witness it,” Rebecca said. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell her.”
“Too late,” Gilo said. “I got it on video with my phone, just in case he tried something. I’ve already sent the clip to Eliza.”
“You wh—” She was interrupted by her phone ringing.
Eliza.
“You go, girl!” her bestie screamed over the line when Rebecca answered the call. “Good on ya!”
Those standing close enough to hear Eliza’s voice booming from the phone started laughing.
Rebecca stepped across the room away from the others. “Tone it back a few decibels, please. I need my hearing.”
“No, seriously. That was awesome. I’m so proud of you!”
“Did I pass, sensei?”
“You are an amazing grasshopper! You passed with all the epic win there is.”
Rebecca was still talking with her when she turned and noticed an identical, strange look on her men’s faces. When she followed their gaze, she saw them watching a woman who’d just entered, hugged a guy who’d walked in ahead of her, and then they’d taken a booth on the other side of the room.
It didn’t look like the woman had noticed them.
She quickly did the mental math. “Eliza, I need to run. I’ll call you back later.” She ended the call and walked toward her guys, but Tilly intercepted her on the way, hooking elbows with her and swinging her around and back to some privacy.
“Heads-up,” Tilly said. “We have another bogey at eleven o’clock.”
Rebecca swiveled her head, trying to look. “Is that Julie?”
“Let’s play nice.”
“I just ran Sam off.”
Tilly nodded. “And that was nice.”
She pulled loose of Tilly and made a beeline toward the booth, vaguely aware of her men scrambling to get up and make it over to her first.
“If you’re going to get in trouble,” Tilly called out, “at least do me proud in the process.”
Rebecca pasted a syrupy smile on her face as she walked over to the booth. “Hi, Julie?” Rebecca stuck a hand out to shake with her.
Julie frowned. “Um, yeah?” She briefly shook with Rebecca.
Rebecca kept her tone light, conversational. “Yeah, listen, see, we have a little problem. You fucked my guys over royally. Is this the douchenozzle you cheated on them with?”
Logan and Toby rushed up behind her, but Rebecca leaned in, her hands on the table as she dropped her voice. “Based on the look of shock on your guy’s face, I’m gonna guess that’s a no.” She smiled at the man. “Hi, Rebecca. Listen, see, she screwed my guys over and ripped money out of their bank account that wasn’t hers to take. Oh, and she cheated on them. And they’re pretty fucking hot guys, too, as you can see. So…you might want to guard your ATM card and keep an eye on her social media traffic. Just sayin’.”
The guy stared at Julie. “You said it was your money.”
Julie looked like she’d expected anything but this. “Of course it was—”
Toby’s cough sounded suspiciously like, “Bullshit!”
“I mean, seriously,” Rebecca said, stepping back and indicating her men. “These two are hot. And great in bed. If she’d fuck them over, why do you think you stand a long-term chance with her? Oh, unless you’ve got money, that is.”
He looked at Rebecca, looked at Toby and Logan, looked across the table at where Julie now sat wide-eyed and gape-jawed, then stood and left.
Tilly walked up. Rebecca held up her hand, and Tilly high-fived her.
Loren also joined them, arms crossed over her chest and shaking her head at Julie. “Okay, I’m not even going to be half as polite to you as I was to Sam. Get the fuck out of here. I’ve heard too many stories about you and your sugar daddies to even stand the sight of you. How many guys have you fucked over who didn’t report you to the police for fear of you bringing abuse or assault charges against them?”
Now red-faced, and with the room silent and glaring at Julie, she grabbed her purse and stormed out.
Tilly high-fived Rebecca again.
Loren turned on Tilly and pointed a finger at her. “You are a bad influence.”
“Me? What’d I do?”
“You can’t go siccing her on people.”
“Why not?”
At least five other people echoed that sentiment out loud.
“It’s not nice,” Loren explained.
“To the asshats, no, it’s not,” Tilly said. “Not supposed to be, either. I’m proud of her for standing up for herself and her guys.”
Rebecca high-fived her.
Landry and Cris walked over and leaned in. “Eh, you two sure you want our Tilly mentoring your woman?” Landry asked.
Cris snorted. “Yeah. She doesn’t hit like a girl.”
“Hey, we needed a topic of conversation for tonight,” Rebecca shot back. “So now we have one. How to deal with asshole exes.”
Laughter rippled through the room.